Hot weather causes durians in Thai farms to ripen prematurely before reaching their maximum size, affecting growers’ income.
Durian is one of the key export products that brings high profits in Thailand. However, the intense heat wave raging in Southeast Asia has caused durian yields to decrease and growing costs to skyrocket.
Durian growers and traders in Thailand are increasingly worried as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,” durian farmer Busaba Nakpipat, 54, said this week.
Ms. Busaba took over her parents’ durian farm in the eastern province of Chanthaburi, Thailand’s main durian granary, three decades ago. “If the heat continues to increase in the near future, everything will be over. Farmers will not be able to produce durian anymore,” she said.
Durian season usually runs from March to June, but soaring temperatures, hovering around 40 degrees Celsius for weeks in Chanthaburi, and drought have shortened the harvest. According to Ms. Busaba, hot weather causes durian fruits to ripen early so they cannot grow to the size that brings the highest value.
“Durian quality will not meet standards“, she said. “This means income from durian will be lower, while costs will increase“.
Since March, Ms. Busaba has had to buy 120,000 liters of water transported by truck every day to irrigate 1.6 hectares of durian on the farm. “We prayed for rain but there was no drop“, she said.
Thailand’s durian export industry is worth billions of dollars and the fruit is also the country’s third highest-value agricultural product, after rice and rubber. At the durian market near Ms. Busaba’s farm, stall owners are increasingly worried.
Siriwan Roopkaew, who manages the mother’s stall, said the lack of irrigation water has affected the durian size, but currently the price is still high due to strong demand from the Chinese market.
Thailand exports about 95% of durian to China, earning nearly 4.6 billion USD in 2023.
Earlier this month, Chinese media reported that durian imports from Vietnam increased by nearly 50%, when output from Thailand decreased due to heat and drought. “The heat means durian production will be less. This year, there are even fewer durians,” Siriwan, 26 years old, said. “At this time last year, my stall was already filled with durians.”
According to Siriwan, farmers are worried about irrigation water sources, while vendors like her family are losing sleep over the economic consequences.
“Less durian means less income for us, which means we will have to live hard all year“, she said.
Mrs. Busaba also sighed when thinking about the coming months. “The future of durian will end without water,” she said.
According to Huyen Le (VnExpress)
