KOCHI, March 2 — Shipments of Tosa Buntan pomelos grown outdoors are in full swing in Tosa, Kochi Prefecture.
Farms’ work areas and fruit sorting facilities are filled with liveliness of workers and the fresh scent of the citrus fruit that signals the coming of spring.
The city of Tosa is where the pomelos were born and it is also the nation’s top producing area of the fruit.
In the city, the fruit is cultivated by 94 farms that belong to the Tosa Buntan growers’ group of JA Kochi, a local agricultural cooperative.
Tosa Buntan pomelos are harvested between December and January. They are then kept outside in temporary storage places made with boards and plastic sheets to undergo afterripening.
The storage places are covered with straw to protect the fruits from changes in temperature and humidity.
In about a month, the pomelos’ sourness goes away and they turn sweet and mellow.
Nozomu Ike (right) and his wife Sachi open temporary storage places for Tosa Buntan pomelos located in between the citrus fruit trees.
Roughly 15 tons of the pomelos are sorted each day at JA Kochi’s Hewa collection and shipping area. The farm coop expects to ship a total of roughly 600 tons by mid-March.