Israeli farmers will receive a total of some $31 million in compensation after the government this week declared last winter a natural disaster in the fruit and citrus fields.
Unusually warm weather was to blame for the loss of 100,000 tons of fruit, according to the Fruit Growers Association.
The last time government declared a natural disaster was in 1991, according to an agriculture official.
Agriculture Minister Yakov Tsur said current shortages in vegetables are expected to continue for the next several months.
Meanwhile, a first shipment of tomatoes imported from Jordan arrived in Israel on Sunday. The five-ton shipment was transferred to Jerusalem’s wholesale market and later became available to consumers at the Ben Yehuda market.
Tomato prices in Israel have soared from between 50 percent to 80 percent in the last month alone. They were considered a major factor in the 1.4 percent rise in the Israeli cost-of-living index for October.
Reason for the huge increases include a poor agriculture season; the intermittent loss of Arab workers when the administered territories were closed off after terrorist attacks; and a recent ban on fruit and vegetables from the Gaza Strip because of an outbreak of cholera there.
But given markups by importers and wholesalers, the price of Jordanian tomatoes is not expected to be significantly different from what Israelis are already paying for the home-grown variety.
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