Kedar
Budathoki
1. INTRODUCTION
Lychee is one of the important
sub-tropical fruit crops of Nepal after mango, banana and guava. It was
introduced by the Rana who ruled the country for 104 years. It is reported that
the Rana were very fond of fruit farming and gardening and introduced lychee from
India and Burma and planted them in the Terai (Plain), low hills and mid-hills
at altitudes ranging from 61 m in the Terai to 950 m in the mid-hills. Although
lychee plants were planted and tried at Kathmandu (1,344) by the Rana in their
palaces, the plants died due to cold weather and frost.
2. PRESENT SITUATION OF LYCHEE
CULTIVATION
Geographically, Nepal is divided
into three physical parts. These are the Terai, Hills and Mountains, the
altitude of which ranges from 60 m above mean sea level in the Terai to 8,845 m
in the Mountains. Because of these variations in the, Nepal enjoys a
sub-tropical climate in the Terai and a cool temperate climate in the
Mountains, which are suitable for farming various kinds of fruits. Farming is
limited within 3,000 m altitude. Nepal has 75 districts and it has been
recorded that lychee is cultivated in 62 out of these and they are distributed
as follows:
|
· Mountain Districts =
|
6
|
|
· Hill Districts =
|
36
|
|
· Terai Districts =
|
20
|
|
Total =
|
62
|
Major lychee growing areas
Lychee is a sub-tropical crop and
needs sub-tropical frost free areas during winter and favours well-drained
moist soil rather than dry soil. It is, therefore, the Terai districts of the
Central Developmental Region that have the highest areas under lychee followed
by Terai districts of the Eastern Development Region. The lowest areas under
lychee are in the Western, Mid-Western and Far Western regions of the country
(Table 1 and 2).
- The Terai districts under the Central Development
region where the area under lychee is highest are: Sharlahi, Bara, Parsa,
Chitwan, Dharusa, Mahotari and Rautahat with a total area of 817 hectares.
- The Terai districts of the Eastern Development Region
where lychee is commercially grown are: Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari
and Siraha with a total area of 309.7 hectares.
- The Terai districts under the Western Development
Region where lychee is slowly reaching commercial scale are: Nawalparasi,
Rupendehi and Kapilbastu with a total area of 206.7 hectares.
- Banke, Bardia and Dang are the Terai districts of the
Mid-Western Region.
- Kailali and Kanchapur districts of the Far Western
Development Region are also emerging as the commercial lychee growing
areas in recent years.
The following hill districts are
commercially utilized for lychee production:
- Western Development Region - Gorkha, Lanjung, Tanahu,
Kaski, Parbat, Syanja, Palpa, Myagdi, Baglung, Gulmi and Aoghakhachi
districts
- Central Development Region - Ramechhap, Sindhuli,
Kavre, Nuwakot, Dhading and Makawanpur districts.
- Eastern Development Region - Panchthar, Illam,
Terahathum, Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Khotang, Okhaldhunga, and Udaipur
districts.
- Mid-Western Development Region - Surkhet, Puthan and
Dailekh hill districts.
- Far-Western Development Region - Dadeldhura and Doti
districts.
Area and production
The total area under lychee in Nepal
is about 2,830 hectares (Table 1) and most of the commercial areas lie in the
Terai (Plain), which falls in the Southern part of the country and runs from
east to west. Out of 2,830 hectares, there are 214,800 bearing trees grown on
1,791 hectares, which produced about 13,875 MT of fruit during 1998/99 (Table
2). It is believed that production will increase year by year due to the
increased number of new bearing trees and also the increase in the age of
bearing trees up to 20 years of age. Similarly, the area under the lychee is
also increasing every year as it is found to be a more profitable crop than
mango and banana in the Terai.
