Seraj Anwar / Patna

The luscious Lychee of Muzaffarpur has reached 10 Downing Street as the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems to like it and also to the markets of the UK.

The growers of this GI (Geographical indication registry) tagged variety of the fruit felt proud when Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Muzzafarpur Lychee being sold in the markers of London in his radio programme Mann Ki Baat.

Prime Minister said the Lychee of Muzaffarpur has a unique taste. He said that the GI tag given to Shahi Lychee in 2018 has made India proud.

Muzaffarpur, situated on the banks of the Budhi Gandak, is known all over the world for cotton textile industry, lac bangles, honey and fruits like mango and Lychee, especially theShahi lychee.

Shahi lychee is the fourth agricultural product of Bihar to get GI tag. Earlier, Jardalu Mango, Katari Rice andMagahi Paan have got this certificate.

Modi said that the GI tag has strengthened the identity of Shahi lychee and this was bound to help the growers. For the first time, the Shahi lychee of Bihar was sent to London by air.

The Shahi lychee of Muzaffarpur is sent as an annual gift by the district administration to the Prime Minister, President, Chief Ministers and many other VIPs of the country.

Every year extensive preparations are made for sending the fruit boxes as gifts to the leaders of the country. With the onset of redness in litchi, the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture selects the orchard and monitors it.

As soon as the fruit ripens, bunches of Shahi lychee are detached from the tree and packed for the VIPs. Litchi is sent to Delhi by road in a refrigeratorvan.

Shahi Lychee being sent to international markets through Patna Airport

After fully ripening, the colour of litchi becomes pink and red. The milky white part inside litchi is rich in vitamin C. Along with calcium, protein minerals, phosphorus etc. are found in abundance in litchi. Because of which it is used for squash, cordial, syrup.

Besides Muzaffarpur, this fruit is also cultivated in Dehradun, Terai region of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. In the other places, the size of the fruit is smaller.

This is yet another variety of the Lychee that is cultivated in the adjacent areas of Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Vaishali, East Champaran, Begusarai and Agro Climatic Zone-1 of Bihar of the state.

 Lychee grown in Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and its adjoining areas is juicy and has an aroma and tastes as a blend of sugar and acid.

It is said that because of the high amount of calcium in the soil, the litchi here is better

The lychee business of Bihar is about Rs 400 crores. Out of 1 lakh tonnes produced in the country, more than 50 per cent is produced in Bihar. The total litchi cultivation in the country is on 83,000 hectares.

In Bihar, the fruit is cultivated on around 32 to 35 thousand hectares and about 30,000 farmers and their families are engaged in it. Many growers are shifting to this fruit as it fetched them higher returns.

In view of the lockdown and also the greed of commission agents in the big markets, the farmers are taking recourse to technology to sell their produce. Under a plan of the NationalResearch Center, 4,000 Lychee farmers have sold their products online.

Recently 10 traders have been contacted by Dubai market for demand of Lycyee. In February last year, the Central Government had started the Unnat Lychee program that is aimed at upgrading the plantations, doubling the production of lychee and marketing it.

A mobile app is also being developed for the use of farmers, through which lychee can be ordered online.