Saving the Dates by Jamil Akhtar
Pakistan is one of the largest producers and exporters of dates in the world. Date palms are grown in all four provinces on an area of about 90,000 hectares that yield more than 500,000 metric tons of fruit every year. The fruit is exported both fresh and dried. Every year, the fruit is harvested between July and September. District Khairpur in Sindh province, the date capital of the country, starts buzzing with activity. Labor for fruit picking, processing, packing and transporting starts arriving from all over Sindh and even Balochistan and Punjab provinces. Work starts early in the morning and goes on till sunset. Iqrar Ali Jatoi belongs to a family of date farmers who have been in this business for several generations. Iqrar Ali Jatoi is a date farmer. He owns 1,500 date palms spread over an area of 40 acres in Therri, District Khairpur. He received most of these trees as his father’s legacy. Date farming is his primary source of income. The little time he has left fro...