Omanis Ali Mohammed and Misha'l selling homegrown produce at Dammam Port Road. (Saudi Gazette photo by Shabna Aziz)DAMMAM: Two Omani nationals, Ali Mohammed and Misha'l have been selling their homegrown organic produce in Saudi Arabia for the past seven years. They say that they have travelled all over the Kingdom and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Ali Mohammed and Misha'l sell tender coconuts, homemade honey, dried lemon, bukhur (fragrant oil-soaked wood that gives off a pleasant smell when burned), halwa (sweets) and baby bananas. These items come from Oman. Ali Mohammed said that they cross the border every week to sell their products and find good customers here. “We usually station ourselves at the Port Road in Dammam where people from all walks of life pass by. We get a lot of Saudi customers who are very interested in our homemade honey and bukhur,” he said. A coconut and a dozen bananas cost about SR5 respectively, whereas the price of the honey varies from SR100 to SR200 according to the size of the bottle. Abu Khalid, a Saudi national who stopped by, said that he is a regular customer of fresh honey and bukhur from the Omanis. “I feel the honey is authentic and my family likes the smell of the bukhur, especially my father,” he said. The coconuts and bananas are much cheaper than the ones found in supermarkets, says Basheer, an Indian national. “I am also a regular customer of the Omanis, because in major supermarkets where they sell Kerala food, one tender coconut would cost you around SR8 to SR9, while at the Omani truck it is only SR5. It is even fresher than the ones found in the supermarkets. Moreover, the truck makes me nostalgic because these kinds of bananas and coconuts are like those found in my homeland, Kerala,” said Basheer. Ali Mohammed and Misha'l say that the authorities have never stopped them from selling their products at the roadside. “So we take it as a ‘yes' on the part of the authorities and we are giving our customers organic products, which have no health hazards,” said Mohammed, while taking a few bananas from the bunch hanging from his truck for his next customer.
