Two weeks ago, Sudhakaran, who lives near Kollengode in Palakkad district, decided not to chop off a rare species of mango tree that was growing in his front yard for the last 40 years. He had decided to cut it two years ago, but a group of people, who had named the tree Ponnose, had made it their mission to convince him not to cut it. Finally, he decided in favour of conserving the indigenous species.
This is just one of the success stories of a group of mango tree lovers from different parts of Kerala. With around 2,000 members currently, the group is named Naadan Maavukal on Facebook while each district has a WhatsApp group named Indigenous Mango Tree Conservation (IMTC).
The group’s aim is to make all possible efforts to rescue any indigenous mango tree they have identified from being chopped. Scattered across Kerala, the group members even travel to the spot if necessary.
Speaking to TNM, Sakhil Thayyil Raveendran, a group member from Palakkad, says, “We’ve been trying to convince the family for the past two years. Finally, they agreed and they were very happy. Recently when they decided to chop the tree to build a car porch, seven members of our group visited them again. One of our members who came from Kottayam was the main reason that the family was convinced. He reached Kollengode with great difficulty because of the lockdown, he had to catch different vehicles to reach here.”
Naadan Maavukal members identify indigenous mango trees found in Kerala, record it, name it and conserve it. If the tree cannot be conserved, the group makes all attempts to get seedlings from the tree and make sure that the same species is planted somewhere else.
Members of the group spend their holidays finding these indigenous trees and marking them.
“When we get a free day, we travel in our personal vehicle or by bus on different routes. We go till a particular distance and trace trees. Mostly we travel individually with a notebook. If we’re in a bus, we wait till we spot 10 such trees. Then we get down at the next bus stop and walk backwards to find the trees we recognised. We visit the family that owns the tree, give the tree a name as suggested by the owner and convince the family to conserve the tree. We also record the tree’s details and inform our WhatsApp group about the tree. In every district there are group members who do this regularly,” Sakhil explains.
Ponnose was identified by the group through this manner. They usually name the tree after a family member or after the name of the house, as per the family’s suggestion. A majority of the indigenous mango species in the state are not named. Many don’t even know that the species are indigenous and rare. So this group of mango tree lovers go the extra mile to protect and grow such species that are specific to Kerala.
According to the group, there are more than 2,000 varieties of indigenous mango trees in the state. While many have been identified by the group members, there are many more trees yet to be found.
“We mainly focus on conserving polyembryonic species, where many seedlings can originate from a seed. We provide original seedlings and don’t promote budding or grafted plants, because our aim is to protect the indigenous species in the most natural way. Also we don’t want to make this group into a business, we don’t want money to be involved in our activities,” Sakhil says. However, he says that in very rare cases where seedlings are not available, they use grafting to protect a species.
Sakhil recalls that the idea of indigenous mango tree protection came after he got a seedling of a mango tree which was called sarkar maavu because it was growing by itself on some government land. “We made sure that at least 100 seedlings of that mango tree were planted at different places before it died. I have one at my home and that’s how our group started,” he adds.
“We provide saplings of indigenous mango trees to schools, offices and individuals free of cost. We also ensure that the saplings are growing properly and not destroyed,” he says.
Recently, group members from Thrissur found an indigenous species near Mundoor by the wayside, which they named Mango Bharat on Independence Day.
The group also found the person who is authorised to get the fruits from the Mundoor tree by bidding from the corporation. The group members have agreed to buy the mangoes from him so that they can get the seedlings and distribute them, so that the species is protected. They ensure that at least 2,000 seedlings of each indigenous species are distributed across the state.
All the activities of the members are updated on their social media groups, though they are not officially registered as an organisation.