Dubai- Massader News
A Lebanese agricultural hobbyist has grown what he says is the biggest pumpkin in the Middle East and North Africa region this year in the village of Kayfoun south of the capital Beirut, according to Alarabiya.
As fall begins to settle in up in Lebanon’s mountainous villages, Abdul Salam Mohammad al-Mughrabi harvested a gigantic 341-kg. pumpkin that had grown for 120 days in his field behind his townhouse.
“I planted the special seed which I purchased from the United States in May 2020 and took very good and special care of the farming process … [and] on September 20 we garnered the region’s biggest pumpkin that weighed 341 kg.,” Abdul Salam told Al Arabiya English.
An agricultural enthusiast, Abdul Salam has been growing pumpkins for the past four years. This year, he broke his personal record, which he recorded in 2019 when he harvested an 89-kilogram pumpkin.
The 55-year-old father of three inherited the love farming from his 90-year-old father, Mohammad al-Mughrabi, who is a farmer himself and still manages his own farmsteads in Saida, a southern Lebanese city.
When asked if he could confirm that his pumpkin was the largest in the MENA region, he responded saying, “Definitely it is.”
“Actually, when I harvested a giant pumpkin which weighed 89 kilograms in 2019, nobody had reaped a pumpkin fruit bigger than that. Last year’s pumpkin took massive publicity locally but not in the MENA, unlike this year’s which is the biggest,” he said. “If one Googles the region’s biggest pumpkin, records will show the 341-kg. pumpkin.”
Abdul Salam said he constantly contacts Ron Wallace, a US-based world-record holder pumpkin grower, who supplies the Lebanese pumpkin grower with seeds and tips for how to grow the gigantic vegetables.
“He always gives me tips and provides me with solutions in case I faced any hurdles while growing the pumpkin. When, and if, anything goes wrong during growth, Ron constantly gives me the right tips and solutions.”
Abdul Salam said he plants his seeds in May each year, but this year, warm weather made the growing process difficult, especially in the August heat.