With the arrival of Summer in South Africa comes the highly-anticipated litchi season.
For a few months, the country's lush orchards burst with juicy, crimson treasures, ripe for the picking. The sweet and tangy flavour of freshly-plucked litchis is a sensory delight that's hard to resist.
However, this year there seems to be a shortage of the fruit.
Faheem Ismail, of Faheem's Fresh Produce in Tongaat, said: “There is a shortage in litchis because of the weather conditions that we experienced, which damaged crops."
He said as a result, the price of litchis cost between R1 500 and R1 900 for a 19kg box compared to R1 200 or R1 300.
“The price of good quality litchis are high. We therefore sell them for around R80 to R90 a bunch to make a profit. The Nelspruit litchis are also available. They are supposed to be cheaper but when you factor in the transport costs, it ends up being pricey. There are other cheaper varieties but those are not sweet.
“We only sell good quality litchis and you will get your money’s worth. We hope that by next week, more of the local farmers will have litchis available, so the prices may come down."
Jimmy Moodley, a researcher and author from Phoenix, who recently posted on TikTok about litchi season, said: “The litchis still need a week or two to be fully-ripe, then you will get an abundance of them until around the end of January. The ones that you get in January are usually the best tasting.”
He said that on average, you could pay around R70 for a kilogram of litchis.
“Last year, we had a lot of litchis available, so the price was lower. It averaged around R35 a kilogram. It even sold for R50 for 2kg in some places."
He added that local litchis could be found from Verulam to Stanger.
"Some are also grown on the South Coast and these are usually available in the new year. They are more plump, have smaller seeds and are usually sweeter. They are referred to as 'Syndicate litchis'.”
Dr Raj Govender, a social cohesion advocate and researcher, added: “Syndicate litchis are litchis that were bought by a group of people (a syndicate) before the trees could bear. These trees are marked-off by the farmer and when the fruit are ready, the people who bought the fruit arrive to harvest them.”