However, for several days now, at the peak of production and technical ripeness, the selling price has fallen sharply. At the wholesale market in Divjakë, which is flooded with watermelons, the price ranges according to quality from 70 to 100 old lek per kg.

Farmers say they have been standing in the market for three days without managing to sell a single kilogram. According to them, the situation is becoming even more worrying for the produce still in the fields, as the high temperatures are pushing it into over-ripeness with every passing hour, leaving it with no market value.

Collection points as well, more than 34 of them, are taking in very small quantities, while some have already closed their doors. It is suspected that exporting companies in the region and beyond have secured markets outside Albania, where production costs and, consequently, prices are lower than in Divjakë.

The situation is expected to worsen even further, as two other large areas planting more than 500 hectares, the areas of Imshta and Tërbuf, have begun bringing their first quantities of watermelon to market, while thousands of tons continue to remain in the fields of Divjakë.

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