Lychee production in Bangladesh

The lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) belongs to the family Sapindaceae and sub-family Nepheleae. It is one of the most important sub-tropical evergreen fruit trees which grow well in Bangladesh. Another member of the sub-family ‘Anshphal’ (Euphoria longana Lam.) also grows in Bangladesh, mostly in backyards. It bears longan type but small sized fruits of little commercial value.

Lychee is a highly priced, popular and major table fruit in Bangladesh. It comes to market in the months of May-June when the market is full of other fresh fruits, particularly mango and jackfruit. But in spite of the availability of different types of fruit in the market the demand for fresh lychee is always very high due to its unique taste, flavour and colour. The supply of lychee is insufficient and its availability is only for about 60 days. High quality fruits of elite cultivars like ‘Bedana’ and ‘China-3’ are in short supply due to their very limited area coverage. The average per hectare yield of lychee is about 2.5 MT, which is also low in comparison to other countries.

No authentic documentation on the history of cultivation of lychee in Bangladesh is available. However, it is believed that lychee came from Burma to Bangladesh sometime in the early 19^th century. Chinese varieties along with Indian cultivars like Mujaffarpuri and Bombai were introduced in the early 20^th century from West Bengal through the efforts of nurserymen and plant lovers. Lychee is mainly cultivated in the backyard (2-3 plants), or in very small orchards (15-20 plants) adjacent to the homesteads.

2. PRESENT SITUATION OF LYCHEE CULTIVATION

Lychee grows almost all over Bangladesh but the main areas of cultivation are Jessore, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Khulna, Dhaka, Kushtia, Sylhet and Chittagong districts. Lychee was found to grow well in the Government horticulture centres of three hill districts namely: Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban and also in Jamalpur, Rajbari, Meherpur, Chapainawabgonj and Comilla. The expansion of the lychee area in these districts is relatively slow due to high mortality rate of young lychee plants. Most of the growers as well as extension agents do not have the required knowledge and skill in lychee cultivation as a result of which interested farmers very often fail to establish new orchards.

At present the total area under lychee cultivation is about 4,800 hectares and total annual production is about 12,800 MT.

Table 1. Area and Production of Lychee in Bangladesh (1993/94 to 1997/98)

Region	1993-94		1994-95		1995-96		1996-97		1997-98
	Area	Prod.	Area	Prod.	Area	Prod.	Area	Prod.	Area	Prod.
Bandarban	130	115	140	135	150	145	155	150	155	145
Chittagong	630	950	640	905	665	965	660	1015	635	985
Comilla	250	180	265	195	285	200	295	215	300	220
Khagrachari	200	130	210	140	235	165	245	170	245	160
Noakhali	255	210	285	220	285	230	315	255	320	260
Rangamati	265	145	285	150	295	155	295	135	295	130
Sylhet	630	795	645	800	650	795	615	715	630	735
Dhaka	640	615	660	620	700	630	720	645	745	680
Faridpur	440	285	415	285	365	246	345	235	320	210
Jamalpur	270	300	275	295	270	290	275	295	280	300
Kishoreganj	460	480	420	420	455	440	480	435	500	440
Mymensingh	390	480	420	525	450	580	480	605	500	625
Tangail	295	305	340	350	365	365	390	395	410	410
Barisal	720	485	725	480	740	490	770	525	775	515
Jessore	910	1395	920	1420	925	1415	955	1500	975	1520
Khulna	965	530	990	570	1050	590	1080	600	1115	625
Kushtia	405	545	415	545	415	540	415	550	430	656
Patuakhali	120	35	125	50	100	40	110	45	100	35
Bogra	330	415	345	435	345	430	330	410	350	440
Dinajpur	695	795	700	770	695	730	700	780	705	785
Pabna	370	400	395	405	415	450	450	490	465	490
Rajshahi	690	1055	705	1115	760	1245	780	1320	805	1380
Rangpur	795	955	780	1025	780	1040	805	1065	820	1100
Grand Total	10855	11600	11100	11855	11395	12176	11665	12550	11875	12846

Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic, 1999

3. VARIETIES

Bombai is the oldest high yielding variety in the country, although there are a number of cultivars growing in different areas of Bangladesh. These are Rajshahi, Madrajie, Mongalbari, Kadmi, and Kalipuri. Muzaffarpuri, Bedana and China-3. Bedana and China-3, introduced in the 1950s, are now cultivated successfully in different parts of Bangladesh. Also there are many unnamed land races, most of which are sour in taste with low pulp:stone ratio. The fruits of cultivars like Bedana, China-3, and Rajshahi local contain more edible portion, with high quality pulp. The fruit size in these varieties is bigger with attractive skin colour. Bedana is considered the best variety but gives the poorest yield. Average yield per plant is about 3,000 fruits. The variety is confined to the Dinajpur district, northwest Bangladesh, which falls in agro-ecological zone-1. Recently three varieties, namely: BARI Lichu-1, BARI Lichu-2 and BARI lichu-3 were released by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) for farmers adoption. Among the released varieties BARI Lichu-3 is considered the best in respect of fruit size, pulp, colour and yield. The variety closely resembles China-3 variety.

The chief characteristics of important lychee cultivars are given in the following table.

Table 2. Salient features of important lychee cultivars of Bangladesh.

Variety	Salient features
Bombai	Most widely cultivated and good yielding variety of Bangladesh. The trees attain an average height of 6 m and bear fruits regularly. It is an early variety, fruits generally mature in the 2nd week of May. Fruits are mostly heart shaped, carmine red in colour and each fruit has another tiny underdeveloped fruit attached to the fruit stalk. Average weight of the fruit is 18-20 g. Pulp is soft, juicy and sweet. TSS 17-18 percent, seed big, pulp:seed ratio 5:1.
Muzaffarpuri	The variety was brought from India and mainly grown in the northwestern districts of Bangladesh. The trees are medium in vigour and attain an average height of 5 m. The fruits are pink in colour, oval shaped and mature in the 2nd week of May. Average weight of fruit is 20 g, pulp is long and sweet. TSS 17-18 percent, seed big, pulp:seed ratio 4.75:1.
Bedana	This variety is considered the best variety in Bangladesh. The trees of this variety are medium in height (about 5 m) and spread of 6 m and regular bearer. The fruits are mostly globose in shape, bright red in colour and mature in the 2nd week of June. Average weight of fruit is 25-28 g., pulp is creamy white and soft, juicy, TSS 18-19 percent, seed small and shrunken, pulp:seed ratio 28:1
China-3	One of the best varieties grown in Bangladesh. The trees attain an average height of 5 to 6 m with relatively smaller leaves. Bearing is regular if proper management and care is taken, otherwise they show an irregular bearing habit. This is a late variety and fruits ripen in the last week of June. Fruits are globose, with a mixture of red, orange and patches of green colour. Average weight of fruit is 25 g. Pulp is creamy white, soft and juicy. TSS 18 percent, seed small, pulp:seed ratio 15:1.

4. PRODUCTION OF PLANTING MATERIAL

Lychee may be propagated both by seed and by vegetative means. In Bangladesh air layering is the most common and popular method for propagation of lychee. In this method a ring of bark about 2.5 cm to 3 cm in length is removed from one year old twigs. Generally the terminal branch which is selected for air layering is 60 cm to 75 cm in length. In some areas farmers prefer 2-3 year old and 1 m long branches for propagation. After removing the bark the exposed wood and the cut surface is covered with a rooting media consisting of clayey soil mixed with sand and organic manure (rotten cowdung). A piece of polythene or jute cloth of convenient size is wrapped around the rooting media and tied at both ends with fine twine. In about 2 months sufficient roots are formed at the upper end of the ring. The rooted layer is then detached from the mother plant by giving it a sharp cut below the lower end of the ring, preferably in 2-3 stages. A single cut operation sometimes results in high mortality of the layers. Excess branches and leaves should be removed to bring a proper balance between the top and root system. This helps in quick establishment of roots and low mortality rate of the layers. The rooted layers are then kept in a shady place in the nursery in a slanting position for about a week and then potted. The potted plants are also kept in partial shade, preferably under a shade net. Success in air layering mainly depends on factors like time of operation, availability of moisture at the rooting area, growth stage of the terminal branch and age of the twig. Vigorous twigs or branches in active growth phase should be selected. The best time for air layering is July after the harvest of lychee when the available moisture in the soil and humidity are high. The rooting medium consisting of clay loam soil and well rotted cowdung (1:1) has been found to be best.

