A number of orange growers in Thailand’s Sukhothai province have been forced to dispose of their fruit, because of a lack of customers, due to the inter-provincial travel restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Mrs. Payao Khonkla, owner of an orange orchard in Srisatchanalai district of the province, told the media that she earned about 200,000 baht in annual net profits in the past several years, from sales of the golden “Khieu Wan” sweet oranges, grown in her 4.8 hectare orchard.
She complained, however, that sales this year are very bad, because her usual local customers, and those from various other provinces, are not showing up due to the current travel restrictions.
She said that she has tried to sell her oranges at a local market for the past two weeks but there were scarcely any customers, adding that the fruit started to rot and she had to dump it.
Mrs. Payao’s crop this year was also substantially smaller, due to prolonged the drought, while the fruit’s price has fallen.
