Citrus harvesting season extended due to lack of pickers
THE citrus harvesting season has been extended because of the Bayram holiday and the lockdown in Turkey, which has meant there is a lack of fruitpickers.
Citrus company Cypfruvex general manager Cemal Redif said earlier this week that the firm was “doing its best” to prevent Valencia oranges from “remaining on the tree or in the hands of the producers”.
“The main problem is extending the harvest period because Turkey is in lockdown due to the pandemic, and the workers who come for the harvest have returned to Turkey due to the end of Ramadan.
“As a company, we are continuing our best efforts and making preparations so that the product does not remain on the trees. We are trying to persuade workers who are still in the country to remain here.
“Our wish was that producers would have had an idea of the increase in product price at the beginning of the season, based on the previous year, and harvest and sell their products accordingly.
“[However], the Mediterranean fruit fly started attacking the Valencia products on the branch at the beginning of May due to the temperatures being above seasonal norms.
“Of the remaining 3,500 tonnes of products, 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes are of packable quality. We have now identified the products in the orchards and started to buy them.
“We have started the necessary preparations to use the remaining products, which were not suitable for packing, as fruit juice at our Mey-San facility.
“As everybody knows, unfortunately we are unable to harvest [citrus] by hiring locals.”