Muzaffarpur : Agricultural Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), a wing of the Union commerce ministry, has explored the possibility of exporting litchi next season, tentatively in May-June.

Apeda plans to export litchi cultivated in north Bihar to West Asian countries.

Apeda deputy general manager and a battery of litchi scientists were in Muzaffarpur to see what steps can be taken to boost to quality of litchi production.

They held day-long deliberations with progressive litchi farmers and stressed on improving the sweetness and overall quality of litchi.

It can be mentioned here that export of litchi from north Bihar region has received a setback since 2001.

Director of National Research Centre for Litchi in Mushahari, S.D. Pandey, said Apeda has initiated an endeavour to export litchi plucked from the north Bihar region to countries in West Asia.

The visiting Apeda team held a detailed discussion with litchi scientists and progressive farmers engaged in farming litchi for decades.

There is a huge demand for North Bihar's litchi in gulf nations, an Apeda official said. Once it is exported, it will fetch lucrative prices to growers, he added.

At Apeda's instance, the National Research Centre for Litchi has started shortlisting orchards of litchi's "shahi" variety for scientific farming and cultivation. A few Apeda scientists will be visiting again to finalise selection of orchards next month. The scientists will superwise the schedule of farming and monitor it for export purposes.

This will motivate farmers to go for scientific farming as well as encourge planting new saplings, said Vikram Kumar, a traditional litchi cultivator from Jhapha village.

In the absence of export facilities, farmers see no hope in planting new trees, said Sushil Singh, another grower from Kanti village.

Exuding confidence of high returns, Mumtaz, a grower from Bochahan, said if his litchi orchards spread over 100 acres of land shortlisted for export pupose, he may be paid Rs 400 for a kg.

National Research Centre for Litchi principal scientist S.K. Purbey said a team from the directorate of marketing, a unit of the Union commerce ministry, too, paid a visit here to explore plans for sending export quality litchi abroad.

Bhola Nath Jha, a progressive farmer, said Apeda was contemplating to send at least 300-400 tones of litchi to countries in West Asia. The litchi will be sent in the cooling channel of a container.