Table
1. Total area (hectares) under Lychee in Nepal
|
Region
|
Terai
|
Hill
|
Mountain
|
Total
|
|
Eastern
|
309.7
|
218.3
|
27.6
|
533.6
|
|
Central
|
817.6
|
246.5
|
19.8
|
1083.9
|
|
Western
|
206.7
|
511.3
|
0.0
|
718.0
|
|
Mid-Western
|
181.1
|
96.5
|
0.0
|
277.6
|
|
Far-Western
|
149.5
|
44.7
|
1.0
|
195.3
|
|
Total
|
1664.6
|
1117.3
|
48.4
|
2830.4
|
Table
2. Productive area (hectares) and production (MT) of lychee in Nepal
|
Region
|
Terai
|
Hill
|
Mountain
|
Total
|
|
Area
|
Prod.n
|
Area
|
Prod.n
|
Area
|
Prod.n
|
Area
|
Prod.n
|
|
Eastern
|
202.0
|
1555.0
|
138.0
|
994.0
|
2.0
|
14.0
|
342.0
|
2563.0
|
|
Central
|
531.0
|
4354.0
|
153.0
|
1194.0
|
3.0
|
23.0
|
687.0
|
5571.0
|
|
Western
|
134.0
|
1072.0
|
326.0
|
2447.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
460.0
|
3519.0
|
|
Mid-Western
|
117.0
|
878.0
|
62.0
|
434.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
179.0
|
1312.0
|
|
Far-Western
|
97.0
|
728.0
|
26.0
|
182.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
123.0
|
910.0
|
|
Total
|
1081.0
|
8587.0
|
705.0
|
5251.0
|
5.0
|
37.0
|
1791.0
|
13875.0
|
Source: Agriculture Statistics of
Nepal. Ministry of Agriculture, His Majesty's Government of Nepal (1998/1999).
Cultivars
Broadly, there are two types of
lychee cultivar in Nepal, namely the Terai and the Hill cultivars
Terai cultivars
These are introduced cultivars
mostly from India. They are being grown in the Terai and low hills. Fruits
mature from mid-May to mid-June. The common varieties grown under commercial
scale are as follows:
- Mujafpuri
- Raja Saheb
- Deharaduni
- China
- Calcuttia
Hill cultivars
The hill cultivars are late in
maturity and fruits are harvested from the end of May to the end of June. The
fruits are larger than the Terai cultivars and seeds are also a little bit
larger. Some of the important cultivars are as follows:
- Pokhara local
- Udaipur local
- Tanahu local
- Chitwan local
- Kalika local
- Gorkha local
Farmers at Pokhara, Palpa and Gorkha
reported that those trees which are as old as 40-50 years and are still
productive might had been introduced from the Terai area by some amateur fruit
growers in past and are now adapted to the hill environment and are multiplied
and distributed among the farmers and between the villages.
3. PRODUCTION OF PLANTING MATERIAL
In Nepal lychee plants are
propagated by the following methods:
Seed
In the past 15-20 years lychee
plants were produced from seed in the hills. This practice was common among the
farmers who had no lychee plants for using other methods of propagation. It was
also common that those seedlings were also sold for cash or exchanged between
the farmers for other material. It is, therefore, in the hills where there is
big variation in height, canopy, leaf size, fruit size, seed size and fruit
shape. It was also observed that some plants were found superior in bearing
capacity, fruit size, colour and shape.
Farmers reported that they know that
lychee seed loses viability very soon after harvest. Hence, they sow the seed
as quick as possible. Usually, farmers sow the seeds directly in situ rather
than raising seedlings separately in a bed or in polypots. They reported that
plants raised from this system have low mortality and establish well compared
to the plants raised and transplanted from air-layering. With the available of
plants raised from vegetative propagation, the raising and production of plants
from seed has been gradually decreasing.
Air-layering
In the Terai from the very beginning
of lychee cultivation and in recent years in the hills, the lychee plants are
propagated commercially by air-layering. The air-layering is done from spring
to early summer (mid-March to mid-May. Success rate is as high as 90 percent in
spring to summer and decreases gradually when the air-layering practice is
carried out too late.
Planting material producing agencies
In the early days from 1960 to 1980,
the lychee plants used to be produced by the Government horticulture
farms/stations located in different parts of the country. The method of
propagation applied was air-layering. After one year of propagation, these
plants would be distributed direct to the farmers and also to the farmers
through district based agriculture extension offices. The following
horticulture farms were responsible for the production of fruit plants
including lychee:
- Horticulture unit, Agriculture Station, Tarahara,
Biratnagar
- Horticulture unit, Agriculture Station, Parwanipur,
Birgunj
- Horticulture farm, Nawalpur, Sharlahi
- Horticulture farm, Yagyapuri farm, Chitwan
- Horticulture farm, Malepatan, Pokhara
- Horticulture unit, Agriculture Station, Khajura,
Nepalgunj
- Horticulture farm, Dhunbesi, Dhading
- Horticulture farm Trisuli, Nuwakot
- Horticulture farm, Panchakhal, Kavre.
