Date | Pakistan

KHAIRPUR: In blazing temperatures, Muhammad Idrees ladles boiled dates from a vat simmering over an open flame, work that labourers lament is getting hotter each year in Sindh. Date season arrives in July, when temperatures in the province regularly hit the mid-40 degrees Celsius. 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 labourers. Labourers begin work around 2am to avoid the worst of the daytime heat Idrees, who has worked the date harvest for more than a decade, said the heat has now become “unbearable”. Date labourers are one of many professions in Pakistan that are becoming more difficult and dangerous as temperatures rise. “It used to be less intense,” Idrees told AFP as temperatures hit 42°C. “The heat is much harsher and the days are e...