Rifaqat Abbas, a resident of Chakwal’s Thanil Fatohi village, was looking content while plucking fresh melons from his field. The reason: the yield was not only satisfactory but its size was also good.

But, he had a regret which was his intentional failure to cultivate the crop on a larger area.

“In the past years, the crop had been an utter failure as it could not withstand the unpredicted hailstorm and the invasion of pests. That’s why this year I only cultivated melons on a small area of six kanals,” Mr Abbas toldDawn.

Till a decade ago Chakwal was famous for producing desi melons. These melons grown in arid areas were sweet and juicy. Their aroma was also unique and could be sensed from a distance. Although these desi melons were of different kinds, with various sizes and shapes, the three major varieties were melons with lines, having rough skin and those with plain skin. The melons having lines are called ‘Dalli wali khakri’,those with rough skin are called ‘Sarda khakri’ and those with plain skin are called ‘Tumba khakri or Arif wali khakri’ in local parlance.

Agriculture Department never paid heed towards this important cash crop

Sarda khakri (melons with rough skin) was not only big in size, weighing two to three kg, but also sweet and juicy. Unfortunately Chakwal’s famous variety of melons has disappeared. Although the other two varieties ‘Dalli wali khakri’ and ‘Tumba khakri’ still survive the test of time, they too have lost their unique taste for which they were known till two decades ago.

Chakwal’s villages like Thanil Fatohi, Dhakku, Jamalwal, Doray and Mona were leading villages in melon production. Buyers used to fetch truckloads of melons from these villages on a daily basis and transported them to big cities of Punjab. But at present the production of Chakwal’s melons has fallen drastically. Melons produced in limited yield are consumed within Chakwal itself.

What went wrong with Chakwal’s famous fruit? The growers blame the melon fly and agriculture department.

“Until 15 to 20 years ago melon fly did not exist in Chakwal but after its invasion the crop suffered a lot,” says Amir Mukhtar, a farmer from Jamalwal village.

This melon fly attacks the plants when they are in nascent stages with two to three leaves. The fly eats up the leaves within a few days, rendering the crop crippled.

“The solution to control this pest is to use pesticide two to three times with intervals of four to five days but most farmers fail to do that,” says Mohammad Siddique, a farmer from Thanil Fatohi village.

The second reason which has led to the fall of melon production in Chakwal is the freak weather as unpredicted hailstorm lashes the area in the month of May damaging the plants.

The sowing season of melons starts in the last week of March and lasts up to the third week of April. The old farmers in Chakwal used to say that if melons were cultivated on the first day of Visakh (the second month of Punjabi calendar which starts on April 14), first melon would be ripe on the first day of Haar (fourth month of Punjabi calendar which starts on June 15). The fruit lasts for a month.

When other crops are ready for harvesting, farmers race against time to secure their yield but in case of melons the grower and his family members pray that their crop lasts longer as they fetch money on a daily basis.

To secure the fruits from jackals, porcupines and other people, the growers install a hut of reeks in the fields and stay there during the whole season.

“This year I have cultivated melons on 2.5 acres and I got five to six bags of fruits on a daily basis which I was selling in the field,” says Mohammad Siddique.

One bag of 30 to 35kg of melons is sold between Rs1,200 to Rs2,000.

“It is very unfortunate that a fruit which was so famous in taste and high in yield till few years ago faced a setback. Instead of developing it like other crops the agriculture department never paid heed towards Chakwal’s major cash crop,” Amir Mukhtar said.

Ironically Chakwal has a research institute, Barani Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), which is responsible for developing the existing varieties of crops and introducing new varieties in the region but it also does not bother to develop melons.

When contacted, Deputy Director Agriculture Department Arif Malik said his department did not have any project to develop melons.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024