Durian season usually lasts from March until June, but the soaring temperatures – which in her province have hovered around 40 degrees Celsius for weeks – and subsequent drought have shortened the harvest.
Busaba said the heat causes the durian, which is graduated by weight and size, to ripen faster so it does not grow to its fullest – and most valuable – size.
“The quality of the durian won’t meet the standard,” she said.
And not only is she getting less money for the crop, Busaba’s operational costs have risen.
Since March a drought has sucked water from the wells, so to keep her precious durian trees alive Busaba is forced to bring in thousands of litres by truck.
“We have to buy 10 water trucks for 120,000 litres of water for one-time watering the whole 10-rai (1.6 hectares) of our farm,” she said, repeating the process every other day, at a cost of thousands of dollars.
“We have prayed for rain,” she said. “But there was no rain.”
