Gujarat: New variety of Mango cultivated which doesn't spike sugar in diabetic patients

A new variety of mango has been cultivated by two farmers in Saurashtra regions of Gujarat in Junagadh and Gir Somnath.
This variety of mango called 'Tommy Atkins' variety has several special qualities, one of which being it doesn't increase blood sugar when consumed. This is particularly useful to diabetic patients who have to usually refrain from consuming the scrumptious king of fruits.  

This variety, also called as Black Mango is dark violet in colour and its pulp is red in colour. This mango also has very less sugar and is more acidic in taste which makes it a perfect variety of mango for consumption for diabetic patients. Some experts also say this is equivalent to Vanraj variety of mango which is available in India. They also claim that this is not conducive to be cultivated in India.

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'Black mango has more fibre'

"It is all the craze for the people in the US. They prefer more of Black Mangos because of their diet that they follow. This mango has more fibre and is great for health-conscious people. But the eating habits of India are a lot different. Here, mostly Kesar and Alphonso are preferred since Indians like more sugary fruits. However, it can still be consumed by Indians as well - specifically those who have a blood sugar problem," said Dr DK Varu, professor and head of Department of Horticulture at Junagadh Agricultural University. 

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Since five years, two Junagadh based farmers and nursery owners had been working on developing this variety in Gujarat after they bought saplings from someone in Bangalore who had gotten it from Florida in the US where this variety is usually popular.

"We just wanted to see if this is feasible to cultivate it here. We will test the markets for this. We have hundreds of variety of mangos and no one was cultivating this type of mango. So, we decided to do it. We will test and see how people respond to it, if there is a market, we will increase our cultivation," said Gafoor Qureshi, who developed this variety and owns a nursery of mangos in Saurashtra region.

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