Ishad’, a native mango variety grown in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, commands good demand from within and outside the district during summer.
The thin-skinned, fleshy and small-seeded fruit is, however, facing tough competition from other varieties with regard to production and consumption.
Speaking to BusinessLine at his office in Ankola, around 38 km from Karwar, the district headquarters of Uttara Kannada, Pundalik P Prabhu, President of the Hichkada group’s Vividoddesha Sahakari Sangha, said consuming an Ishad is like having a meal. However, one of the disadvantages of the fruit is its short shelf-life after ripening. This makes it difficult to transport the variety over long distances.