Pomegranates of Al Jabal Al-Akhdar
By Conrad Prabhu
Pomegranate cultivation ensures rich takings for farmers of Al Jabal al Akhdar.
Nizwa souq resounds with the full-throated cries of dalals — professional auctioneers who, for a small share of the proceeds, offer their unique huckstering skills to help clients win good bargains over anything from livestock and farm produce to vintage muskets and even priceless antique jewellery.
But their attention these days is on a seasonal money-spinner — pomegranates — which arrive by pick-up from nearby Al Jabal al Akhdar (also called the Green Mountain). Every morning, buyers, sellers and dalals alike congregate in the shadow of the majestic Nizwa Fort to haggle over this prized fruit from the jabals. With premium pomegranates fetching as much as RO 7.500 per basket of 10 pieces, the fruit is ensuring rich takings for the jabal’s farming community. The September-October season spawns a Mediterranean-style fruit fest in Al Jabal al Akhdar, as orchards turn mellow with the full-blown goodness of luscious fruit — pomegranates, grapes, pears, apricots, plums, peaches, figs, walnuts and almonds, among others. But it’s the pomegranate that takes centre-stage during this season. The word rumman (meaning pomegranate in Arabic) is on everyone’s lips as people partake of an annual harvest that is in itself a celebration of Al Jabal al Akhdar’s glorious summertime Mediterranean-style clime. Moreover, the fruit represents the single largest and most valuable source of income for growers in the jabals.
Orchards apart, pomegranate trees are a ubiquitous sight in the jabal’s remote villages and towns. They grow along mountainous pathways near villages or in the backyards of homes and government offices in the jabals. In many homes and offices, the pomegranate has replaced dates as the traditional token of a host’s welcome, albeit only during the season. Al Jabal al Akhdar’s famed fruit orchards are typically laid out terrace-style along the slopes of mountains, which are blessed with natural springs and aflaj. The most picturesque of these settings are the terraced gardens of Al Ayn — one of some eight pomegranate-growing villages clinging perilously to the side of a mountain close to Saiq — Al Jabal al Akhdar’s main town. Hamed bin Ahmed al Mayahi is one of 20 fruit growers in Al Ayn, where the pomegranate has been the village’s mainstay crop for generations. His modest-sized orchard boasts just 30-odd, yet bountifully laden, pomegranate trees, apart from a small collection of grape plants and lemon trees. The fruit, he says, is not merely a source of income for the jabal’s farmers, but an essential element of Al Jabal al Akhdar’s sparse, yet very distinctive natural heritage. Interestingly, Oman is the only Gulf country where the pomegranate tree thrives outside the Middle East and Mediterranean regions.
April marks the start of the flowering season when each pomegranate tree breaks into blooms of white or red flowers. These mature into seedy fruit that acquire a mellow red hue when exposed to the sun. The pomegranate is ready for harvest during September and, by mid-October, the last of this prized fruit is picked. Legend has it that the fruit tree was first introduced to these mountains by Imam Saif bin Sultan al Ya’arubi, a central figure in Omani history who is credited with driving out colonial invaders from Oman in the mid 17th Century.
A single shrub of this sapling, believed to have been obtained from India or elsewhere, has since burgeoned into a thriving crop dominating Al Jabal al Akhdar’s agriculture sector. Furthermore, the fruit’s health properties are so extolled that the pomegranate has entered the realm of local lore. Not only is it said to be good for digestion and the heart, the fruit’s purported aphrodisiacal qualities are much-touted by people here. Interestingly, the fruit was associated with both fertility and death in classical mythology.
Oman is the only Gulf country where the pomegranate tree thrives outside the Middle East and Mediterranean regions
It is said the goddess Aphrodite planted it on the island of Cyprus. When Persephone, the goddess of fertility, ate a few of its seeds on a visit to Hades, she was forced to return there for four months of every year. Local mountain lore also has it that the many-seeded fruit has one translucent seed in it that bears a divine blessing. For the blessing to be invoked therefore, every seed of the fruit has to be eaten, it is said. Rationalists however say there is a practical message underlining this piece of village lore: No part of the fruit should go waste. In past times, the pomegranate rind was dried and boiled with water to extract a brew said to be good for de-worming and skin ailments, says Al Mayahi. The soft inedible, fleshy part of the fruit is still recommended as a home remedy against ulcers.
Water is key to the jabal’s often bounteous pomegranate crop. A network of channels fed by cool, crystal springs, nourishes Al Ayn’s fruit orchards. The channels follow a serpentine course all the way down the mountains slope, leading to the terraced gardens at various intervals. Locally grown pomegranates are in great demand in much of northern Oman. Growers often cart their fruit in pick-ups to markets as far afield as Rustaq, Bahla, Samayil, Fanja, Seeb and Muscat. Some quantities of this choice fruit are also transported to markets in the United Arab Emirates. Nizwa souq, however, is the main trading hub for this crop, with up to 20,000 pieces of the fruit changing hands on a single weekend, according to Salem bin Amor al Rumaidi, one of Nizwa’s best-known auctioneers.
Crates of pomegranates arrive at the Nizwa souq for the daily fruit auction.
“Pomegranates are more expensive this year, largely because of strong demand. We have at least 40 pick-up loads arriving at the souk for the weekend auction, and everything gets sold within two hours. In fact, more and more farmers are taking to pomegranate cultivation because of the good returns,” he said.
With healthy profits guaranteed for all involved in the pomegranate business, the local trading community is witnessing strong growth in its numbers as well. Most are part-time traders holding regular jobs in government and private business, but take time off during the season to share in this seasonal bounty.
Khalifa Said al Omairi, who works for the Ministry of Health, is a regular at Nizwa’s pomegranate wholesale auction. He buys between 500-1,000 pieces of the fruit and sells them retail on a side street near Nizwa Fort, earning a healthy 15-20 per cent in profits. Average sized pomegranates cost a pricey RO 5-6 per basket of 10 fruit. Many opt for smaller sized fruit, and those with ruptured peels, which sell for around RO 2 per set of 10.
— Pictures by Abdullah Ibrahim al Shuhi
Oman Observer 28th September 2003
