India: Bad year for Muzaffarpur’s litchi farmers, high temperature, and hot westerly winds result in high fruit drop

High temperature and scorching westerly winds have created an unsuitable climate for the growing litchi fruits in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. This has spelt doom for hundreds of litchi farmers, who were already worried over low flowering this year due to erratic weather. The red fruits that have adorned the branches are falling off before maturing, according Ranjeet Thakur and Grijesh Choudhary, farmers from Bochaha block. “Heatwave-like conditions along with hot westerly winds resulted in nearly 40-50 per cent fruit drop in litchi. It is a major setback for us,” said a disappointed Thakur, who owns a large litchi orchard. The cultivators are not hopeful of a bumper harvest this summer because of the hot weather, lamented Choudhary. In April this year Bihar’s Sheikhpura district recorded nearly 45 degrees Celsius temperature — the highest in the state, followed by 43-44°C in over a dozen districts and above 40°C across the state. The India Meteorological Department issued a ...