KOHAT: The first sweet crop of rare pinkish ‘Laal Dana’ guava has been harvested and marketed which is only found in famous Kaghazai orchards on Hangu Road here.

A fruit seller, Saleh Mohammad, said that only five to six cartons or crates of ‘Laal Dana’ were available daily as shopkeepers had to book them in advance along with yellow and green ones. Very few people recognise the Kaghazai fruit and majority confirms it before buying it from the shopkeeper.

An orchard owner, Naveed Khan, said the people had been eagerly waiting for the crop to arrive in the market because they had stopped the production in summer and preferred winter when the short-lived guava could survive for a day or two.

We don’t water the orchard in summer so there is no fruit. The shelf life of the perishable guava is just six hours in summer, he explained.

There is also fear of morning frost which destroys the whole crop. Once affected its growth stops and black scars appear on the fruit and it becomes hard. To protect the fruit from frost the owners cover the trees with plastic sheets in the night which are removed around 10am for sunlight, explained Naveed Khan.

Shakoor, who owns one of the biggest orchards in Kohat near Tanda Dam, said the ‘Laal Dana’ was famous for its eye-caching colour and sweetness, but was in short supply due to absence of rains.

Moreover, there are only some trees in an orchard which produce the ‘Laal Dana’. The guava orchard owners earn handsome amounts in winter that they have to do nothing in whole summer for earning a living, he said.

“I lease my orchard out for Rs1.2 million every year because maintaining, gathering of fallen fruit, plucking it and packing is a very difficult job. The plucking is most difficult where extreme care is taken that the ripe fruit does not fall on the ground,” says Shakoor.

Orchard owners said the fruit could reach only Peshawar in late summer and was also available in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad in the winter, but at exorbitant price.

Another fruit seller said that the growers had now started a new packing skill of filling the guava in cartons instead of wooden crates, saying in this way its life was increased and they could fetch a good price because of its good attractive impression.

Ali Mohammad, who works in Dubai, says the guava was taken to UAE and Saudi Arabia by friends because it was a two hours flight and passengers and the crew of the plane were mesmerized by its smell and could not resist it. “The people of Kohat working in UAE wait eagerly till winter to have the fruit.”

But, now the price of guava has gone beyond the reach of poor people because it sells at Rs200 per kilogramme in Peshawar and Rawalpindi, where most of the crop is ferried.

In Kohat, it sells at Rs80 per kilogramme in the beginning and then its price fluctuates between Rs130 to Rs150 in peak season which continues till February. It is also essential part of salad at the dining table in the district.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2017