Irbid: The heat wave causes the leaves of olive trees to burn and their fruits to fall

Arab Weather - The rise in temperatures to unprecedented levels in Irbid, led to the burning of the leaves of olive trees and the dropping of their fruits, and some drying out in different areas in the governorate of Irbid.

In a report for tomorrow, farmers pointed out that the high temperatures at this time of the year caused the fall of the olives, especially since the olives are at the beginning of their ripeness and need moderate heat in order to grow.

They emphasized that the high temperature and the crossing of the 40 degree barrier in Irbid governorate caused the olive fruit to "wrinkle" and discolor it black before the date of its picking.

The farmer, Muhammad Bani Salama, confirmed that olive trees and fruits in the traffic areas were not affected by the heat wave, pointing out that the high temperatures this month to unprecedented levels led to wrinkles in the olive fruits, their small size and fall.

He pointed out that the continuing effect of the heat wave would cause "olive leaf blight", which would lead to yellowing of the olive tree, which would greatly increase the dryness and fall of the fruits.

Ahmed Al Samam'a pointed out that olive fruits in the western region of Irbid are more likely to fall than others in the governorate areas, due to the insufficient thickness of the soil that does not usually retain moisture sufficiently.

He pointed out that they were unable to irrigate olive trees with water because it was often not available, in addition to the inability of farmers to purchase special tanks to irrigate the trees.

He emphasized that farmers depend on rain water to irrigate olive trees and store the soil for that water, but the high temperatures cause the soil to run out of moisture and thus its need for irrigation.

Farmer Saeed Al-Mestarihi pointed out that he owns tens of dunams of olive trees in the Koura district, explaining that this season is good for the abundance of fruits on the olive tree, but the high temperatures will spoil the farmers' joy with the low production.

He stressed that he was pleased with this season due to the abundance of production, noting that the high cost of water prevents irrigation of olive trees to keep the olive fruit from falling off.

Irbid Governorate Council member Hussein Raqaybat said that high temperatures will weaken the fruit of the olive tree, as the tree is forced to feed from the fruit and thus reduce the amount of oil.

He pointed out that most of the trees that are planted in regions, such as Al-Nabali Al-Mohsen, Spanish and Greek, do not cope with high temperatures, except for Al-Baladi Al-Roumi.

He added that there is a problem that began to appear in olive trees, which is the erosion of the olive fruit due to the presence of “mites” in it, which threatens to drop large quantities of olive fruits.

He pointed out that the high temperatures at this time of the year caused the fall of the olive fruits, especially since the olives are at the beginning of their ripeness and need moderate heat in order to grow.

The agricultural engineer, Firas Al-Tamimi, said that the great rise in temperatures during the past weeks had not been witnessed during the time of the "flowering decade", which helped the fruits to ripen.

He pointed out that there is an impact on the olive fruits due to the loss of moisture in the badlands, where the size of the soil is little thick, which will contribute to reducing the quantities of production.

The head of the Jordanian Society for Human and Environment Development, Dr. Ahmad Jaber Al-Shuraida, confirmed that the long and unusual period of heat that affected the region will have negative effects on most fruit trees, including the olive tree.

He pointed out that one of the primary results of the high temperatures is the withering of olives, which leads to a decrease in the percentage of fat in the fruits, and thus a weakening of the total output for the next agricultural season.

He said that the high temperatures will lead to the weakness of olive trees and the spread of many diseases, especially the stem borer, which activates the causes of dry roots.

In turn, the Director of Irbid Agriculture, Dr. Abdul Wali Al-Tahat, said that due to the weather conditions that prevailed in the region during the month of August, activity of the olive fruit fly appeared, and it led to the fall of fruits reaching about (10-15%) of the fruits and that at the end of the month (8) And at the beginning of the month (9), a heat wave appeared and led to the cessation of the insect's activity.

He confirmed that the fall of the olives was caused by the injury. Where the Directorate distributed traps to monitor the fly and its extent of spread and distributed food traps attractive to monitor the pest, which led to a reduction of infection, in addition to implementing field guided tours to farmers.

The chefs expected that the production of this season will reach 73 thousand tons of olives in the governorate of Irbid, of which 68 thousand tons will be turned into oil and 5 thousand tons will be converted into pickles.