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NCERT Solutions for Class 5th The World Around Us Chapter 6 Local fruits and vegetables and their varieties — Activity 4

Book page 107 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
Pick a fruit or vegetable that grows in your state. It may have varieties. With the help of your teacher or elders make a list of how many types and varieties of fruits and vegetables are locally known.
Answer

Do a small survey of your own, exactly like the one in the Western Ghats that found more than 200 kinds of mango. You will be surprised how many names your grandmother knows.

Step 1 — Choose one fruit or vegetable that everybody around you grows or buys. Mango, banana, rice, brinjal, chilli or gourd all work well, because each has many kinds.

Step 2 — Ask five people. Your grandmother, a neighbour who farms, the vegetable seller in the market, the school cook, your teacher.

Step 3 — Ask these five questions about each kind:

  1. What is it called here, in our own language?
  2. What does it look like — size, colour, shape?
  3. When is it ready — which month?
  4. What is it used for — eaten fresh, pickled, dried, cooked?
  5. Is it still grown, or has it become rare?

Step 4 — Fill this table.

Local nameWhat it looks likeSeasonUsed forStill grown?
___________________________________

Sample answer — mango, in a village in Uttar Pradesh:

Local nameWhat it looks likeSeasonUsed forStill grown?
DasheriLong, thin, golden yellow, very sweetJune–JulyEaten freshYes, plenty
LangdaRoundish, stays greenish even when ripeJulyEaten fresh, and juiceYes
ChausaLarge, golden, very juicyJuly–AugustSucked whole; aamrasYes
Safeda (Banganapalli)Big, oval, pale yellowMay–JuneEaten freshYes
RamkelaSmall, sour, firm fleshMayPickle onlyBecoming rare
Desi aam (from a seedling tree)Small, fibrous, very sweet, each tree differentJuneAam panna, sucking, chutneyOnly a few old trees left

Sample answer — brinjal, for a class that picks a vegetable: the long thin green one, the small round purple one, the big fat purple one for bharta, the white-and-purple striped one, and the tiny cluster brinjal used in sambar. Five kinds — from one vegetable.

If you choose…Kinds you are likely to find
BananaRobusta, Rasthali, Poovan, Nendran, Elaichi (small), red banana, plantain for cooking
RiceBasmati, Sona Masuri, Ponni, Gobindobhog, Black rice of Manipur, Red rice of Kerala
ChilliGuntur, Kashmiri, Byadgi, Bhut Jolokia of the Northeast
GourdBottle gourd, ridge gourd, snake gourd, bitter gourd, ash gourd, pointed gourd
Why counting the kinds is real work, not a game: Every kind is a different answer to a different problem. One ripens early, one keeps well, one stands drought, one tastes best in pickle. Nowadays only a handful of kinds are grown for the market, and the others quietly disappear — usually the moment the last elder who knew them stops planting. When you write down the name of a rare local kind, you may be the first person ever to do so. That is exactly what the researchers in the Western Ghats are doing with mango, jackfruit and jamun.
Make it last: put every group's table into one class chart with the title Fruits and vegetables of our area. Add the name of the person who told you each one. Next year's class can add to it.
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