This Rare Bengal Mango Fruits Twice a Year, Helping Farmers Earn Beyond Summer |
In Bengal, mangoes are not merely fruit. They are memory, migration, resilience, and paradox. Among the countless cultivars that dot the state's landscape, none embody this spirit more vividly than the Dofala — the twice-bearing mango that bends time itself, flowering and fruiting beyond the summer season and offering its bounty when markets are starved and farmers most in need of hope.
Custodians of a legacy
At 70, Anukul Mondal of Maa Anaapurna Nursery in Radhanagar, Nadia, stands as one of the few custodians of this legacy. His nursery has quietly safeguarded rare Dofala varieties — Bhastara, Shuktara, Sohini, and Nayantara — each name carrying its own story.
Mondal speaks of them with unmistakable pride, as though they were members of his family.
Their fruits ripen when markets are short of mangoes, fetching premium prices. Farmers often describe them as "gold mines".
"The demand for Dofala is growing — it's our orchard's gift to mango lovers across India," he says, his voice tinged with satisfaction.
For growers like Mondal, digital platforms have expanded their reach. YouTube storytelling and mobile orders now connect orchards to distant buyers.
The story of their survival is entwined with history. After Partition, families migrating from eastern Bengal carried with them not just belongings but a deep love for mangoes. Their passion ensured that hundreds of cultivars were conserved across the state.
The Dofala, too, found protection through this affection. Today, growers fortunate enough to nurture these varieties reap handsome returns from off-season harvests.
In Murshidabad's Raiganj, Abdul Manan Mondol tends his orchard like a curator in a fragrant museum. At 55, with soil under his nails and quiet pride in his voice, he walks among trees labelled Kalibhog, Badshahbhog, Krishnakali, Ameena, and Ras-ki-Gulistan — names that hint at flavour, history, and family stories.
Yet what moves him most are the Dofala mangoes: six native types he has nurtured for years, each one a living piece of local heritage.
He remembers his astonishment at seeing mangoes after the rains.
"We never thought mangoes could grow in October. Now, these trees give us hope when the market is empty. Even when the rains spoil other crops, these mangoes remind us that nature has its own rhythm," he says.
Dofala trees produce harvests in multiple flushes — often two or more times a year — extending the mango bounty into the off-season.
This trait makes them invaluable in West Bengal's diverse mango landscape, where over 200 indigenous varieties persist despite threats of erosion.
Farmers in districts such as Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, and Malda cherish Dofala for its reliability. Research from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV)........