Speaking of honeydew melons, Xinjiang Hami melons first come to mind for many people, and honeydew melons are also abundant in the southern part of Hainan Island, which is thousands of kilometers away from Xinjiang.
In Ledong Li Autonomous County, Hainan, the honeydew melon greenhouses are endless as far as the eye can see, and are connected to Haitian. The crops are rotated in three seasons a year. The cumulative planting area reaches 210,000 mu, the total annual output is 525,000 tons, and the annual output value is 2.625 billion yuan.
From October to May of the following year, Ledong honeydew melons account for 85% of the national winter melon market.
Explore improved planting techniques
Hainan has no history of growing honeydew melons.
More than 20 years ago, Wu Mingzhu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a breeding expert from the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and his team carried out a trial planting study of "moving the north melon to the south", using coconut bran as the substrate for soilless cultivation, and successfully planted a new variety of cantaloupe in Sanya.
Then experts from the Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences also screened new varieties based on the introduction of high-quality cantaloupe varieties from across the country, and carried out demonstration and promotion. At present, the varieties of Ledong honeydew melons are Xizhoumi No. 25, Yaolong No. 25, and Dumi No. 5. Wait, there are many varieties.
Since then, the northern cantaloupe has truly settled in the south.
In Qiuyu Village, Foluo Town, Ledong County, in the early years, the sea and sandy land in the village was dry and barren, and the villagers were very poor.
In 2000, Wang Bin, a villager in Qiuyu Village and the chairman of Ledong Photovoltaic Shennong Agricultural Tourism Co., Ltd., returned to his hometown from the army, but he took a fancy to this sea and sandy land.
"Sea sandy land is suitable for honeydew melons. In response to the problem of easy water loss, we laid irrigation facilities under the sandy soil, and at the same time put a film on the sandy soil to keep the soil moist. The texture is uniform, and the taste is even more crisp, fragrant and sweet." Wang Bin said.
Ledong has repeatedly explored and improved the honeydew melon planting technology.
July is the end of the harvesting period for Ledong honeydew melons, and the endless honeydew melon greenhouses have long been "empty."
"But there is a 'master planter' in the village who is trying to grow the fourth crop of honeydew melons." Wang Bin said.
Following Wang Bin's guidance, we met Shi Tingfu, a villager in Qiuyu Village and the legal representative of the Ledong Bingge Plantation and Breeding Professional Cooperative, who was busy spraying trace element fertilizers on the fourth crop of honeydew melons being tested in the shed.
"It is now the fruit expansion period of the fourth crop of melons. If this crop of melons can be successfully tested, we can grow 4 crops a year here, and the average price per catty can be sold at about 3.2 yuan, which can effectively increase income." Honeydew melon grower," said confidently.
In Shi Tingfu's 20-acre honeydew melon trial planting base, the reporter saw a honeydew melon vine growing up along the shelf, and each honeydew melon was hung on the vine 50 cm to 60 cm above the ground. And only one melon is left on each vine. "This location can ensure that the honeydew melons on each vine can fully absorb sunlight, water and nutrients, and the quality of the honeydew melons will be better." Shi Tingfu said.
In addition, in July last year, Ledong Photovoltaic Shennong Agricultural Tourism Co., Ltd. also invested more than 10 million yuan to build a smart greenhouse, and carried out research on water and fertilizer integration, soilless cultivation, and seedling research and development in more than 100 acres of planting bases.
"The honeydew melons in the smart greenhouse this year are of higher quality and taste better. I hope to produce more green and environmentally friendly honeydew melons," said Wang Bin.
Empty nest village becomes "melon village"
"Can you still grow cantaloupe in Hainan?" This was the question Wang Bin heard the most when he first started selling Ledong honeydew melons in the Guangzhou market.
In 2003, Wang Bin pulled 5 tons of cantaloupe grown by himself to sell in the Guangzhou market, but he couldn't sell it at first.
"The local people feel strange, Hainan honeydew melon? Facing people's doubtful eyes, at that time we offered a free trial and explained to them the natural advantages of growing honeydew melons in Hainan. After more than a month of hard work, we finally opened up a market. " Wang Bin recalled.
