News Excerpt:
High temperatures and scorching westerly winds have created an unsuitable climate for the growing litchi fruits in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district.
- Muzaffarpur’s Shahi Litchi, an Indian variety of soapberry, is famous for its size, unique flavour, aroma and taste.
- Litchi is a major crop in this area, but farmers in Muzaffarpur and neighbouring districts have been struggling to deal with the situation in recent years.
Impact of climate change on Litchi cultivation:
- In the last 10-12 years, fruits like mango and litchi have been affected by the adverse impacts of climate change.
- The size and sweetness of litchi have deteriorated due to unexpected variations in temperatures in April and May.
- Litchi is grown under a specific micro-climatic condition.
- A temperature range of 30-35°C in the second half of April is ideal for smooth fruit setting and low drop.
- During this period, the temperature should be neither low nor high, for its natural growth.
- Climatic variations also affect sugar assimilation, resulting in poor-quality litchis.
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Litchi:
- Litchi is a sweet and juicy fruit of India’s hot summers.
- It mainly grows in the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
- Litchi cultivation is spread across over 32,000 hectares in Bihar alone. This accounts for nearly 40% of India’s litchi production.
- Bihar is followed by West Bengal (12% of the total) and Jharkhand (10%).
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National Research Centre on Litchi (NRCL)
- The NRCL is the premier national institute for conducting research and developments on litchi and provides leadership at the national level.
- It acts as a national repository of information on litchi production, processing, and value addition, and provides consultancy services to end users.
- NRCL technical help for litchi cultivation
- The ICAR-National Research Centre on Litchi was established in 2001 in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
- NRCL provides technical help, plants and training to farmers with the sole aim of expanding the fruit's cultivation across India.
- The centre provides saplings of its famous Shahi litchi, besides popular varieties like China, Gandki Lalima, Gandki Sampada and Gandki Yogita, to farmers in other states.
- NRCL scientists pointed out that litchi is considered to be a very sensitive fruit as far as temperature, rainfall and humidity are concerned.
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