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Though Bihar is the leading state for litchi production, it is grown primarily in Muzaffarpur and neighbouring districts. However, the horticulture crop can be expanded to other districts and offer a ray of hope to thousands of distressed farmers in the state who struggle to make ends meet.
The proposal to expand litchi production in Bihar was advocated in a new research study of Muzaffarpur-based National Research Centre on Litchi (NRCL).
As of now big, medium and small litchi orchards are common in rural pockets of Muzaffarpur and some neighbouring districts. However, it is found that the scale of litchi production can reach new commercial heights as its demand is likely to skyrocket in the coming years.
Till last year, litchi cultivation was spread across over 32,000 hectares in Bihar including 12,000 hectares in Muzaffarpur. Muzaffarpur’s unique variety of Shahi litchi has also earned a GI tag in 2018.
“There are very high possibility of growing litchi in other than traditional belt (Muzaffarpur, Samastipur,Vaishali, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, West Champaran, Sheohar, Begusarai, Bhagalpur) of litchi. The soil class suitability and climate fitness of various districts in state for litchi cultivation indicates huge potential of area expansion under litchi crop because almost all districts are suitable for litchi cultivation in Bihar,” stated NRCL’s report titled Litchi Production Suitability of Indian States.
In Bihar, districts like Banka, Jamui, Aurangabad, Purnea, Katihar, Araria, Sitamarhi and Madhubani have been found to have suitable soil and climatic conditions for litchi cultivation.
According to the NRCL’s report, in Bihar about 5,179.70 hectares of land is ‘very suitable’ for litchi, followed by 3,059.67 hectares is ‘suitable’, 880.09 hectares is ‘moderately suitable’ and 197.33 hectares ‘marginally suitable’.
The study noted that the strategic estimate for area expansion indicates that nearly a million hectares of highly suitable area can be put for litchi in the coming 30 years.
The state has less than one per cent of very suitable area for litchi under plantation which should be at least elevated to two per cent by next 30 years.
The network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) across the state for the purpose of dissemination of agricultural knowledge can push the orchard management techniques to less aware cultivators in the state.
While calling out the need to change the mindsets of the farmers whose cultivation is mostly limited to wheat and paddy, the study also suggested tweaking the agricultural policies of the state government.
Embracing good agricultural practices (GAP) and better packaging practices were the two major suggestions for the government.
“Our scientific study highlighted soil suitability and climatic conditions favourable for expansion of area under litchi in Bihar,” Bikash Das, director of NRCL, told Down To Earth (DTE).
“This is good news for farmers, who have been growing only paddy, wheat and other traditional crops to shift to horticulture to start litchi cultivation. This is bound to increase their income,” he added.
Meanwhile, the study also mentioned that it is pertinent to mention that as of now, the state doesn’t have any pack houses approved by Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
It is the foremost requirement to make headway in exporting litchis and other horticultural produce from the state.
“Hence [such a pack house] must be established at an appropriate location which can cater the needs of enterprising farmers and other stakeholders,” it noted.
However, the study took note of the past experiences in promoting scientific cultivation and export of this pride crop of the state has not been very encouraging, mainly because the cultivation of litchi in the state is an age-old tradition where the new technologies could not be infused so far.
NRCL scientists pointed out that litchi, a sub tropical fruit, is considered to be a very sensitive fruit as far as temperature, rainfall and humidity are concerned. Besides, it requires soil suitability as well. Variations in temperature and unfriendly climatic conditions have badly hit litchi crops in recent years as these conditions can cause the litchi fruit to crack, becoming smaller in size and less sweet and juicy.