Harsh summer likely to hit litchi production by as much as 50%: Report

This is that time of the year, when Bihar is covered with litchi all over. The rising mercury is changing their hues, from rich green to pink, and red. Bihar produces almost half of the country’s litchi.

Heat hurts Litchi

As per Business Standard, rising heat is expected to cut the production of litchi by about 50-60%. The report quoted Bindersar Persad Shah, 70, who has been growing ‘Shahi Litchi’ for over five decades on more than 30 acres of land in Muzaffarpur and said that little has improved when it comes to the storage and transportation as his fresh crop struggles to reach markets. Muzaffarpur is a district which produces the maximum litchi.

“The shelf life of litchi is very short, hence we need more cargo and parcel vans in trains,” Shah said.

Expressing similar emotions, BP Singh, president of the Litchi Growers Association of India said that lack of proper transport facility has been an hindrance to take the produce outside the state, especially to the southern part of the country where the demand for litchi is huge.

“There is a huge demand for litchi in the southern part of India. But due to the lack of transportation, we fail to fulfil the demand,” said BP Singh, president of the Litchi Growers Association of India.

The Business Standard report quoted another litchi farmer MD Nurva and said that they lose the value on their produce as they are forced to sell them traders and major processor within a few days.

“Due to the lack of cooling facilities and transportation, we need to sell our litchi within a few days. As litchi has a short shelf life, traders and major processors play a significant role. We have to sell our crops to them at lower prices, leading to losses in our value”, MD Nurva told Business Standard

Meanwhile, after several requests by the litchi farmers, the Centre added a parcel van to the Pawan Express, which helps us to transport litchi to Mumbai.

“The local support from our MP is nil. He never comes to see our farms. However, after several requests made by us to the Centre, a parcel van was added to the Pawan Express, which helps us to transport litchi to Mumbai,” Krishna Singh, a 34-year-old farmer told Business Standard.

Demand for Litchi

The Business Standard report quoted Bikash Das, Director of ICAR-NRC on Litchi and said that the global litchi market is worth over $6 billion and India need to increase the area of litchi production to meet this total global demand.

He further said that the lack of adequate cooling infrastructure has made the export of fresh litchis low.

“After plucking fresh litchi, its shelf life is only two days. That is a real challenge, hence quick transportation is needed, in which we are lacking. Due to which the export of fresh litchi is very low. In terms of value, total exports were Rs 2.57 crore. We are only able to export to west Asian countries. Cool chain-based technology has been somewhat helpful, but we lack adequate infrastructure,” Das told Business Standard

Litchi pulp market

Meanwhile, Litchi's pulp market has grown in the last few years, according to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). The data shows that the export of litchi from India increased from 193.86 MT in the Financial Year 2021-22 to 567.08 MT in FY22-23.

The Business Standard report quoted one of the largest exporters of litchi pulp Alok Kedia and said that in FY24 350 tonnes of litchi pulp to the US, UK, and Canada markets and are targetting to reach 500 tonnes in FY25.

“In Financial Year 2023-24, we exported over 350 tonnes of litchi pulp to the US, UK, and Canada markets. For FY25, we are targeting to reach 500 tonnes. All the data we see on APEDA pertains to litchi pulp. Its fresh export market is very low,” said Kedia.

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