India's lychee volumes are set to rise this season thanks to favourable growing conditions and improved production methods, reports India'sThe Business Standard.
Mild rainfall and balanced temperatures have given rise to good flowering, which should result in a 15 per cent production rise over last year, Vishal Nath of India's National Research Centre (NRC) for Lychee told the paper.
Mr Nath added that the predicted production rise was also down to the use of good agricultural practices by farmers, thanks to training from the NRC.
Last year India produced 423 tonnes of lychee grown on 71,878ha across the country, according to official figures.
Harvesting in India's principal lychee-producing state Bihar will begin from May 15 and continue until the first week in June, Mr Nath said.Bihar, in eastern India, produces 74 per cent of the national crop.
West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tripura and Assam are other lychee producing states.
Indian lychees are exported to the Middle East, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Mr Nath said scientists at the NRC are working on modified atmosphere packaging to enhance the shelf-life of the fruit.
Currently the fruit lasts no longer than four days from harvesting.