At present lychee marcottages are produced in about 70 Government own nurseries having mother orchards of China-3, Bombai, Rajshahi, Mongolbari and Mujaffarpuri varieties. Most of the mother orchards were established in the 1960s. Since the private nursery seldom owns any mother trees, Government nurseries are the main supplier of lychee planting materials.

Production of vegetatively propagated lychee planting materials in the public sector is about 90,000 per annum. No data regarding the production of lychee marcottage in the private nursery or farmers level is available, but is undoubtedly insignificant.

5. ESTABLISHMENT OF ORCHARDS

Orchard establishment of lychee is not an easy task for the farmers, since in Bangladesh the mortality rate of lychee after planting is high. This is due to the supply of non-hardened planting material and lack of proper care at the time of planting and afterwards.

Land Preparation

For lychee cultivation deep well-drained loamy soil having a pH 6.5-6.8 is suitable, although lychee is not fastidious about its soil requirements and in Bangladesh it grows in all types of soil. However, it performs better in deep sandy loam soil. The selected land should be flood free, open and under direct sunshine. After selection the land should be ploughed 2-3 times and a green manure crop cultivated to add to the soil to increase its organic content. Sesbania rostrata and Crotalaria juncea are the common green manure crops used in Bangladesh to improve the physical condition of the soil and soil fertility. In hilly areas lychees are planted in small hills with gentle slopes on terraces along the contours. When planted on terraces the soil is not ploughed, and only small half-moon pits are made to keep the soil undisturbed. Bushes and other wild vegetation are cleared above the ground before plantation is made.

Planting season

The planting of lychee is generally done during June-July, i.e. during the rainy season, but the best planting time is May-June when the weather is humid but not too wet or too dry. Planting may also be done after the rainy season, i.e. August-September, but regular irrigation is required for better establishment of the orchard.

Spacing and planting system adopted

In old orchards lychee trees were planted 10-12 m apart both ways, i.e. in rows and between plants in rows. The spacing of 10 m is found to be adequate in areas where the soil is deep loam and fertile and when necessary care is taken during the initial stage of cultivation. In other areas 7-8 m distance was found to be sufficient. At present high density plantation has also started. In the case of high density planting the spacing is 4 m x 4 m.

The general planting system practiced in Bangladesh is the square system in the plains and the contour system in the hills. The square system of plantation allows the farmers to perform all the cultural operations conveniently and also to cultivate some vegetables as intercrops during the first few years.

Opening of pits and planting

Before planting the recommended pits of 0.75 x 0.75 x 0.75 m dimension should be dug at the desired place two weeks before the actual planting. These are allowed to remain open for 10-12 days and then filled with topsoil mixed with manure and fertilizer at the rate of 30 kg well decomposed cowdung, 10 kg ash, 0.15 kg N, 0.30 kg P₂O₅ and 0.20 kg K₂O. The pits are then watered so that the soil settles down. At the planting time a small hole is made at the centre of the refilled pit and the desired air-layer is planted. Water should be applied immediately after planting. It is also suggested to add a basket full of soil per pit collected from an established lychee orchard.

Intercrops

Common intercrops during the early years are vegetables and as soon as the canopy becomes larger, i.e. after 6-7 years and onward up to 15 to 20 years, turmeric and ginger are cultivated. During the pre-bearing stage leguminous crops like cowpea and beans are recommended for cultivation, which enrich soil nitrogen.

6. CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS

Training and pruning of plants :

Training of lychee trees during the early years is necessary for building a good framework, but farmers seldom practice training. Branches developing from the main trunk should be allowed in all the four directions. Once the desirable shape and good framework is achieved, light annual pruning of old branches is only required to induce new growth. Since lychee flowers are borne mostly on the current year’s growth regular light pruning is essential for good yield. Pruning of old branches will promote new growth, resulting in more flowering and fruiting. In Bangladesh farmers never prune bearing trees but the objective of pruning is achieved during harvesting, when a portion of branch bearing fruits is removed. Heavy pruning is to be avoided, except in the case of too much vegetative growth, when heavy shoot pruning is recommended. Root pruning to a depth of 5 cm is also helpful for floral initiation.

