AGRICULTURAL NEWS - The effects of a violent hailstorm in the Lowveld on 27 May will be felt by fruit and macadamia farmers for a long time to come, according to Barend van Rensburg, Agri Mpumalanga representative in the Nelspruit area.
Vast areas of citrus orchards in the Komatipoort and Malelane districts were wiped out by the thunderstorm, which produced hailstones as large as golf balls, Van Rensburg said.
He said that some farmers had lost their entire crop of oranges due to be harvested over the next three months.
The trees had suffered such as serious damage that it would take them up to three years to be fully productive again.
The icy deluge had also destroyed vegetables on the brink of being harvested. There was some respite for macadamia farmers: although the trees had been damaged by the hailstones, the nuts that had fallen were left relatively unscathed because of their strong shells.
