In blazing temperatures, Muhammad Idrees ladles boiled dates from a vat simmering over an open flame, work that laborers lament is getting hotter each year in Pakistan’s southern Sindh Province.Date season arrives in July, when temperatures in Sindh regularly hit the mid-40°C. Workers start before sunrise, and split the day into short shifts, but the heat soon catches up with them. Their gruelling routine involves harvesting and boiling fruit picked from palms that line Khairpur District, which produces more than half the country’s dates, and supports thousands of farmers and seasonal laborers.
A worker carries dates at a palm orchard in Khairpur, Pakistan, on July 28.
Idrees, who has worked the date harvest for more than a decade, said the heat has now become “unbearable.”Date laborers are one of many professions in Pakistan that are becoming more difficult and dangerous as temperatures rise.
“The heat is much harsher and the days are extremely hot. We fall ill because of it,” he said. Multiple workers said they often suffer heatstroke, fainting and fever.“When the heat makes us sick, we go to the doctor for treatment and then return to work,” he added.Pakistan is among the countries globally most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The country has experienced increasingly frequent heatwaves, erratic monsoon rains and devastating floods.Workers descend on date farms to begin work at about 2am to avoid the worst of the daytime heat and take a break before continuing until the late evening.Idrees said the physically demanding work earns him about 1,200 Pakistani rupees (US$4.31) a day.“We harvest the dates, load them onto trolleys and bring them here,” he said. “They are boiled over the fire and then spread outside in the sun to dry.”Pakistan, the world’s fifth-largest date producer, normally earns more than US$120 million a year in exports, according to industry estimates.Date farmer Shahnawaz Phulpoto, who owns more than 1,500 palm trees, said that heavy monsoon rains from shifting weather patterns have hampered date crops and caused financial losses.For now, the main challenge is the heat, he added.“The temperature rises every year,” he said. “We are seeing the effects of climate change every year.”
