Demand for 'timun suri' low due to rain

Demand for 'timun suri' low due to rain

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For Jakartans, one of their favorite fruits to break the fast is
timun suri, a kind of melon widely available during Ramadhan.

The fruit is usually served with ice and syrup to make a sweet
thirst quencher for breaking the fast.

Demand for timun suri usually starts two days prior to the
holy month. The fruit can be found in markets and sidewalk
stalls.

The vendors usually get their supplies from farmers from Kebon
Jeruk, West Jakarta; Parung, West Bogor; and Cirebon, West Java.

In Kebon Jeruk and Parung, the farmers do not only supply
vendors in Jakarta. They also open stalls beside the roads
connecting the suburbs to the capital, hoping that motorists will
buy their harvests.

These farmers, who usually plant vegetables, grow timun suri
at a certain time so the fruit can be harvested prior to
Ramadhan.

However, farmers and vendors this year will likely experience
a slump in sales of the fruit.

"The demand for timun suri is surprisingly small. I used to
sell the fruit for Rp 2,000 (23 U.S. cents) per kilogram at the
beginning of the fasting month. Now I have to sell them for only
Rp 1,000 per kilogram," Zaenal, a farmer from Kebon Jeruk, told
The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Zaenal and his fellow farmers in the area blamed the arrival
of rainy season for the drop in sales.

"Rain has made the weather cooler so Muslims who fast don't
have such a strong thirst anymore. That's why they reduced their
consumption of timun suri as a thirst quencher," he said.

Sondari, a vendor in Bendungan Hilir traditional market,
Central Jakarta, echoed the complaints.

"You can see that only a few timun suri have been sold today,"
he said, pointing to a pile of the fruit.

The vendor, who came from Cirebon with around 300 kilograms of
timun suri, said that some of his fruit had started to turn sour.

"When the fruit's skin starts to break, it means it is
starting to decay and we have no choice but to throw it away," he
said.

The reduced demand has forced him to sell the fruit at Rp
1,000 per piece, around a kilogram, down from the usual price of
Rp 2,000.

"The profit will barely cover the cost of transporting the
fruit to the city."