Dehradun's Litchi - The Queen of Fruits :

Dehradun Litchi is an early bearing variety and is known for its pulpiness. The litchis are attractive in colour, sweet, soft and juicy. Litchi fruit is high in antioxidants, vitamin C and the essential mineral. Dehradun Litchi is an early bearing variety and is known for its pulpiness.

The rose-scented variety has been the most well-known litchi of Dehradun followed by shahi and kalkateeya varities. India is the second largest producer of litchi. The most popular varieties of Indian litchi grown in Bihar are shahi and ‘China’. A delicate aroma and flavour make shahi litchi the best variety of Indian litchi.

Although there is great demand for shahi litchi in fresh, as well as processed form, litchi farmers in the state are more interested in making new plantations of China variety. This is because this variety gives high yield and thus is commercially more profitable. Shahi litchi is the early variety that is harvested between May 15 and 31 and China litchi is considered to be the late variety.

Apart from the demand of fresh litchi in the metros, this fruit is also in great demand in Europe and the Middle East. But there are only few export houses of litchi in state. There are a lot of constraints in exporting this highly perishable item. According to him, litchi has a short shelf life and all kinds of research on it has not been able to extend this fruit’s shelf life beyond three weeks after harvesting.

Moreover, it requires very efficient handling right from plucking it from the orchards at proper maturity level till the time the fruit actually lands on the table of a customer. The different stages involved in exporting this fruit after plucking are : primary sorting and grading; pre-cooling the fruits to a specific low temperature with very high humidity before sulphur fumigation; and sorting and grading the fruits again before packing in two and five kg packs.

The most important factor is to maintain a cold-chain till the consignment reaches its final destination. The fruit has to be protected from "temperature shocks" or it would immediately lose its colour, aroma and taste.

This exotic fruit fetches a good price in the international market as the exporters litchi for 5 to 6 Euros per kg. But the risk factor involved is also great. If the cold-chain is broken due to any chance mishandling and the fruit suffers a "temperature shock", the buyers reject the entire consignment and in that case the exporter has to bear the cost of dumping the consignment into the sea as well.

Besides being consumed as fresh fruit, the processed by-products of litchi are also in great demand. There are litchi-processing units functional at present, which produce litchi pulp, squash and juice. Together they consume only about 3,000 metric tonnes of litchi, which is hardly 10 per cent of the total fruit produced in the state.

Issues :

1. The involvement of many intermediaries in this trade for the plight of farmers. As per the prevailing system, the actual owner of a litchi orchard ceases to be so soon after fruition starts in his new plantation. Depending upon the area, location and age of the orchard, traders from Delhi, Kanpur, Patna and other places "buy" orchards from the actual litchi growers. The deal may be for just one season or more.

2. Once the litchi tree starts flowering, another set of traders gets involved and "buy" it from the first set. Similarly, when the fruiting takes place yet another set of traders jump into the business.

3. Finally, it is the traders’ representative who sells the matured fruit-laden orchard to the processing units, export houses and other bulk purchasers. At all these levels the traders are interested only in booking their profits and not about the proper care and maintenance of the orchards. As a result the orchards are losing their fruit-bearing capacity with each passing year.

4. Ever since it donned in the busy and bustling state capital, Dehradun has not only lost its aura of a quaint British cantonment which was a retiree’s haven, but is also on the brink of losing its aroma of litchi in summer months. Going by the trend, the famous Dehra litchis may soon be history as a number of litchi orchards have been the chief casualty of the massive construction in the city. According to sources in the horticulture department, almost 20 per cent of litchi trees in the heart of the city have vanished due to large-scale construction. In the past eight years, private colonisers, in alleged connivance with politicians and the police, have felled hundreds of litchi trees.With little land availability in Dehradun for new construction, realtors had offered plum deals to Doonites owning litchi orchards.

5. Very little research work was being done by the government agencies on improving the production of litchi in India and whatever little work was being done was also not reaching the growers effectively.

6. Because of lack of information and facilities, the growers are not able to irrigate their orchards properly. They are also ignorant about the use of correct amount of fertilisers and pesticides at the right time.

7. As a result an average litchi tree in the area is not getting proper nutrition or water required for bearing proper fruits and there is high incidence of pest infection, which causes uneven flowering and poor quality of fruit.

Interestingly, while on the one hand, the Dehradun Horticulture Department admits that it can do little to check the dwindling number of litchi trees in the city, on the other it claims that due to its policies and programmes there has been a steady increase in the total area under litchi cultivation in villages on the outskirts of Dehradun.

In order to promote the setting up of litchi orchards, we are providing assistance of Rs 22,500 per hectare to the farmers. However, horticulture dept. officer admitted that the department was "ill-equipped" to protect standing litchi trees in the city areas. Under tremendous pressure of development, constructions certainly come at the cost of these litchi trees. Thus knowing that it can do little to stop the winds of change, the District Horticulture Department has been undertaking planting of litchi trees in Chandrotee area in Garhi and the Premnagar and Vikasnagar areas in West Dehradun. The Horticulture Department has planted as many as 50,000 litchi trees in the last three years.

In past Dehradun district had produced 5,592 metric tonnes of litchis and had 3,634 hectares of its area under litchi cultivation.

The government agencies and research organisations should work together to ensure a continuous supply of high-quality litchi for domestic consumption as well as for the export market so that litchi remains State’ bounty.