Israeli Mango Farmers Leave Fruit To Rot As Exports Collapse

 Israeli mango farmers leave fruit to rot as exports collapse

Growers warn industry faces ruin as European markets shun Israeli produce, Gaza and West Bank sales halt and extreme heat spoils crops; farmers leave tons to rot as calls grow for government aid and grassroots relief efforts try to stem losses

Yair Kraus

severe crisis as a combination of collapsed exports to Europe, economic boycotts linked to the Gaza war and an early heatwave have left massive quantities of fruit without buyers. For many farmers, the season is ending in losses of hundreds of thousands of shekels — or more.

“I left over 100 tons of mangoes on the trees to rot and fall because harvesting them would cost more than we could sell them for,” said Robert Amrosi, a veteran mango grower from the Galilee who manages 200 dunams of family orchards in Moshav Migdal.

'Harvesting the mango costs more than I’ll get for it,' Robert Amrosi (Photo: Effie Sharir)

The European market closed to Israeli mangoes after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Brazilian mango imports, prompting Brazilian farmers to redirect their fruit to Europe — the main export destination for Israeli growers. At the same time, the Palestinian market in Gaza and the West Bank, which previously absorbed 10–15% of the crop, also closed. Farmers said European buyers “were happy” to avoid Israeli produce amid boycott calls. “All of this led to a huge oversupply in the local market,” Amrosi said.

The numbers are stark: “I harvested about 100 tons. Packing costs two shekels per kilo, harvesting another shekel per kilo, and I only got two shekels in total,” Amrosi explained. He added that more than 100 tons remained on the trees because the fruit wasn’t even worth touching. “We had temperatures close to 50 degrees Celsius for a week, which caused the fruit to ripen and fall. Harvesting costs make mango farming uneconomical. Today it costs 6,000 shekels per dunam for water, fertilizer and orchard care, not counting harvest and packaging. I’m losing nearly one million shekels, and many other farms won’t survive. Finance Minister Smotrich must intervene.”

The Fruit Growers Association warned that without government aid, the entire sector is at risk. “Israel’s mango industry, which supports hundreds of families in peripheral regions, is in acute crisis,” said CEO Yaron Belhassan. He added that parliamentary agriculture lobby members demanded direct compensation of 1,500 shekels per dunam and an expansion of the government’s compensation mechanisms, similar to those used for war damage.

Local initiatives have emerged to provide partial relief. Many farmers are selling mangoes directly to consumers, though the approach is not profitable for large orchards. Amrosi said, “Delivering 20–50 cartons to central Israel doesn’t cover transport and labor costs. Direct sales are not realistic for the massive volumes. The problem is also that supermarkets take huge margins — on ‘Keitt’ mangoes we get just 60 agorot per kilo. Packing houses don’t want our fruit, saying they can’t do anything with it.”

In one effort to prevent waste, Avocado Gal, a packing house in Kiryat Shmona, distributed about 30 tons of mangoes for free to local residents and villages in the Upper Galilee ahead of the holiday. Amir Bachar, CEO of the Galilee Development Company, said, “Instead of letting the fruit go to waste or be fed to livestock, we wanted to make an effort with the farmers and packing house workers to bring joy to residents after two difficult years of war and ongoing recovery.”

A new initiative, “From Orchard to Outpost,” has also launched, connecting farmers directly with soldiers. Volunteers purchase fresh mangoes from orchards and deliver them as gifts to army bases across Israel. “The idea is simple — rather than letting mangoes rot on the trees, we buy them directly from farmers, supporting them, and at the same time send them to soldiers guarding our borders,” the organizers said.

The project uses crowdfunding: a donation of five shekels funds one kilogram of mangoes, supporting farmers while giving soldiers a taste of home. So far, three tons of mangoes have reached military units across the country. “We’re all reservists,” said Erez, one of the volunteers. “Small contributions create a big difference — farmers get hope, and soldiers enjoy a real treat from home.”