Cultivation of new litchi varieties encouraged

To improve the production of litchi in Bihar, the state government and National Research Centre on Litchi (NRCL) are encouraging growers to produce newly developed varieties of the fruit by addressing issues like “productivity gap” and post-harvest management.
Bihar produces 43 per cent of litchi in the country and occupies nearly 35 per cent of the area under cultivation of the fruit in India, state Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarvjeet said.
“Currently, the Bihar government and NRCL (Muzaffarpur) are taking joint initiatives to improve litchi production, its quality and shelf-life. Apart from increasing the production of GI-tagged Shahi Litchi, farmers are also being encouraged to produce newly developed varieties of the fruit”, the minister said.