Heat wave hammers Thailand's agriculture

The extreme heat across most of Thailand over the past time has seriously affected production, socio-economic and the environment in the Southeast Asian country “as never seen before”, experts said on Wednesday.

In his Facebook post, Associate Professor Dr. Seri Suparatit, CEO of Futuretales LAB and a member of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, said the heat wave ended on May 5, but some eastern and northeastern provinces are forecast to continue experiencing the heat with the temperature exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.

He said the extremely hot weather, from April to early May, has affected the output of many vital fruits in the country, elaborating that up to 40% of the durian yield this year could be damaged, 90% of coconut palms may not bear fruit, and vineyards could see as much of 70% of their fruit damaged.

Meanwhile, Somkuan Tonjan, chief of the central weather forecasting office in the Meteorological Department, said the extremely hot weather is over, but there is a chance that the peak temperature could still reach 44 degrees Celsius or higher in some localities.

The experts expect Thailand to enter the rainy season at the end of this month