A persimmon orchard was destroyed last week in Kibbutz Matzuva. Pomegranate trees were uprooted at Kibbutz Eilon. In both cases, it was not worthwhile continuing to grow the fruit. The warm weather and the drought are threatening not only the winter fruit growers' profits, but also next summer's fruit. Kibbutz Matzuva grows persimmons, bananas, avocados, pomegranates, lychees, and mangos. According to Johnny Agamia, a farmer on the kibbutz, "The fact that rain isn't falling is big trouble. The expenses are crazy. We're irrigating in November and December, which we haven't done before. Irrigation costs a lot of money. Secondly, we're irrigating with treated wastewater, and the rain purifies the land from salt. When there's no rain, surplus salt accumulates in the land, and that damages the trees. When things are right, rain falls and sweeps the land, ridding it of the salt - carries it downstream, which prevents salt from accumulating. The effect on the trees is bad for avocados, bananas, and the other fruits. In addition to all that, we don't know what will happen to the ground water reservoirs we need for next year. We're hanging by a thread with the reservoirs, and we don't know what's ahead. The water quotas for both treated wastewater and potable water have been used up, and we're paying a heavy load of fines. We would have saved all that had rain fallen."
Why were the persimmons destroyed? "The winter is arid this year, and was also arid last year. This summer was very hot, and that makes growing the fruit unprofitable. If the yield is less than 3-4 tons per dunam (12-15 tons per acre), it doesn't pay to grow persimmons, so we destroyed the orchard. It's a combination of last year's drought and the hot spring and summer."
Kibbutz Eilon is also suffering from lower profits because the lack of rain has made irrigation necessary. Kibbutz Eilon economic manager Michael Kishon says, "Instead of large amounts of water falling in rain, it's coming through the pipes at high prices. The costs of water use are so great that it makes it difficult to sustain agriculture. In addition, avocados and bananas are ripening much earlier, and it's hard to divide the fruit for each season, so it all comes at once in large quantities."
While the farmers are being hit hard, consumers in Israel are expected to benefit in the short term from much lower prices for winter fruit, including avocados and bananas. In the longer term, however, in January and February, they can expect to pay the price for it. According to Agamia, "The price of avocados at the plantation gate has fallen because of excess supply caused by ripening two or three weeks earlier. That makes us pick them ahead of time, and there will be fewer in January and February, so the prices will go up."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 20, 2016
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