One of the most coveted and expensive fruits in Israel is none other than the strawberry we all know, which boasts an exorbitant price tag ranging from NIS 60-80 per single kilo, when the supply is low and the price even doubles. All strawberry varieties sold in Israel are based on local production and according to farmers this is one of the reasons for the high prices
You ask yourself, why are the prices of strawberries in Israel so high compared to other countries in the world? Well, Uri Rabinovich, a veteran strawberry grower from Moshav Tzofit in Sharon, has an explanation. According to him, the matter lies in the rate at which the fruit develops until ripening. Strawberry seeds are planted during September, depending on the variety, and harvesting is done in waves from November to late May. The total production of strawberries in Israel amounts to about 7 tons per dunam, all season. The problem, according to Rabinovich, lies in the fact that the ripening of the fruit occurs in waves.
“Harvesting begins in November, and the average production is about 40 kg per dunam,” he tells Anat Georgi from The Marker. It already has 750 kg of fruit per dunam, and between February and May the average monthly production is 1.5 tons per dunam. “This means that while demand is at its peak, supply is small, and prices can initially reach NIS 130 per kg. Over time, supply increases, the price begins to fall, until in March it reaches NIS 15 per kilogram, but the quality of the strawberry, which needs cold to protect it from pests, is also affected.
Another reason for the high prices in the market, says Nir Dai, a researcher at the Volcanic Institute who has been researching strawberries for many years, develops new varieties and is called Dr. Strawberry, is the fact that some farmers advance planting to get more produce in November. Strawberries, but then the seedling stops bearing fruit until the next wave, and in fact there is a break in production – which increases the shortage of fruit and raises the price. ” “Dai tells The Marker.”
What explains, perhaps most of all, the high prices is the fact that the strawberries sold in Israel are based on local production, in fact the Ministry of Agriculture does not approve of importing strawberries to Israel, nor is there any export. Although Israeli farmers exported strawberries to Europe until 2008, and marketed only the leftovers in Israel, as one farmer honestly said, competition there intensified, prices dropped and it was no longer profitable for them to export.
In case you did not know by now, strawberry or garden strawberry is neither a vegetable nor a fruit. Botanically it is an imaginary fruit, as it grows straight from the stem.
The strawberry belongs to the rose family, along with raspberries, pears, apricots, almonds and cherries. It is estimated that the strawberry in its current form was created 250 years ago in the Palace of Versailles in France, in the botanical gardens of King Louis XV. .