The total numbers of plants produced
annually by these station ranges from 20,000 to 40,000 plants. Today, only the
horticulture farm at Nawalpur, Sharlahi produces lychee plants as other farms
ceased to produce the plants due to the establishment of private nurseries
which commercially produce planting material of all the fruit plants.
There are 81 registered private
fruit nurseries, which produce various kinds of fruit plants and flowering
plant saplings. However, only 7 private nurseries are involved in lychee
sapling production.
In borders villages, lychee and
other fruit plants are sometimes imported either by Indian nurserymen or
middlemen during the season (June to August) and sold to Nepalese farmers.
4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ORCHARD
Land preparation
Lychee plants are planted on
uplands. The selected piece of land for the lychee orchard is ploughed and made
weed-free. These operations are done from March to April.
Pit digging
With the help of district based
horticulturists/agriculturists, all the technical assistance needed for
establishment of the orchard is provided. The layout of the orchard is made at
least one month before planting by marking and pegging planting points at
appropriate spacing.
The pits measuring 1 x 1 x 1 m are
dug and following manure and fertilizers are applied:
|
· FYM
|
= At least 2.5 kg per pit
|
|
· DAP Granule
|
= 100 g per pit
|
|
· Muriate of Potash
|
= 100 g per pit
|
|
· Urea
|
= 25 g per pit
|
|
· Bone meal
|
= 100 g per pit
|
|
· Lime
|
= 50 g per pit
|
|
· Micronutrients
|
= 25 g per pit
|
These materials are well mixed with
topsoil in the pits and kept at least one month for settlement of these inputs
in the pits before planting the saplings.
Planting season
Wherever watering is possible after
planting, lychee plants are planted from April to May. Where there are no
irrigation facilities and lychee is cultivated under rainfed condition, the
saplings are transplanted from 15 June to August. However, early planting
(April-May) has given good results in terms of plant growth.
Planting system and spacing
In the Terai flat land, a square
system is widely used and in the hills, depending upon the land position, a
contour, rectangular or sometimes even a square system of planting is
practiced. In the early days of planting neither planting systems nor
recommended spacing were followed. However, in recent years the recommended
spacing between the plants or rows is maintained at 10-12 m. In the hills, this
distance is reduced to 8-10 m due to the terraced type of land.
Inter cropping
In Nepal none of the orchard field
is initially kept free from crops. When the trees are large and producing
fruits, usually after 5-6 years of planting in the Terai and 7-8 years after
planting in the hills, the intercropping of arable crops is avoided.
5. CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARD
Training and pruning of plants
Usually, training and pruning are
not done in lychee due to its evergreen nature. However, some farmers remove
the branches or twigs from the soil surface to 45 cm height of the plants while
others remove up to 60 to 75 cm height of the plant. These days nurserymen do
these operations at the nursery. In some areas like in East and Central Terai
districts the central parts of the lychee plants are removed so that side
branches are encouraged to develop and central parts are open. Removing the
central branches/parts of the plants, which do not receive sunlight and produce
very little fruit, is also common even with large trees. These operations are
done during December-January both in the Terai and the hills.
Unlike temperate fruit crops, annual
pruning practices are not common in lychee orchards. Many farmers believe that
removing long twigs along with fruit at harvest is a useful pruning method, but
other commercial growers reported that removing fruit clusters, i.e. panicles
only, at harvest without removing the twigs or branches and leaves produce more
fruit than removing fruit with twigs in the coming season.
Manure and fertilizer
Annual application of the following
manure and fertilizers after a year of planting are recommend for young trees
before fruiting up to 5-6 years after planting
|
· FYM or Compost
|
= 30 kg per plant
|
|
· DAP
|
= 100 g per plant
|
|
· Muriate of Potash
|
= 100 g per plant
|
|
· Urea
|
= 100 g per plant
|
Lychee starts producing fruits from
5-6 years after planting in the Terai and 6-8 years after planting in the
hills. The manure and fertilizer recommendations for bearing trees are as
follows. These recommendations are followed or even exceeded by commercial
lychee growers.
