Taiwan lychee production could plunge to 10% due to drought

Prolonged drought in Taiwan has affected the lychee harvest and may bring down production to less than 10 percent.

The areas affected were in Qishan, Dashu, and several areas in Kaohsiung.

The lack of rain as well as raging leaf-blotch miners prevented blooming trees from bearing fruit. But when the trees bore fruit, they all fell off.

Since the orchards were built on stones, water loss is rapid. The Dashu District of Kaohsiung is hilly with water flowing down the mountain, so the damages are particularly severe.

The Yuhebao and Heiyezi are the main lychee varieties in Kaohsiung.

The fruit-bearing rate of Yuhebao, the main variety planted in about 2,400 hectares, is down to 3 to 5 percent. Affected areas were 734 hectares with 30.976,000 NTD of losses reported.

Kaohsiung City has a planted area of 3088 hectares, mainly in Dashu District in 1825 hectares, Qishan District in 529 hectares, Shanlin District in 239 hectares, and Neimen District in 227 hectares.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Qimai noted that the Council of Agriculture yesterday designated the affected areas in Kaohsiung as a cash relief area.

For a damaged area of over 20 percent, Yuhebao will be subsidized 90,000 per hectare, and Heiyezi will be subsidized 60,000 per hectare.