Heatwave hammers Thailand's stinky but lucrative durian farms

Heat causes the durian to ripen faster, so it does not grow to its fullest – and most valuable – size. - PHOTO: AFP

CHANTABURI, Thailand (AFP): Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian labourer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague's waiting arms some 15 metres (50 feet) below.

Among Thailand's most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent "king of fruits" is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years.