- Organic Manure = 50 kg per plant
- DAP = 150 g per plant at 6 years of age and increased
by 100 g each year up to 15 years and as a constant dose from 15 years
onwards.
- Urea = 100 g per plant at 6 years of age and increased
by 100 g each year up to 15 years and as a constant dose from 15 years
onwards.
- Muriate of Potash = 100 g per plant per at 6 years of
age and increased by 100 g each year up to 15 years and as a constant dose
from 15 years onwards.
The manure and fertilizers are
applied in the winter months of December and January.
Weeding
Weeds in well developed trees are
not a problem. They are a problem in the early stages of plant growth. Farmers
keep the young plants and the orchard clean by hand weeding and use mulches of
dry grass like rice-straw to keep down the growth of weeds around the young lychee
plants and conserve moisture.
Mulching
Mulching of young plants around the
root and stem zone by using local materials like dry grass, dry weeds, dry
straw etc., immediately after planting is a common practice followed by lychee
growers due to the advantages of weed control, soil moisture conservation and
addition of organic matter to the soil.
This mulching practice is commonly
done from the end of the monsoon to conserve residual soil moisture. In rainfed
conditions, farmers reported that mulched plants growth is faster and fruit
production better than those of non-mulched plants.
Supplementary irrigation
Lychee is cultivated under
non-irrigated/rainfed conditions in both the hills and Terai except in a few
isolated cases. However, growers who were able to provide water just before
blooming to the fruit maturing stage (mid-February to early-May) reported that
fruit quality and production increased significantly. Hence, in recent years
the introduction of drip irrigation has become very popular among the resource
rich farmers where water is scarce. However, in all cases, regular watering is
applied to the seedlings after planting until the plants are well established
so that root zones are kept moist.
Diseases
In Nepal, no serious diseases
limiting production and productivity of lychee have been observed or recorded.
Pests
Lychee mite (Eriophyes litchi)
Lychee mite is one of the biggest
problems in both the Terai and hills. The pest attacks new shoots at the
beginning of spring and if the attacks continue, the terminal growth is checked
and tree vigour reduced due to reduction in photosynthesis. Fruit produced from
affected plants are poor in quality and marketability and yield is also
drastically reduced. Use of wettable sulphur at the rate of 2 g per litre of
water before bud break is found to be very effective. Spraying two times at 10
days intervals further improved crop vigour and fruit yield.
Lychee bug
This pest attacks the young leaves
by sucking the sap from the leaves and tender twigs and branches. In
uncontrolled conditions leaves curl, wrinkle and die. In heavy infection new
stem twigs also died. In Nepal, this pest is controlled by the application of
chloropyriphos + Cypermethion at the rate of 2 ml per litre of water before
flowering and two times after the fruits are set.
Fruit worm
The fruit worm is not a serious
problem and growers reported that damage caused by this pest is small. However,
this pest is also kept under control by above operation.
Fruit cracking
This problem is more serious in
Terai orchards and is most common in dry than in relatively moist orchard
soils. Cracked fruits are commonly seen in the mid-western Terai districts
because the soils of this area are drier than those of central and eastern
parts of the country.
Farmers in Sarlahi district reported
that thick mulching of lychee plants with local materials while there is a rain
in mid-September reduces the cracking.
6. HARVESTING FRUITS AND YIELDS
Harvesting time
Fruits in the Terai are harvested
from the third week of May to mid-June, though this varies from cultivar to
cultivar. In the hills, the fruits are ready to harvest from the end of May to
the end of June.
Since lychee fruits are
non-climatic, the fruits should be harvested when the fruit skins change to
bright red, orange red, pink red etc., depending upon the variety, but before
they are fully red and soft. For fruit transported over long distances 80-90
percent of the fruit skin should have the original colour so that its quality
becomes marketable.
Generally, all fruits in the lychee
trees do not mature at the same time and hence, multiple pickings are
necessary. It is necessary that regular inspection of the tree is carried out
and the fruit clusters that are well mature should be harvested. When picking
the fruits, fruit clusters along with twigs, branches and leaves are removed.