Application of manure and fertilizer

Manuring and fertilization are important considerations in the upkeep of a lychee orchard. In Bangladesh manuring and fertilization are generally neglected, even though in lychee the nutrient requirement is high including high doses of organic matter. Application of cowdung or farmyard manure in sufficient quantity helps the young lychee plant to grow quickly.

Nitrogen is the major nutrient required by lychee. The deficiency of nitrogen results in stunted tree growth and small and pale green leaves. It was reported that nitrogen has a profound influence on fruit set, fruit retention, length, diameter and weight of fruit. Lychee also needs a substantial quantity of potassium and phosphorous for its proper growth and yield along with micronutrients like zinc, boron and copper.

Considering the nutrient requirements the following fertilizer doses are recommended for lychee.

Fertilizer recommendation before planting:

• Cowdung 30.00 Kg/pit
• Ash 10.00 Kg/pit
• N 0.15 Kg/pit (or Urea - 326.00 g/pit)
• P₂O₅ 0.30 Kg/pit (or TSP - 667.00 g/pit)
• K₂O 0.20 Kg/pit (or MP - 333.00 g/pit)

a. All cowdung, ash, phosphorus and potassium should be thoroughly mixed with the soil and placed in the pit.

b. Ten to twelve days later the trees can be transplanted.

c. Five to six months after transplanting nitrogen should be applied.

d. Fertilizers should be applied annually in split applications-one half in the month of March and the remainder in September until the tree is fruiting. Rates of application should be increased each year by 0.05, 0.20, and 0.125 kg of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O, respectively, over the previous year.

Fertilizer recommendation for fruiting tree:

• Cowdung 7.00 Kg/tree
• Ash 8.00 Kg/tree
• N 0.70 Kg/tree (or Urea - 1.50 g/plant)
• P₂O₅ 0.30 Kg/tree (or TSP - 3.30 g/plant)
• K₂O 0.20 Kg/tree (or MP - 1.15 g/plant)

a. Trees should be fertilized annually in a split application. One half of all fertilizer should be broadcast around the tree and lightly incorporated in March.

b. Remaining half of the fertilizer should be similarly applied in September.

Weeding

Weeds are generally controlled manually through hand weeding or hoeing during early years of plantation. At later stages, weeds seldom grow under the big overlapping canopy and are controlled during application of fertilizer and irrigation. Chemical weedicides are not used in lychee plantation.

Mulching

In lychee orchards mulching is generally practised once/twice in a year in association with the application of fertilizer, weeding and irrigation. However, in young plantations mulching is a common practice for conserving soil moisture and control of weed growth. Dried leaves, compost/cowdung or straw are generally used as mulch. The use of mulch in young lychee plantations was found to be helpful for better growth of the young trees and quick establishment of the orchard.

Supplementary irrigation

In Bangladesh supplementary irrigation is considered necessary during flowering, fruit setting and development since during these periods the soil moisture and atmospheric humidity remains very low. At the time of flowering the temperature in most of the regions of Bangladesh remains within 27° - 28°, but it increases afterwards and transpiration rises considerably.

Generally no supplementary irrigation is given to bearing trees as a result of which moisture stress due to prolonged periods of drought causes yield reduction through fruit drop. Very few farmers can afford to irrigate during the fruiting period, due to high demand and priority of irrigation for the Boro (Summer) rice crops. In most of the lychee growing area surface water for irrigation is seldom available. In addition ground water level goes down due to the prolonged dry period making shallow tubewells inoperative, which also restricts irrigation to the orchards. Young plants also suffer during this period due to shortage of water resulting in poor growth, and sometimes death.

In better managed Government orchards irrigation is given twice during flowering and after fruit set, utilizing either basin or flood systems. The common practice is single irrigation after the application of fertilizers, immediately after fruit set. Supplementary irrigation at fortnightly intervals after fruit set gives good harvest.

Control of pests and diseases

Lychee does not suffer from any serious pests or diseases in Bangladesh, but bats and birds cause serious damage at the ripening stage of fruit.

Lychee mite and fruit borer are the two major insect pests of lychee.

Lychee mite

In Bangladesh eriophid (Aceria litchi) is the most destructive pest of the lychee tree. Both adults and nymphs infest the leaves.

