<i>Bumper yield of 'special variety' litchi in Kishoreganj </i>
Litchi being sorted for sale at Mongalbaria village.Photo: STAR
Litchi growers at remote Mongalbaria village of Pakundia upazila in Kishoreganj district are eyeing a good profit as their special variety of litchi with its attractive look and mouth watering taste has seen a bumper yield this year. Farmers said they have started plucking litchi and selling it at Tk 2000 per thousand litchis. Total sales in this season might exceed Tk 1 crore, they said. Thicker pulp with small seed inside and special taste puts Mongalbaria litchi in great demand in big cities including Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. Litchi traders from Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet rush to the remote village to collect litchis in summer, the litchi-plucking season. There is no litchi orchard in the village. Litchi trees are seen on both sides of kutcha (un-metalled) roads of the village. Litchi trees surround every open space in the village and there is hardly any homestead without several litchi trees. The residents of Mongabaria had a long tradition of growing tasty litchi but the Agriculture Extension Department (AED) provided training, for the first time, to only 60 litchi growers there in 2007, growers said. An AED survey made two years ago found that there were 850 litchi trees (locals, however, put the number at about 1,500) of such special variety in the village, Upazila Agriculture Extension Officer (UAEO) Prosanta Kumar Saha said. In this season litchi growers can collect 6-8 thousand pieces of litchi from a tree in an average, he said. Touhid Mia, known as a good litchi grower at Mongalbaria, said he engaged 10 labourers to nurse the trees. He expects a profit of over two lakh taka as he will collect litchi from 100 trees in this season, he said.
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