USDA grants assistance to Florida lychee growers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service recertified a petition for lychee producers in Florida under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for farmers programme. Under the TAA program, USDA provides technical assistance and cash benefits to producers if an increase in imports of a like commodity has contributed importantly to a decline in price and a loss of income. After an investigation, FAS determined that increasing imports of lychees contributed importantly to a decline in lychee prices in Florida during 2004 when compared to the applicable 1998-2002 base-period.