Just at the end of last week, the first sweet cherries of the new season appeared in Uzbek supermarkets—and now farmers are reporting that the first watermelons have ripened. According to EastFruit, small batches of early watermelon varieties are now ready for shipment by farmers in Kashkadarya Region, one of the southernmost areas of Uzbekistan.
A video showing the first ripe watermelons of the 2025 season surfaced on social media on April 21, 2025. According to the blogger who posted the video, the footage was taken in the Kukdala district of Kashkadarya, the region currently supplying the initial early watermelon batches to the domestic market.
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This year’s harvest began around the same time as in 2024 and 2023, with only a few days’ difference. Large wholesale shipments of new-season watermelons are expected to become available in about three weeks. In 2023, wholesale volumes entered the market by mid-May, while in 2024, they became available in the latter part of May.
As EastFruit reported in September 2023, farmers in Kashkadarya Region—Uzbekistan’s key watermelon-growing area—have in recent years increasingly focused on early-ripening varieties, aiming to supply export volumes as early as possible to tap into international markets ahead of competitors.
In particular, in the Kukdala district, the use of bi-tunnel, unheated greenhouse technology for growing early watermelons is gaining popularity. Each year, the production volumes of early watermelon varieties grown in protected environments continue to increase.
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