This is the common practice followed by lychee farmers in Nepal. However,
removing fruit clusters with only the panicle is more beneficial than removing
fruit clusters with twigs and leaves. A few farmers in the hills have been
doing this practice and reported that it has increased fruit yield in the
following year.
Fruit yield
The yield per plant depends on the
age of the plant, tree or orchard management, variety and location. In both the
hills and Terai even 60 years old but healthy and productive trees were
observed and the number of fruit from such a plant was recorded as high as
10,000 and total yield per plant obtained was 380 kg and income from the tree
was more than Rs.10,000.
The fruit yield of a well-managed
orchard in the Sarlahi district is as follows:
|
Age
of trees
|
Yield
per tree (kg)
|
|
Average of 3 trees
|
Highest
|
Poor yield
|
|
5 years
|
Few
kg
|
4
0
|
Few
|
|
6 years
|
13.0
|
22.0
|
4.4
|
|
7 years
|
18.0
|
31.0
|
7.0
|
|
8 years
|
30.0
|
50.0
|
16.0
|
|
9 years
|
46.0
|
67.0
|
26.0
|
|
10 years
|
95.0
|
120.0
|
39.0
|
|
15 years
|
105.0
|
120.0
|
40.0
|
|
20 years
|
130.0
|
150.0
|
-
|
|
60 years
|
380.0
|
-
|
-
|
Causes of high and poor yields
Causes of poor yields
·
Use of poor yielding cultivar
·
Poor nutrient application
·
Lychee mite problems
·
Lack of mulching
·
Poor fruit set
·
Small fruit size
Cause of high yields
·
Use of good high yielding cultivar
·
Winter, pre-blooming and fruiting
stage application of organic manure, nitrogen, phosphorous and potash as per
recommendation.
·
Spray of micronutrient (Multiplex),
3 times from pre-blooming to fruiting stage.
·
Liming every year at the rate 100 g
lime per plant.
·
Use of growth regulator (Miraculan,
Atonic and Pencibao) before blooming and after blooming.
·
Mulching and small water application
over mulching 3 times during blooming to fruit set.
·
Use of drip irrigation
·
Well managed spray schedule for
controlling pests and diseases.
·
Use of Mycorrhiza in soil from an
old orchard at the time of planting.
·
Excellent harvest method i.e.
removing only the fruit cluster with panicle.
·
All central and thick unproductive
branches are removed annually during winter months and hence all the branches
easily receive the sunlight.
7. MARKETING
At present domestic production of
lychee is inadequate and 60 percent of the consumed fruits are imported from
India. It is also reported that some quantities are also exported to India from
the Eastern Terai districts of Nepal.
In some cases, contractors go to the
orchards, negotiate with owners and buy the fruits when they are still on the
trees. The owners know roughly how many lychee fruits there are in each tree.
Once agreement is reached farmers receive an advance ranging from 10-25 percent
of the total cost of the fruits from the orchard. Thereafter the contractors
hire watchmen to look after the fruits, which means that the whole
responsibility for the orchard is shifted from the farmers to the contractors.
Once the fruits are harvested, they are graded, packed and sold to the fruit
wholesaler who sells them to retailers and finally retailers sell them to the
consumers.
In some cases groups of lychee
farmers harvest their fruit individually and bring them to a collection center.
After grading, packing, and weighing the fruit is brought directly to the
wholesalers and sold at wholesale price. Some percentage of the income of each
farmer goes to the group. The total cost of transport etc. is shared by all the
members based on the quantity of lychee sold and income received.
Sometimes some individual farmers
also sell their fruit directly to the wholesalers or retailers or even to the
consumers.
8. POTENTIAL FOR LYCHEE PRODUCTION
DEVELOPMENT
In view of the availability of
suitable climate and soils, adequate land area for further expansion, road
accessibility, and farmer's interest and enthusiasm in lychee farming, the area
under lychee can be increased significantly.
Looking into the huge domestic and
even export markets, the markets for fresh lychee are unlimited, especially as
lychee produced in Nepal are superior in quality due to absence of sunburn in
the fruits. Also, as hill lychee fruits are harvested after the Terai fruits
are finished the continued supply of fruit over a longer period for various
markets is ensured.
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