New leaves of the lychee trees are infested by the lychee mite and such infested leaves, at later stages of their growth, show leaf galls (known as erinose), which are thickened and wrinkled with abnormal hairs that are velvety brown in appearance. Infested leaves later dry up and fall from the trees. Inflorescences, flower buds and young fruits are also infested by the lychee mite. Twigs with severe infestation of leaves bear few inflorescences and fruits. The loss of large number of leaves due to severe mite infestations may affect yield in the following year because of the reduction in photosynthetic activities, though general loss of green leaves due to the mite infestation is mostly compensated by frequent flushes of new leaves in the affected twigs. All varieties of lychee are susceptible to infestation by the lychee mite and trees having dense foliage show more severe infestations.

There may be 10 to 12 overlapping generations of the lychee mite in a year. Lychee mites are found in both the adult and nymphal stages in the infested leaves at varying ratios throughout the year. Their populations remain very low from November to the middle of February. The population reaches its peak in April - May. Adults are mostly seen in infested leaves during February-March and June to August. The lychee mites spread from one tree to another by movement through the soil and touching leaves of adjacent trees. The infestation starts in February, becomes maximum in May-June and continues up to October.

Controls are:

• Pruning and burning of affected twigs in June and August each year in severely infested trees and pruning and burning of affected twigs in August in less infested trees repeatedly for 2 to 3 years was found to be very effective in controlling the lychee mite.
• Spraying of lychee leaves during April and May with Kelthane 40 MF or Neoron 500 EC or Torque 50 EC or wettable sulphur at the rate of 2.0 ml/litre of water will be helpful for the control of the lychee mite.
• Three species of predaceous spider mites (Tetranychus spp.) have been reported to predate on different stages of the lychee mite in Bangladesh, but their role as effective natural enemies in the control of the lychee mite has not been established.

Lychee fruit borer

The lychee fruit borer is a common insect pest of lychee in Bangladesh. Only one larva of the fruit borer moth bores into a developing fruit from the stem end and feeds on the seed. A portion of the fruit pulp at the stem end is also spoiled due to the larva feeding on the seed. Varietal resistance to the insect pest may be helpful for its control. Insecticides can also be used for the control of this insect pest. Cypermethrin (Ripcord/Cymbush/Basathrin/ Arrivo/other) 10 EC at the rate of 1.0 ml/litre of water can be sprayed on fruits 15-20 days before ripening of the fruits for the control of the lychee fruit borer.

Caterpillar

The next important insect pest of lychee is the bark eating caterpillar (Indarbela tetraonis). The adult moth of this pest lays eggs during May and June in groups of 15-25, which hatch after 8-11 days. The larvae feed on the surface of the bark until September. Afterwards they bore into bark and underlying tissues in the branches. These become fully grown in December and pupate in April. Plugging the holes with fumigants such as carbon bisulphide, petroleum or formalin and then plastering with mud checks the caterpillars effectively.

7. HARVESTING OF FRUITS AND YIELDS

The quality of fruit, particularly the characteristic taste and flavour, TSS, acid, etc. of a variety depends on the stage of harvest. Lychee should be harvested when the fruits ripen properly, because, unlike mango, lychee does not improve in quality after harvest. Maturity of fruit is judged by colour development, flatness of tubercles and comparative smoothness of the epicarp. The fruit colour changes from greenish to pinkish red. The development of red pigmentation was found to be associated with anthocyanin pigment. Generally fruit are harvested at about 55 - 60 days after the fruit set but it varies with the variety and environment. In Bangladesh harvesting is done in May-June. Fruits are harvested in bunches with few leaves. Since all the fruits on a tree do not ripen at the same time, the fruit clusters are spot picked several times. In Bangladesh fruiting lychee trees are generally sold to the middlemen before maturity, in order to get rid of the problem of bats and birds. The middlemen normally harvest all the lychees at a time and do not take care of the plants during harvesting. The indiscriminate breakage of branches injures the trees.

The lychee tree starts giving yield from the age of 5 years and the yield increases until they are 20 to 30 years old. In Bangladesh 60-70 years old lychee trees were found to give satisfactory yield. The variety wise average yields of 15-20 years old good lychee trees are given below.

Sl. No.	Variety	Yield/plant
1.	Bombai	7000 - 8000 nos.
2.	Madrajie	6000 - 7000 nos.
3.	China-3	4000 - 5000 nos.
4.	Bedana	2000 - 3000 nos.

