Demand for watermelons surges in Islamabad

Besides fruit shops, vendors selling juicy fruit at roadside stalls, pickups

ISLAMABAD: With the rise in mercury level before the onset of monsoon season, the sale of juicy watermelons in Islamabad has surged too.

The affordable juicy fruit offers respite from heat besides many other health benefits including safety from heatstroke.

Due to its increased demand, several stalls have sprung up in different markets and areas of the city. Some watermelon sellers sell it directly from trucks parked on the roadsides while some have occupied corner spaces in different markets and bazaars.

During a survey on Saturday, The Express Tribune witnessed several roadside stalls and trucks in different markets including Abpara, Melody, Shakarparian  Peshawar Road, Karachi Company, Bara Kahu and Tarnol.

Health experts say that the fruit has numerous health benefits while it helps overcome dehydration in the body. They added that if eaten on an empty stomach in the morning, the fruit helps to treat various gastrointestinal diseases.

Besides this, the juicy fruit also helps reducing acidity levels in the body. Watermelon wholesalers said that that the fruit was brought to the Islamic vegetable market in the federal capitals from Lahore, Gujranwala, and Jhelum.

“A truck contains around 15,000 watermelons that are sold between Rs10 and Rs30 per kilogramme (kg),” said Hassan Ali a bulk trader of fruit.

Abu Sufyan, one of the traders in the Islamabad vegetable market, told The Express Tribune that their work was season-based as it starts from mid- April and ends by the end of August. He added that in March, they give orders for the required quantity to the farmers. Sufyan informed that most of the fruit sellers purchase watermelons per maund (40kg) from them.

Further, apart from selling the heat-killer fruit as a whole, some street hawkers sell it in sliced forms to help people beat the heat. One such vendor, Abdul Rehman, said that he first cleans the fruit after purchasing it and then cut in small slices. “We keep the slices in ice and present it to the customers as per their demand,” he added.

Rehman informed that he sells plates of chilled, sliced melon for Rs10 and Rs20 which differ in size and quantity of the slices in them. Several people like to take the fruit in sliced form as  parcel as well, the hawker added.

However, he decried about inflation and said that it was only until last year that the transportation cost was quite low. However, it has increased this year particularly due to the lockdown restrictions.

Rehman also complained that the traffic police and the district officials also cause inconvenience to street vendors.

Some elements in police take freebies threatening to lock up the whole pushcart for encroachment if the vendor does not oblige to a few servings of free melon slices.

He called for the government to devise any policy for the poor vendors like him who find it hard to make their ends meet due to high inflation. Rehman said he, like other vendors, had to work quite hard from morning to evening, lamenting that they only earn enough to scratch a living.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2020.