TORRENTIAL rain and flooding in the city since Sunday has wrecked the harvest of two varieties of litchis planted in the city, especially the species nuomici, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

Nuomici and guiwei, two litchi varieties grown in Nanshan District, will become fully mature soon. However, the heavy downpour, known as “dragon boat rain,” has knocked down many of the litchis.

“It is very difficult to pick up good-quality litchis now,” said Qiu Jindan, head of the research department of Xili Orchard.

Qiu, who has been working at the orchard for over two decades, said that nuomici became very fragile at the time, meaning a small wind and rain will easily blow the fruit off the tree branches.

“Some 5 to 10 kilograms of litchis on each litchi tree were brought down to the ground by rains,” said Qiu.

The flowering period of litchi trees in Nanshan arrived about 15 days ahead of the normal time and the flower formation rate reached over 90 percent at the beginning of the year.

The early start to the season was due to a warmer and drier winter last year, said experts.

However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic affected litchi’s fertilization, which further affected the output of the fruit.

Moreover, recent heavy rain has made the fruit’s aril absorb water. The aril’s expansion then outgrew the shell encasing the fruit, rendering the fruit unsellable.

At present, the price for feizixiao on the market is 15 yuan (US$2.1) per kilogram while the price for nuomici and guiwei is 35 yuan per kilogram, according to the report.

(Wang Jingli)