"During the cultivation period of honeydew melons, I still have a little free time every day, mainly watering and fertilizing. But when it comes to the harvesting period, I am so busy that I can only rest for five or six hours a day," said Shi Xiong, a villager. During the harvest period, in order to ensure the freshness of the fruit, the workers start to cut the melons from the pergola at 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening before receiving the order. Usually, they need to work until the early morning, and the next morning at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning , and the honeydew melons will be sorted on site before the purchase vehicle arrives.
"Now our village's seasonal honeydew melons are sold out soon after the harvest season, and the village has also changed from an empty nest village to the current 'honeymelon village', and every household in the village has also built beautiful small buildings. There are many young men like Shi Xiong in the village, and most of them are unwilling to go out to work." Wang Bin told reporters.
With the development of the Internet, e-commerce live broadcast sales have also become one of the important sales methods for growers.
"In order to live broadcast sales, our company also sent special personnel to Guangzhou for training. Now we have opened 3 stores on the e-commerce platform, and we can sell about 10 tons of honeydew melons a day." Wang Bin said.
"Thanks to the unique light and heat conditions, the launch date of our honeydew melons is staggered from other honeydew melon producing areas such as Xinjiang, and has a strong price advantage." Wang Bin said that in recent years, Ledong honeydew melons have been favored by merchants from both inside and outside the province. Welcome, every winter, it is a hot-selling item in large supermarkets in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
In the town of Foro, some sections of the road often cause traffic jams due to the booming melon trade.
To this end, on February 13 this year, Foluo Town established the Ledong Honeydew Melon Trading Market in Longmuwan Road, with a daily transaction volume of 500 tons.
Promote high-quality brands to the whole country
"Qiu Yuxiang" and "Cantaloupe King" are cantaloupe brands cultivated by Wang Bin.
"There is no end to the improvement of quality and efficiency, the optimization of standardized planting and management, and the updating and optimization of seeds and seedlings. We will plant more high-quality new varieties and promote the Ledong honeydew melon brand to the whole country." Wang Bin said.
The formation and development of the Ledong Honeydew Melon brand benefits from the efforts and care of all walks of life in the local community.
"We strengthened technical guidance, comprehensively promoted greenhouses and green prevention and control planting technology, formulated and formed a standardized production standard system, took the lead in registering the geographical indication certification mark of Ledong honeydew melon, and established an intensive standardized production demonstration base. Coordinate the original brand According to the situation of their respective promotion, a honeydew melon association was established, a unified promotion video was formulated, and advertisements were placed on CCTV and other channels." Huang Weiyi, head of the planting post of the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Ledong County, said, The store carries out unified planning and design, and enters the market with a unified visual system, which improves market recognition and brand awareness.
Emphasis on quality and market branding has prompted the emergence of many honeydew melon brands such as "Qiuyuxiang" and "Honeymelon Girl" in Ledong.
In November 2021, Ledong also held the 2021 Ledong Honeydew Melon National Brand Conference and Investment Launch Ceremony to promote honeydew melon products nationwide.
In February this year, Ledong Honeydew Melon was successfully approved to build the first batch of Hainan Province Geographical Indication Product Protection Demonstration Zones.
"The Market Supervision and Administration Bureau will fully implement the work requirements of the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of the Ledong Honeydew Melon Demonstration Zone for Geographical Indication Protection in Hainan Province", fully promote the construction of the product standard system, advocate the use of geographical indication brands by market entities, and strengthen cooperation with associations. Communication and contact between them, and holding various promotion activities to strengthen brand building." Huang Bo, deputy director of the Ledong County Market Supervision Administration, said.
"The Ledong honeydew melon industry has now entered a stage of comprehensive and rapid development, and the planting area has increased every year, attracting planting companies and large planters from Henan, Fujian, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places to enter Ledong to carry out honeydew melon planting, bringing a lot of labor services. Workers. There used to be a 'banana building' in Ledong, but now there are many 'melon villas'. Next, we will continue to make efforts in the cultivation of new varieties, planting, brand building, and overall marketing to promote Ledong honeydew melons. The industry is getting bigger and stronger," said Huang Wenchong, the mayor of Ledong County.
Wang Wei
Wang Wei