(Ecofin Agency) - This season could be an exceptional one for Madagascar in terms of lychees exports. Truly, the island plans to export between 20,000 to 22,000 tons of this fruit at the end of the 2015-2016 season against 17,500 tons only for the previous season.

“Due to favorable weather conditions, harvesting of lychees this year is excellent, both in terms of quality and quantity,” Thierry Samtio, president of the Lychees Exports Association told Xinhua.

Malagasy lychee is currently sold at €8/Kg on the European market. This price rivals that of Mauritian lychee which is sold at €7.5-€9.5 in Europe. Despite these encouraging results, actors of the industry in Madagascar keep pushing, giving themselves no respite. Explaining this, lychee exporter Mamy Randriantovo said: “It is true that European countries favor lychee from the big island. However, it should not be forgotten that other actors are entering this market. We must therefore invest more efforts to boost supply since lychee exports still remain lower as compared to other countries.”

Aaron Akinocho