Fruit traders in four upazilas of Chuadnaga including the district town are selling immature lychees. The farmers of Chuadanga are marketing unripe lychees as many lychees were dropped from the trees due to extreme heatwave.
However, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) advised the farmers to pluck lychees after few more days to ensure the standard quality of the fruit.
According to District office of DAE, there are lychee orchards in 293 hectares of land in four Upazilas of the district. Among them, 45 hectares of lychee orchard are in Damurhuda, 62 hectares in Chuadanga Sadar Upazila, 131 hectares in Jibannagar and 65 hectares of lychee orchard are in Alamdanga.
There is a target of collecting 240 metric tons of lychee from 293 hectares of land in the district this year. However, the lychee farmers of the district feared losses and less yield of lychee due to excessive heat. They said that there would be half of the target of lychee this year.
Lychee farmers said that they started plucking lychees early as bad weather have lowered the yield this season. Moreover, they might count loss due to low price. They might struggle to earn the production cost this year.
Ikramul Molla, resident of Bhimrulla village under Sadar Upazila of Chuadanga municipality town, said, “Lychee has started appearing in the market. So, I have come to buy lychee for my children. Lychee is still immature.”
Abdul Alim, a lychee farmer of Joyrampur village under Damurhuda Upazila of the district, said there are more than lychee trees in his orchard. However, the yield has come down to half this year. Moreover, lychees are being dropped from the trees due to extreme hot weather. No positive result is coming out even after irrigating the plants. The size of the lychees is also small.
Mirajul Islam, a lychee buyer in Damurhuda bus stand area, said the price of lychee is bit high this year. A total of 80 lychees are being sold at Tk 300 to Tk 350.
Shakib Hasan, lychee seller of Daulatdia village under Chuadanga municipality town, said the yield of lychee is less this year due to the scorching heat. So, the price is high although the size of the lychees is small. A total of 80 lychees are being sold at Tk 300 to Tk 350 considering the verities of the fruit. The sale is not good as the size of lychees is small and price is high.
Chuadanga Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Deputy Director Bivash Chandra Saha said it would have been better to market lychee after few more days to ensure the standard quality of the fruit. The real taste and nutrition can’t be gotten from unripe lychees. The farmers and traders are selling unripe lychees early as there is no specific timeframe of selling the fruit like mango.
