Everyone is gathering custard apple seeds!

Subhajit Mukherjee with custard apples

Mission Green Mumbai, a non-profit organisation with a self-explanatory name signifying it is dedicated to the greening of Mumbai, has started a campaign to collect seeds of custard apple or sitaphal in an endeavour to plant and grow more sitaphal trees in the city. The initiative is based on the premise that sitaphal trees are not just for farms, and that organisations with some space, housing societies with a compact space for plants, and individuals with small gardens, too, can grow these trees in their space.

Versatile

Mission Green Mumbai founder Subhajit Mukherjee said, "This is called the ‘Custard Apple Seed Collection Movement'. It is a highly useful tree and can be planted both in urban or rural environments and in forest areas too. This plant needs relatively less water to grow. We are aiming to collect at least 10 lakh seeds. Then, these seeds are going to be distributed to different nurseries, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the green space and the Forest Department."

Custard apple saplings grown from earlier collection drives

Seasonal

Kandivli resident Mukherjee who once was, as he says, in a "stressful, bound-to-his-chair conventional human resources (HR) job", gave up all that to start Mission Green Mumbai. "Several movements have been started and completed or are ongoing under the Mission Green umbrella," he said. "This custard apple drive is an ongoing effort. We have till December-end to collect these seeds. Then, they will be distributed and the plants will grow into saplings, reaching a height of two-feet in five months in different nurseries. Then, these can be planted in different locations in and around Mumbai. This is useful for both consumption and the environment."

Sustainable

For Mukherjee, sitaphal trees are necessary for survival and play a vital role in sustainable greening. "It attracts birds and butterflies because of the fruit. We have different fruit seed collection drives, according to season. Currently, sitaphal season is on. Some months earlier, we had the mango season. Then, we had asked citizens to send us the mango seeds. They had to wash these seeds or kernels, dry them completely so that they do not catch fungus, put them in envelopes and then courier, post or deliver them to a Mission Green address. They also had to write the kind of mango seed they were sending, like alphonso or langda or the likes. For sitaphal, of course, there is no such thing. Only, the seeds have to be well washed and dried."

Mission Green volunteers picked up a handful of seeds and let them slide smoothly into a crystal bowl to illustrate how they should fall. Mission Green Mumbai has three broad aims - one is to protect trees and the environment, plant more trees, and finally, spread awareness. "This Custard Apple Seed Collection Movement fulfils all three targets," signed off Mukherjee.

Send the seeds to...

Subhajit Mukherjee
Mission Green Mumbai
Sea View CHS, Plot 6, Charkop Sector 8, Kandivli West,
Mumbai 400067
Tel: 9323942388