Bangladesh: Pabna lychee farmers hit hard by drought, pandemic

Ishwardi upazila of Pabna is known as one of the leading lychee cultivation zones in the country. But this year farmers are experiencing a decline in production due to an acute shortage of rainfall in the region inducing severe drought in the orchards. Meanwhile, farmers who are achieving good yields despite the adverse weather are still failing to market their products because of absentee wholesale traders from Dhaka and other regions during the on-going movement restrictions due to the Covid-19 outbreak. According to the Upazila Agriculture Office, there are 283,500 lychee trees in 3,150 hectares of land in Ishwardi municipality and seven unions under the upazila, reports a correspondent from Pabna. The agriculture department had set the production target for lychee at 20,000 tons this season. However, due to severe drought lychee production may fall short at least one-third of the target. Prices of lychees may go up significantly in Dhaka and other areas due to low production ...