Public rallies to help pumpkin farmers

The first –ever pumpkin festival showcased pumpkin dishes at Green path yesterday, which attracted large crowds- Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

• First-ever Pumpkin Farmers Festival held in Colombo  
• Event attracts big crowd, thousands of kilos of pumpkin sold 
• New uses of pumpkin conveyed to consumers
• Balance crop to be purchased and profit to be given to farmers
• Festival likely to return next harvest 

By Ruwandi Gamage

An estimated 100,000 kg of pumpkin were stacked along Green Path yesterday for the first-ever ‘Pumpkin Farmers Festival’ to aid farmers struggling to sell a bumper harvest and recoup their loans.

The event attracted massive crowds who bought generous amounts of pumpkin. In order to facilitate better profits and to promote the crop amongst consumers, Coexist Foundation together with Sarvodaya Development Finance had collaborated with hoteliers, chefs and Ayurveda physicians and organised this festival, providing a platform for farmers to sell their crops and also providing consumers with many different uses of pumpkin. At Rs. 100 a fruit, the festival also had a variety of stalls selling pumpkin soup, pumpkin cakes, boiled pumpkin with desiccated coconut and chili sambol, pumpkin dessert, as well as educating the public about the cosmetic uses of pumpkin, medicinal uses of pumpkin and also showcasing pumpkin carvings. 

Stating that the event hosted 25 farmers to sell their crops of about 100,000 kg and that if the need arises, they are up to the challenge of continuing this event, Sarvodaya Development Finance CEO Nilantha Jayanetti conveyed his delight at the huge success of the event.

“We wanted to help these farmers. We saw them struggle to sell their crops. So, the initiative was to help these farmers make profits from this bumper harvest. The festival was a success and we are happy we were able to support these farmers. We will purchase the balance pumpkin after the sales today from these farmers; they will not be sent back home empty-handed,” Jayanetti told Daily FT.

The organisers had arranged transportation of these pumpkins free of charge. Farmers at the venue expressed their appreciation for the initiative and were grateful for their higher earnings. 

“We brought in a harvest of 24,000 kilos of pumpkin to the festival today and more than half of it is sold already. This festival even educated us more about the remarkable uses and benefits of pumpkin. We go back home happy that today was a success,” said pumpkin farmers Aruna Pushpakumara and M. Wijayarathne.