Sonargaon litchi starts arriving in markets

Early yielding litchi varieties of Narayanganj’s Sonargaon upazila have started appearing in the market.

According to the Upazila Agriculture Office, different varieties of litchi have been cultivated in different areas of 10 unions and 1 municipality of the upazila on about 105 hectares of land.

Although the yield has been less compared to previous years due to unfavourable weather, traders are happy with the market prices early in the season.

Litchi is mostly cultivated in Khasnagar Dighirpar, Chilarbagh, Dailarbagh, Panamnagar, Krishnapura, Gobindpur, Dattapara, Bagmuchha, Arjundi, Hatkopa, Darpat, Chaperbandh, Gowaldi, Tipardi, Harishpur, Bhattpur, Folk Art Museum, Gabtali, Haria, Baidyerbazar, Tajpur, Sadipur, Ichapara, Dulalpur, Bardi, Senpara, Balua Dighirpar areas of the upazila.

Sales are expected to begin in full swing this week as harvest is currently ongoing in more or less all orchards.

Many traders are directly buying fruits from orchards and exporting them to different districts of the country. Litchi usually tends to ripen at the end of the Bengali month of Baishakh. Sonargaon’s early-yielding domestic varieties of litchi are popular for their taste.

During a visit to the various litchi orchards of the upazila, this correspondent found many tourists alongside traders buying fruits. Electric lamps, reeds and tin bells are placed on the trees to protect the litchi from crows, bats and other birds.

The most commonly cultivated varieties in Sonargaon upazila are Kadmi, China-3, Mozaffar Puri, Cardamom, and Badami. But the cultivation of Kadmi litchi has increased compared to other varieties

Litchi farmers Al Amin of Baluadighi village and Anwar Ali of Panam Gabtali village said Kadmi litchi are bigger in size and sells more, so their cultivation has become more popular recently.

They also said that due to the lack of timely rain this year, litchi has become smaller in size which also lowered the prices.

Kadmi variety is being sold at Tk 400-600 and others at Tk 250-300 per bunch of 1,000 litchis.

A tourist named Kamal Hossain from Gazipur said he came to visit the orchards of this upazila to buy litchi for his family. “The litchis here are bigger in size, sweet, tasty and are marketed earlier than anywhere in the country. Though the prices are a bit high early in the season.”

According to Sonargaon Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources, litchi was cultivated on 100 hectares of last in FY22. About 700 tonnes of litchi were harvested with a yield of seven tonnes per hectare.

The amount of arable land has increased this year compared to the last financial year, but production has decreased due to the weather. With an average of 6.66 tonnes yield per hectare, the total yield is 700 tonnes on 105 hectares of land.

Upazila Agricultural Officer Afroza Sultana said on average there is one litchi tree in every decimal of land in Sonargaon.

“There are a total of 247 trees with an average yield of 1,500 litchi per tree. The total yield per hectare is about 3.5 lakh litchi per hectare. The price has been set at Tk 3 per litchi,” she said, adding that according to this calculation, Tk 10 lakh worth of litchi is being sold per hectare of land.

She further added that they calculate a total sale of Tk 10.5 core from 105 hectares of land. The production cost of litchi is Tk 4 to 6 lakh per hectare.

Three types of litchi are mostly cultivated in the area, Kadmi, Pati and China-3. Sonargaon’s Chowdhury Para, Chakraborty Para, Nayapara, Krishnapura, Dia Para, Dhakaraban, Bhabanipur, Kanchanpur, Khaserkanda, Durgapur villages are well known for litchi cultivation.