Early Delight™

Litchi breeding in South Africa aims to extend the harvesting period and to improve fruit quality. The South African litchi industry currently relies on just a few cultivars for the litchi season and the harvest period coincides with that of other countries, such as Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion and Australia. This is a disadvantage for the South African litchi industry as it would have to compete with these countries to export its fruits to the European markets at the same time. Therefore, it would be ideal to get into the market earlier, which would mean charging a premium for the fruits. 

Early Delight™ is the earliest litchi cultivar that is harvested in South Africa. It is earlier than the South African standard cultivar Mauritius. It is also high yielding, with good eating quality and it is larger in size than the industry standard. The advantage of this cultivar is that consumers have the opportunity to enjoy the litchi fruits earlier in the season before the market is saturated with other cultivars.