Bihar might have better litchi production this year

“Scientist of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and National Lychee Research Centre have succeeded in treating litchi and keeping it for 60 days at low temperature,” said Radha Mohan Singh, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bihar at the the occasion of inauguration and co-training of Litchi processing plant in Musahari, Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Bihar is the leading state in the production of litchi, now in Bihar, about 300 thousand metric tonne of litchi is being produced from 32 thousand hectares of area. Bihar’s contribution to the area and production of the country’s litchi is about 40 percent. “The main objective of the Central Government is to develop new varieties and techniques by researching the development and production of the litchi and to make the information available about the litchi availability to the Department,” Singh added.

“Though the contribution of Muzaffarpur district in the total area and production of Bihar is good, the need for levy productivity, which is about 8.0 tonne now, needs to be enhanced,” said Singh.

Singh said that this technique will definitely prove useful for the Lei Producers and Traders to produce good quality fruits. The National Litchi Research Center, Muzaffarpur has developed many techniques and is providing about 35-40 thousand plants each year to various institutions/states of the country.  The Center is working with other institutions of ICAR and agricultural universities of the state and the development centers of the Central and State Governments like National Horticulture Board, APEDA, National Horticulture Mission etc.

“The scientists are working hard day and night to develop advanced varieties and agricultural activities which need to be reached by the state government, and agricultural science centers and other institutions to the general public,” he added.

Through its limited resources, the center has implemented the Farmers First project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in East Champaran district, in which eight villages (Mehsi Block-Uzhilpur, Bakri Najir, Damodarpur Village, Chakia Block- Khairwa, Ramgarha, 1000 farmers’ families of poisonous Ojha Tola-Vaishah and Chintanpur-Malahi Tola village) are taking advantage of many techniques.

In this unique initiative of the council the advanced technology is being tested by the farmers only. It needs to reach more people.

The center has also started the scheme of Health Card through which the farmers are being examined and proper advice is being given to them. Not just Bihar, there are many areas of the country where litchi can be successful gardening. Therefore, there is a need to promote research in these areas too.