Lychee and longan production in China

Up to 2001, the acreage under lychee and longan in mainland China exceeded 584,000 and 444,000 ha respectively. Commercial activity is concentrated in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan provinces, with a minor industry in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. Although there are hundreds of cultivars registered for the two crops, only about 20 major ones are cultivated in large scale. The harvesting season of lychee is concentrated within one and a half months from late May to early July, while harvest of longan lasts from late July to early October. Nearly half of the lychee fruit (958,700 MT in 2001) is consumed locally in producing provinces, another half transported to the markets in the northern provinces, and less than 2% exported. With the rapid increase in production, the gap between the huge production in a short season and the capacity of post-harvest handling and marketing has increased and become the biggest constraint in the industry. Besides post-harvest problems, the industry is also constrained by problems such as irregular bearing, unfavorable weather (e.g. typhoon and cold injury), pests and diseases and the poorly organized production by individual growers. Current R&D activities are targeted to these major constraints. These include: (i) breeding and selection for extension of production season and better quality cultivars; (ii) minimizing irregular bearing pattern, with focus on improved floral induction and fruit set; (iii) production for pollution-free and safe fruits, in which IMP is included; (iv) post-harvest techniques for long-term cold storage, browning control and shelf-life elongation; and (v) high-efficiency irrigation and fertilization system (fertigation) used in orchards.