Thailand’s deepening labour shortage roils harvest as unpicked fruits rot

Ripe mangosteen and rambutan hang unpicked from trees in eastern Thailand, where a shortage of migrant workers is forcing growers to decide which crops are valuable enough to harvest and which will be left to rot.

For Jomsak Putirattana, who also grows durian in Chanthaburi province, the departure of his five Cambodian workers after a border dispute disrupted crossings has intensified competition for labour.

Daily wages have more than doubled in some cases, from about 350 baht to 400 baht (US$10 to US$12) to as much as 800 baht to 1,000 baht, he said, making some lower-value crops too costly to harvest.

‘We have to choose which fruit to harvest and leave the lower-priced fruit to rot on the trees,’ a farmer says