Climate Change Is Destroying India’s Favourite Summer Fruit

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]India might have a massive litchi shortage. [music] Farmers have already lost up to 50% of this year's fruits.

[00:00:10]Because Bihar, which grows 70% of India's lychees, is being cooked by brutal heat waves. And Muzaffarpur's famous GI tagged Shahi litchi, the pride of India, is taking the biggest [music] hit. Why? Because lychees are extremely delicate.

[00:00:23]>> They need temperatures between 30 to 35° to ripen properly.

[00:00:27]>> But this April, parts of Bihar touched nearly 45°. The result? Fruits falling before ripening, blackened skin, dry pulp, less sweetness, smaller lychees.

[00:00:36]>> Then came unseasonal rain, hailstorms, and stink bug attack.

[00:00:39]>> Plus, litchi trees need cold winters to flower. But winters are getting warmer every year. No winter chill, no flowers, no lychees.

[00:00:47]>> Climate change is literally changing the taste of Indian summers.

[00:00:50]>> And it's not just lychees, mangoes are suffering, too. But while Bihar struggles, one man in Kerala is trying to save [music] India's beloved fruit.

[00:00:57]Meet 74-year-old Kuruvila Joseph from Wayanad. With just 12 trees, he produced three tons of lychees last year at 3,000 ft above sea level.

[00:01:06]>> And the twist?

[00:01:07]>> While the rest of India gets lychees in summer, Joseph's trees fruit in November and December.

[00:01:12]>> His secret?

[00:01:13]>> Cool Wayanad winds and letting fruits ripen on trees for as long as possible.

[00:01:17]>> No chemical pesticides, no shortcuts.

[00:01:20]Today, his juicy lychees travel all the way to Delhi. Researchers from Bihar have studied his farm for years. He even won the Litchi Ratna Award in 2016.

[00:01:29]>> Joseph has only one philosophy. The fruit you won't eat, you should [music] never sell.

[00:01:33]>> And maybe that's what we're really losing.

[00:01:35]>> Not just a fruit, but the taste of childhood summers. Because some things cannot be preserved in cold storage.

[00:01:41]>> Comment litchi if it's your summer favorite, too.