Unemployment: Seasol fruits- a ray of hope for women

A REPORTER

SHILLONG, April 25: Driven by the lack of employment in the state hundreds of people mostly women from the suburbs and villages has taken up seasol basket fruit selling to support their family.

Nearly all the seasol fruit sellers come from rural villages to the city carrying with them a variety of freshly cut fruits in a basket. The fruit sellers would normally sell their fruits near schools and office areas.

Speaking to this scribe, one seasol fruit seller from Mawlynrei said, “I come from a very poor family and recently there was a cyclonic storm in my village and it destroyed most of my crops and to support my family I had to take up this job.”

She said the uvailability of jobs has made it difficult for most people especially those in villages to sustain their family.

“I’m a farmer but since most of my crops have been damaged in the recent cyclonic storm I had to take up this job of selling freshly cut fruits to take care of my own family,” she said.

Informing that most of the fruits are being bought from Iewduh (Bara bazaar), she said, “Sometimes we make a profit of Rs. 50 per day. However on a really hot day we can make a profit up to Rs. 150 but this at times is not enough to take care of our family.”

Another, basket fruit seller from Smit said that the business of freshly cut fruits is not something they can depend upon to support their family since it’s a seasol business.

Asked on how she will be able to sustain her income when the summer seasons is over, she said, “Well as of right now most of the seasol fruit sellers are taking up this job but once the season is over most of us will be getting back to farming.”

She informed that many people even those residing in the city are taking up the job of selling freshly cut seasol fruit in order to sustain their own families.