Mangoes worth Rs 3 lakh per kg and more: Malappuram orchard grows the world’s rare fruits

Mangoes worth Rs 3 lakh per kg and more: Malappuram orchard grows the world’s rare fruits

Mangalore Today News Network

Malappuram, Oct 10, 2025: In Kattungal, Malappuram, an orchard is home to rare fruits from around the world, including the coveted Miyazaki mango, known to fetch up to ₹3 lakh per kilogram in Japan. This garden is the realization of a dream by Mangarathody Safeer Ali, an expatriate industrialist who wanted to grow every fruit he had tasted or seen during his travels abroad.

Three years ago, Safeer Ali bought an acre of land in Kattungal and dedicated it to developing this fruit garden. What began as a hobby has now grown into a collection of over a hundred rare fruit trees from India, America, China, Colombia, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and Pakistan, many of which bear fruit.

As Safeer Ali runs a business in the Gulf and is mostly away, he has entrusted the care of the garden to Kiliyamannil Abdul Gafoor, an experienced fruit farmer from Malappuram.

The orchard started with fewer than ten saplings. Today, it includes not only exotic foreign fruit trees but also native fruits and vegetables that are rapidly disappearing and unfamiliar to younger generations.

More than just farming, the garden’s main objective is to introduce students and visitors to fruits and cultivation methods. To support this, boards have been placed in front of each plant detailing the fruit’s name, scientific name, date of planting, and photographs. Each plant is numbered, making it easy to identify and categorize.

Among the hundreds of fruit varieties here are Kepel, once cultivated exclusively by the Indonesian royal family; Miyazaki mangoes, priced between ₹35,000 and ₹3 lakh per kilogram; Abiu, native to Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador; and the miracle fruit from Nigeria and Ghana, known for a taste that lingers for up to three hours.

The orchard also grows Durian, Santol, Mooty, Baraba, Brazil grape tree, Acai berry, Araza Boi, Milk fruit, Ruby, Velvet apple, Matoa, Pakistan mulberry, Cupassu, Ruby Longan, Kakka Jam Fruit, Lasura, Tennis mulberry, White Longan, Duku, and Matoa.

It features 15 varieties of mangoes with distinct flavours, nine types of rambutan, and three variants each of jackfruit and sapota. Native fruits and vegetables that are fast disappearing, such as cashew, breadfruit (kadachakka), gooseberry, jackfruit, star gooseberry, sweetsop, Malabar tamarind, sweet hog plum, soursop, neem, curry leaves, papaya, and drumstick are also cultivated here.

Profit is not the motive behind this initiative. “The idea is to create awareness among students and the younger generation about fruits and native crops,” says Safeer Ali.