Fruit quality of Bombai, China-3 and Bedana varieties is the best among the available land races. The recently released BARI Lichu-3 resembles China-3 in size, shape, quality and taste, but is yet to be distributed to the farmers. The yield of good variety lychee in Bangladesh is as good as in India, but the national average yield of lychee is far less.

8. MARKETING

Lychee is a highly perishable fruit and as a result without proper post harvest practices marketing of lychee is very difficult. In Bangladesh lychee is mainly sold at local or nearby markets in fresh form, except for high quality lychee, which fetch good prices in big cities and are brought from the distant lychee growing areas in bamboo baskets lined with lychee leaves. Lychee fruits remain fresh in such baskets packed loosely for about 48 hours. For distant city markets the fruits are harvested in the afternoon at the stage when they have just started to turn red. The harvested fruits are then packed in the field in a small basket and reach the wholesale market during night from where the fruits are distributed to the retailer.

Lychee is neither exported nor imported. Although the local production can barely meet the need, unlike other fruits lychee is not imported. Perhaps this is because of the fact that lychee fruits are still a commodity sold mostly in street side markets where adequate storage facilities for keeping fresh lychee are not available.

9. POTENTIAL FOR LYCHEE PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT

Good quality lychee is produced in the northwest region of Bangladesh covering 16 districts, hill tracts consisting of three districts and in Jessore, Tangail and Dhaka. At present production of quality lychee is mainly concentrated in certain areas from where marketing is done with comparative ease. Infrastructure facilities for post-harvest handling can be easily created in these areas. The lychee area can easily be expanded with good varieties in the flood free areas of the northwest, hill tracts and in Dhaka and Tangail districts.

Northwest region

Lychee covers about 3,500 acres of land in the northwest region, which can easily be expended to at least 14,000 acres. Currently, the maximum concentrations of lychee orchards are in the districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Pabna and Bogra. There is ample scope for expansion of area in Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Rangpur, where quality lychee covers only 1-3 percent of the present lychee area. The present yield of average quality lychee in this area is about 4.5 to 5.5 MT/ha. If proper management practices like fertilizer and irrigation management are adopted, the yield of good quality lychee like Bedana and China-3 can be increased substantially.

Hill Tracts

Very good quality lychee grows in the Chittagong hill tracts area but the rate of expansion is extremely slow, which may be due to prevailing social unrest and difficulty in establishing new orchards. The present area under lychee is 295 acres in Rangamati, 245 acres in Khagrachari and 155 acres in Bandarban. This area can easily be expanded to a few thousand acres. The only limitation for the expansion of lychee in the area is inadequate irrigation facilities, which may be overcome by carefully choosing the expansion area and better management of residual soil moisture.

Dhaka and Tangail

At present the area under lychee in these two districts are 720 and 390 acres, respectively. There is a good scope for expansion of area and replacement of inferior quality orchards with the best available varieties. The lychee area in these two districts can be expanded to more than 1,500 acres. The climate is quite congenial for growth and fruiting of lychee and in certain areas farmers are growing lychee on a commercial basis.

10. CONSTRAINTS IN LYCHEE PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT

Improved varieties

It has already been mentioned that Bedana and China-3 are the two good varieties available in Bangladesh. The area under Bedana is only a few acres and that of China-3 is not more than 100 acres. Bedana grows only in Dinajpur district. China-3 was found to perform satisfactorily in other areas, except where rain starts earlier. Consequently, introduction of more good quality varieties suitable for the potential areas will be helpful in increasing lychee production.

Short production season

Lychee reaches the market during May-June. Sour and inferior lychee comes early followed by Bombai. Bedana comes in the last week of June followed by China-3. This short production season of good quality lychee may be extended by introducing early and late maturing varieties.

Quality planting material

Lychee marcottage are mostly produced in the Government horticulture centres where the quality control system is far from standard. In the private sector the situation is worse. As a result farmers very often do not get high quality planting material of the expected variety. On the other hand Bedana lychee growers do not produce planting material from their mother orchard for sale. They only produce propagules for themselves, which is restricting the expansion of Bedana variety.

Inappropriate pruning

Pruning is seldom practised in Bangladesh, except in young plants. In fruit bearing trees pruning is achieved at the time of harvesting, when a portion of the branch is removed from the plant along with the fruit. Generally, harvesting is done by the labourers of the middlemen (marketing agent) who climb on the fruiting plant for harvesting, remove a sizeable portion of a branch along with the fruits they find suitable for quick harvest rather than taking care of the fruiting plant. Due to such type of indirect and inappropriate pruning the lychee plants suffer, resulting in poor yield thereafter.

