![Fruit stand.](https://a7.org/files/pictures/781x439/244616.jpg)
The year 2011 will be a record year in Israel's fruit yield with a total of 690,000 tons of fruit produced, according to Ilan Eshel, director of the Fruit Growers' Organization. The branch grew quantitatively by 2% this year and has grown by 10% over the last four years.
Bananas and apples were at the top of the fruit bowl with 141,000 tons and 105 tons respectively. They were followed by peaches and nectarines at 75,000 tons each, grapes for consumption (71,000 tons) and avocado (70,000 tons).
Eshel said that the rise in orchard acreage and fruit yields poses "a meaningful challenge" regarding the supply of the branch's resource requirements, and in marketing the produce. "There are branches like pomegranates that have grown too fast," he added, and they are expected to experience a surplus, mostly on the local market, until a balance is struck between supply and demand.
Despite the good crops, growers complain that the government is not giving them needed assistance. Eshel said that the number of foreign laborers allowed into Israel is diminishing and that water is scarcer and more expensive than it was.