In early July, in Beiling Town, Xiayi County, Shangqiu, Henan Province, the heat wave hit people, and after standing in the sun for a while, they were sweating profusely.
But the melon inspector Sun Hongkai couldn't care less about avoiding the sun. He held up a melon with his left hand, patted it with his right hand, touched the skin of the watermelon again, turned around and threw it to the loading master beside him: "Qualified!"
Since May, more than one million catties of Xiayi watermelons have been inspected by Sun Hongkai.
These watermelons are sent directly from Xiayi to consumers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and all over the country through the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo.
As a national geographical indication product, this summer, Xiayi watermelon was also included in Pinduoduo's "Fresh Goods in China" section, directly connecting 882 million consumers on the platform, allowing more people to feel the good taste and quality of Xiayi watermelon.
(Melon inspector Sun Hongkai is inspecting the watermelons pulled by the farmers one by one)
Gua Nong Le: Selling watermelons at your doorstep
Xiayi, located in eastern Henan, is located in the north-south climate transition zone and belongs to the warm temperate semi-humid monsoon climate zone with an annual average temperature of 14.1 °C.
There is sufficient sunlight throughout the year, moderate heat and cold, and four distinct seasons. The watermelons grown here are juicy and sweet, with tender meat.
For this reason, Xiayi is known as the hometown of watermelons in China and the first "hometown of watermelons" in Henan.
In Beiling Town, Xiayi County, the peak season of watermelon production and sales begins in early May every year. Along the main road of Beiling Town, going east, there is a watermelon trading point every 10 meters.
In order to ensure the freshness and maturity of the watermelons, Feng Dang, a melon farmer in Liuanlou Village, Beiling Town, went to the melon field early in the morning, picked a truck full of watermelons, and rushed to the watermelon trading point to line up.
"It's the second crop of melons now." Feng Dang said that compared with the past, after the development of e-commerce, it is now more convenient to sell melons. As long as the quality of their own melons is good, e-commerce merchants will take all the melons according to the order. The purchase price is also 1 to 15 cents higher than the retail price.
According to Feng Dang's estimation, the family's 30 acres of melon land can bring in more than 100,000 yuan in annual income.
Watermelon has gone further: the origin is sent directly to the whole country, and it is served on the table 48 hours
The slightly higher purchase price stems from the strict requirements of melon traders for the quality of watermelons.
Zou Gaolei is a businessman who bought watermelons from the melon farmer Feng Dang.
He opened a "Zhuoyi Fruit Fresh Store" in Pinduoduo, and won frequent repurchase by consumers with the excellent watermelon quality, and soon became the leading merchant of Pinduoduo's watermelon category.
"In order to satisfy consumers, we specially hired a melon inspector to check the quality of watermelons from the source." Zou Gaolei believes that "quality control" is the secret that his store can quickly stand out from the rest of Pinduoduo.
Zou Gaolei said that during peak hours, the watermelon trading point can purchase more than 200,000 catties of watermelon a day. After the melon inspector passes the inspection, it will be sent to all parts of the country through logistics on the same day, and it will arrive at the consumer's table in less than 48 hours.
(The whole box of watermelons is carried by workers onto trucks and ready to be sent to consumers)
"The weight of a box of watermelons (2 pieces in a box) we sell is guaranteed to be between 16 and 18 pounds, and the weight of a single watermelon cannot be less than 5 pounds." Zou Gaolei and his team The partner has already tasted the sweetness. Since May, his store has had a turnover of more than 4 million catties. Consumers in many places across the country, including Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, have tasted the taste of Xiayi watermelon.
Melon inspectors are on fire: focus on quality control, so that consumers can eat melons with confidence
Each watermelon trading point in Beiling Town is equipped with 1-2 melon inspectors.
Without exception, these melon examiners have rich experience in growing melons.
"I got up at 6 o'clock in the morning to inspect the melons." Sun Hongkai's family has 50 acres of melon fields. Since 2017, he has been hired as a melon inspector, responsible for controlling the quality of watermelons.
One look, two shots, three touches... Standing in front of the melon cart, Sun Hongkai took less than 3 seconds to test a watermelon, and at the fastest time, he could tell the difference between good and bad, as long as the watermelon was not mature enough and the weight was too small , he will return to melon farmers.
"The place where a ripe watermelon is in contact with the ground is yellowish in color. The higher the degree of yellowness, the longer the watermelon has grown. Secondly, look at the color of the watermelon. The watermelon has clear skin lines, full fruit shape, and no protrusions. Leng; Lastly, if you pat the watermelon, if it makes a crackling sound, it is a raw melon. If there is a vibrating sound, it is a ripe melon. Finally, look at the navel of the watermelon, the smaller the sweetness, the better.” Sun Hongkai said.
Taking into account the logistics and transportation, Sun Hongkai has extremely high requirements on the maturity of watermelons, and each watermelon must be guaranteed to be in a state of 70% to 80% maturity. Our Xiayi brand."
Sun Hongkai said that in the more than 10 hours from morning to night, the melons tested by him ranged from 60,000 to 70,000 catties, and as many as 100,000 catties, and he could earn more than 100,000 yuan in one quarter.
Zou Gaolei is also happy to see the melon inspectors' high requirements for watermelon quality: "It is precisely because the quality is guaranteed that our watermelons have entered the 'Fresh China's Good Agricultural Products' area, which has further broadened the market and let more people know about it. Xiayi watermelon."
It is understood that in order to enhance the added value and premium capability of agricultural products and promote the healthy development of the industry, Pinduoduo, China’s largest agricultural product upstream platform, launched the “Fresh China’s Duoduo Good Agricultural Products” project, focusing on the seasons to find the freshest seasonal products in the country. In terms of food ingredients, through "live broadcast of early adopters" and other methods, "agricultural land cloud spelling" is used to realize "direct connection between production and consumption", which can accurately meet the consumption needs of 882 million consumers and enhance the brand value and efficiency of agricultural products.
Jiao Yuchang, chairman of Beiling Town People's Congress, said that by building a complete e-commerce supply chain system and relying on online channels to sell Xiayi watermelons, it not only solved the problem of difficulty in selling melons, but also promoted the employment of more than 20,000 upstream and downstream people. It also makes Xiayi watermelon with guaranteed quality on the table of more consumers.