Throughout history, Afghanistan has been known for its fantastic fruits — watermelons, figs, and grapes bursting with phenomenal flavor. But wartime conflict and difficult forecasting have made it hard for farmers to get their fruits to market.
Now, according to a New York Times report, an entire TON of watermelons costs just $11 — and Afghan officials are doing what they can to move their melons.
The president made a melon decree
To help farmers sell off a melon crop that was twice as large as expected, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered public officials to buy watermelons and give them to the thousands of soldiers spread across Afghanistan.
Since melon producers soon discovered that they needed to form associations to get their melons to the military, moving the melons took longer than expected.
But nevertheless, local officials report that melons are starting to sell to military units as melon associations get off the ground.
The melon decree was a sweet idea…
And now, farmers are launching social media campaigns to encourage people to munch more melon.
Thanks to increasing interest in the melons, prices in some cities have already rebounded to hit 4x their low points from earlier in the month.