Israeli farmers are being forced to allow 60,000 dunams of fruit trees to be destroyed due to a shortage of fresh water allocated for irrigation, Israeli Fruit Growers Association Director Ilan Eshel told Haaretz.

The orchards hit hardest are those who have not moved over to irrigating with treated waste water. 

The result of the cuts will be a drop in production of 150,000 tons of fruit and a possible rise in fruit costs in 2009 of from 35 to 100 percent. The fruit expected to be affected are apples, pears, cherries, mangos, figs, loquats, lychees and bananas. Eshel says many farmers will be forced to leave the profession.