Durian farmers face devastation as trees die from extreme heat in Uttaradit

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Durian farmers face devastation as trees die from extreme heat in Uttaradit

By Boonpim Baiya 
The Nation 
Uttaradit

 

Long Laplae durians

 

The current drought and extreme summer heat could damage half of Uttaradit’s crop of iconic Long and Lin Laplae durians, the provincial governor and farmers fear.

 

The much-loved varieties fetch over Bt1,000 per kilogram in fruit retail sales or a Bt50,000 reservation fee per tree even before it bears fruit. But this lower northern province has this year already seen many durian, langsat and longkong trees wither.

 

 

Uttaradit governor Thanakorn Ungchitpaisarn on Wednesday led officials in an urgent visit to Doi Laplae in Tambon Na Nok Kok of Laplae district, where they inspected damages to the fruit orchards caused by a water shortage. They were saddened to find all fruit trees were withering and dying. 

 

The weather in Uttaradit has been over 40 degrees Celsius for almost a week, and orchards have suffered a prolonged period with no rain. 

 

Officials said that if there were no rainfall within this week, the damage to Uttaradit’s s economy-boosting durian, langsat and longkong fruit – which was almost at 40 per cent now – would rise well beyond 50 per cent and perhaps reach 100 per cent.

 

Durian and longkong trees usually take at least eight years to be mature enough to bear fruit.

 

Only a portion of the first batch of durians from Laplae had made it to market, while the second and third batches would be affected, official said.

 

Thanakorn said he would ask the Chiang Mai royal rainmaking unit to study the feasibility of artificially producing rain over the area to alleviate the problem.

 

Farmers in the meantime were forced to carry gallons of water to spray over fruit-bearing trees as their top priority, while having to let those that had not yet borne fruit die, said the governor.

 

Longkong farmer Maron Ngernla said her fruit-bearing longkong trees were shedding dry leaves, a sign they were dying.

 

“This is the worst conditions in 40 years,” she said. In a plea for help, the farmer lamented that her income would be affected, while she still needed to pay off her debts to a local co-op and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30368281

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-24

[Vacuum]

18 hours ago, vinniekintana said:

farmers should have invested in boreholes and drip irrigation.

..of course that would require foresight..

But then there wouldn't be any "exorbitant prices"....

[geoffbezoz]

18 hours ago, vinniekintana said:

If these durians fetch these exorbitant prices, farmers should have invested in boreholes and drip irrigation.

..of course that would require foresight..????

Are but boreholes cost money . They have been jumping on the bandwagon and asking exorbitant prices for this fruit which has seen their profits sky rocket in the last ten years.  Now they bleat like spoilt kids.

[jak2002003]

They will get more of this as climate change makes the temperatures hotter of the coming years.  They ought to think about how much damage their burning and cutting down the native forests is doing.

 

Better to farm something suitable for the actual environment.  Cactus farm maybe?

 

 

[Tropposurfer]

Welcome to the future world.

excuse me I have to rush off ... I now need to get in my oversized engine car n drive to the mall to buy petroleum based shit wrapped in petroleum based shit I don’t need.

[beautifulthailand99]

Sadly the hottest countries burn first.

[Time Traveller]

More global warming propaganda. It's not the heat that's killing the trees, it's lack of water.

I grow a few fruit trees at my home in the southwest of the US, where it's normall for temps to be above 40 degrees celsius for more than 5 months of the year and even over 45 degrees regularly. As long as they have enough water, they survive ok.

[Thongkorn]

On 4/25/2019 at 8:58 AM, Tropposurfer said:

Welcome to the future world.

excuse me I have to rush off ... I now need to get in my oversized engine car n drive to the mall to buy petroleum based shit wrapped in petroleum based shit I don’t need.

 You do realize you have wasted resourse in Typing this message, electric, 

[Denim]

Some of my garden plants are suffering despite getting plenty of water. The air is just so hot the leaves are getting burnt. Never seen this before.