Weather giving East a bumper fruit crop
Thanks to warmer and wetter weather, the Office of Agricultural Economics is predicting a much better fruit harvest in Chanthaburi, Rayong and Trat this year – a yield 18.57 per cent bigger than it originally forecast. Deputy secretary-general Unchana Tracho said the office was now expecting the eastern provinces to produce more than 1,053,000 tonnes of durian, mangosteen, rambutan and longkong in 2020.
The forecast improved because the weather hasn’t been too cold and enough rain has fallen to get trees and plants blossoming, she said.
Growers are also satisfied with current prices, motivating them to pay more attention to the nurturing process.
Durians do best in the latest predictions, Unchana said, increasing in volume by 21 per cent, followed by longkong at 19 per cent, rambutan at 17 and mangosteen at 14.
More than 90 per cent of durians have already matured and, in some places, harvesting began in January, but it will continue into July, most intensely between April 1 and mid-May.
Virtually all of the rambutan has been harvested by now, while mangosteen will all be reaching market in late May and early June.
Only about a third of the longkong, which needs more rain, is nearing ripeness, Unchana said.