Unfavourable weather conditions and advance rains have cut down production of litchi by about 30 per cent in Muzaffarpur district, which is considered the litchi capital of India.

Vishal Nath, the director of National Research Centre for Litchi, told PTI that the problem of unfavourable weather condition multiplied since farmers did not take any step against it. “Farmers need to adopt better farm management by resorting to pre- and post-harvest spray,” Nath said.

Weather and rains have caused early fall of the fruit resulting in almost 30 per cent decline in litchi production, Bholanath Jha, a renowned farmer of the fruit here said.

Jha sought active intervention of the central and the state governments to provide better transport and technical knowhow to farmers to increase the yield. Muzaffarpur’s litchi has a great market in the Gulf and European countries, Nath said.

Bihar has 38 varieties of litchi with “shahi” and “China” quite popular. The state produces 52 per cent of the country’s litchi, with Muzaffarpur district and neighbouring areas of Vaishali and Samastipur being the producing hub.

Litchi is grown on 46 per cent of cultivable land in Muzaffarpur, which on an average produces 1.5 lakh tonne of the fruit.