In what comes a major boost to GI certified products, the first consignment of GI-certified ‘Shahi Litchi’ was successfully sent from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district to the United Kingdom on Monday via air route, with the help of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
The consignment is being exported by Cira Enterprises to H&J Veg at London after purchasing from the farmers in Muzaffarpur.
According to APEDA officials, the world famous Litchis have now bagged the ‘Phytosanitary Certificate’ from the newly established certification facility at Patna and henceforth, it will be globally known as Bihar’s Litchi.
Shahi Litchi was given the GI(Geographical indication) tag in 2018 along with three other agriculture products which included ‘Jardalu’ mango, Katarni variety of rice, and the Magahai-paan (betel leaves).
This fruit is cultivated in Vaishali, Samatipur, Champaran, Begusarai and Saran districts as well. It is the fourth agricultural product to get GI certification from Bihar in 2018.
A special transportation facility has been provided by the East Central Railway which includes specially designed rail parcel wagons from Muzaffarpur to other states including Maharashtra, Delhi and Pune, which have a huge demand for Bihar’s Shahi-Litchi.
Shahi Litchi is cultivated in over 15,000 hectares of land in Muzaffarpur. Sale of Shahi Litchis brings in an estimated INR 1000 crores annually from all over Bihar with nearly 50% of the revenue coming from Muzaffarpur alone.
