Litchi price soars as yield dips
![](https://tds-images.thedailystar.net/sites/default/files/styles/big_202/public/uploads/2024/05/25/litchi-price-soars.jpg)
As litchi has started coming to the markets in Pabna, the price has soared following a poor yield this year due to the heatwave.
Pabna is one of the country's biggest hubs of popular, delicious seasonal fruit.
Since mid-May, litchi growers across the district have been harvesting their produce in full swing. However, most of them ended up with yields much lower than expected.
The long hot spell damaged much of the litchi buds in the trees. However, the high demand for the fruit in the market led to a rise in the price of litchi.
Visiting markets in Pabna, this correspondent saw litchis being sold at Tk 270-280 per hundred this year, while usually the price remains around Tk 200.
Pabna is expected to see a business worth Tk 1,000 crore with the fruit this year, according to growers and traders.
"Seeing the trees with ample buds, I bought 300 trees for Tk 12 lakh, expecting a return of Tk 15 lakh, with a harvest of 5-8 thousand fruits from each tree. However, as harvest began, the marketable yield has been much lower, around 1,500-2,000 fruits from each tree," said Md Faruk, a trader from Awtapara village under Pabna's Ishwardi upazila. "To retain my cost, I need to sell each 1,000 litchi for at least Tk 2,500," he added.
Md Ratan Miah, a litchi trader from Brahmanbaria, echoed him.
In the previous years, one could buy each 1,000 litchi for around Tk 1500, he added.
Visiting numerous orchards in the district, this correspondent saw a huge amount of litchi damaged due to the heat as well as while harvesting.
Earlier, rains at the end of winter had caused damage to litchi buds, and then the hot spell damaged the buds and unripe fruits further, which lowered the yield this year significantly, said Sajahan Ali Badsha, a leading litchi producer and also an adviser to Bangladesh Krishak Unnayan Society.
"If the temperature rises past 35 degrees Celsius, it adversely affects litchi production. This year, we had temperatures soaring past 37-38 degrees Celsius, which dried up the fruits on trees," he said.
"The total yield might be around 350-400 crore pieces of litchi this year, which is expected to be sold for a total of Tk 800-1,000 crore," Badsha added.
Md Shah Alam, a development officer of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Pabna, said around 4,721 hectares of land in the district was brought under litchi cultivation this year, including over 3,000 hectares in Ishwardi upazila alone.
"We are expecting a total yield of 50,000 tonnes of litchi even after the poor production," he added.
Comments