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The cultivation of Tezpur's famous juicy and fleshy litchis, renowned for their unique taste and highly attractive color that have enabled them to capture international markets, has proudly completed a hundred years and become a cherished tradition.
Accordingly, under the initiative of the Sonitpur district administration, the two-day Tezpur Litchi Festival 2026 began yesterday at the District Library, celebrating the century-old GI-tagged Tezpur litchi that has successfully entered international markets. Meanwhile, during the festival today, 1 ton of different varieties of litchis was exported to Dubai, and around 600 kilograms were exported to Singapore. In this regard, in the presence of Tezpur MLA Prithviraj Rabha, Sonitpur District Agriculture Officer Pradeep Kumar Talukdar, Sadar Agriculture Officer Zakir Hussain, and several distinguished guests, District Commissioner Anand Kumar Das flagged off the consignments of litchis being sent to Dubai and Singapore from the Tezpur District Library. This year, each Bombay variety litchi from Tezpur was sold at prices ranging from Rs 40 to Rs 50, while litchis worth more than Rs 4 lakh were sold at the festival venue within a single day. It is noteworthy that in 1923, through a pond restoration scheme in Tezpur, Padmanath Gohain Baruah, the first president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha and the first Assamese chairman of the Tezpur Municipality, established delicious litchi orchards in Tezpur, laying the foundation for this golden legacy a hundred years ago. In this context, huge crowds gathered at the Tezpur Litchi Festival 2026 to celebrate the centenary of various litchi varieties planted across different parts of Tezpur by literary stalwart Padmanath Gohain Baruah in 1923. Additionally, a special exhibition showcasing Tezpur's world-famous litchis was also organised. The exhibition featured and sold several superior and highly juicy varieties of litchis, including Chahi, Bilati, Bombaiya, Piyaji, Chinese, Rongiya, Kath Bombaiwa, and Elaichi varieties. It is worth mentioning that these unique varieties of Tezpur litchis, unavailable elsewhere in the world and already renowned for their rich flesh and taste, have captured both national and international markets and earned special recognition across the globe. According to the Agnigarh Agricultural Producers Group, more than 150 farmers in Tezpur are currently cultivating litchis across over 400 bighas of agricultural land. It is also noteworthy that the people of Tezpur and the litchi farmers are delighted as the "Litchi Orchard," established on the elevated banks of the Palton Pukhuri and Dhoba Pukhuri ponds excavated by the British administration in 1835 for Gorkha soldiers to drink water, has completed 100 years. (ANI)
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