Lack of technical know-how

Usually lychee farmers do not pay attention to modern cultural management practices like irrigation and fertilization and are not aware of application of hormones, good propagation techniques and post harvest handling. Some of the growers who are slightly conscious add cowdung or farmyard manure and provide irrigation once in a while. Due to inadequate care and management lychee plants show alternate bearing habit and after a good harvest yield is reduced to half or even less in the following years. Extension personnel also do not have adequate technical knowledge and skill to help the farmers. Their lack of knowledge on the establishment of orchards, propagation techniques, cultural management, etc. is also contributing to the low yield and slow expansion of the lychee area in Bangladesh. In fact the present extension personnel are mostly trained in cereal production technology and management. As a result the horticulture crops gets less attention. Block supervisors who are the grass root level extension agents do not get training on the propagation techniques, establishment of new orchards, pest management, management of lychee orchard and post-harvest handling. In order to give priority to the development of lychee and the fruit industry as a whole either a separate development organisation needs to be formed or separate horticulture based extension services within the present extension department should be developed. In this way human resource development as well as an adequate extension service in the field of horticulture will be ensured.

11. GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PLANS FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF LYCHEE

Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) has released two lychee varieties through selection from their collection of lychee in Akbarpur regional research centre, Sylhet and one from Rajshahi station. The Characteristics of the varieties are described in Table 3.

Table 3. Characteristics of Lychee varieties released from BARI

Variety	Name of Station with time of release	Salient Features	Remarks
BARI Lichu-1	Binodpur (Rajshahi) Sept/96	High yielding, regular bearer, exceptionally early, edible portion 67-73%. TSS 18.4 to 20.5% and borer infestation minimum. Yield 85-97 kg/tree/year. Individual fruit weight 19.5 g.	Rajshahi region
BARI Lichu-2	Akbarpur	High yielding, late maturing, regular and heavy bearer, fruit pink red, pleasant flavour and tolerant to nut-borer and mites. Yield 32-44 kg/tree/year. Edible portion 68.4%. TSS 16.1% to 20.5% Individual fruit weight 15.2 g.	Eastern regions of Bangladesh
BARI Lichu-3	Akbarpur Sept/96	High yielding, mid season variety, small seed, edible portion 75-77% and tolerant to rust and other diseases. Yield 30-42 kg/tree/year, TSS 18.9% and individual fruit weight 18.4 g.	Eastern regions of Bangladesh

The performance of the released varieties in other lychee growing areas of the country has yet to be evaluated. BARI conducted some experiments on the fertilizer requirements of the existing varieties.

Under the Integrated Horticulture and Nutrition Development Project a demonstration on the improved management of lychee orchards including the control of fruit dropping by application of NAA in the Government horticulture centres is underway. Farmers from the lychee growing areas will be invited to a field day to see the results of the demonstration. In the next year demonstrations will be conducted in the farmers existing lychee orchards and participating farmers will be given training on lychee orchard management. It is expected that this will help in the development of lychee in Bangladesh. Also, it is planned to multiply a large number of promising varieties like China-3 for planting in the homesteads in certain lychee growing areas of Bangladesh.

12. CONCLUSIONS

Lychee is one of the most popular fruits of Bangladesh and good quality lychee fetches a fancy price. Local demand for fresh lychee is very high, which can hardly be met by the present production. The agro-climatic condition of the country is conducive for successful production of good quality lychee and the present area can easily be doubled. However, expansion of lychee is very slow, mainly due to unavailability of high quality planting material and poor establishment of air layered plants. The knowledge and skill of the farmers as well the extension agents regarding improved production technologies are inadequate for the establishment of a lychee industry. The varietal base of is also too narrow. In some areas early rain during flowering reduces fruit formation.

Considering the present constraints and opportunities the following actions may be undertaken immediately.

• Introduction/selection of high quality lychee varieties of early mid and late maturity.
• Intensive training of the farmers and extension agent on the modern methods of lychee cultivation, management and orchard management.
• Production and distribution of quality planting materials.
• Proper pre- and post-harvest operations.