Watermelon festival takes place in Pavlodar

A watermelon festival took place in Pavlodar. This year, farmers collected a rich harvest of melons. On average, 400 hundredweight per hectare. And all thanks to the agriculture technologies, which have been actively used in recent years. Farmers of the region grew several types of watermelons on 2,000 hectares of land.

“If in the past we used rainwater in the old fashioned way for the crops to grow and ripen, now, the new drip irrigation system allows our farmers to get the harvest sooner. Residents of the regional center have already tried our products. In addition, we sell our watermelons and melons throughout the country,” Abzal Balgabayev, governor of Akkuly district in the Pavlodar Region, said.

“We have many exclusive varieties of melons. For example, they can be yellow from the inside, but green outside, or just yellow and orange both outside and out. We have developed the last two varieties through pollination,” melon grower Kairat Shapuov shared.

The watermelon festival is held annually in the region. This year, over a thousand people gathered for a sweet event. Local farmers brought more than five tonnes of watermelons and melons. Guests were surprised by the variety of exotic products. Foreigners were among those who tasted the sweet treat.

“This is the first time I’ve attended such a beautiful fest. I really liked the idea of celebrating Watermelon Day. I've tried everything here and liked all of them. Trust me, I’ve never seen yellow watermelons before. And they do exist,” tourist from the United States, Amilie Wren, said.

Pavlodar watermelons are popular not only in the country, but also abroad. According to forecasts, it is planned to harvest up to 80 tonnes of crops this year. 30 percent of them will be sent to Russia.