How did watermelon seedlings give rise to a big industry? One seedling provides the answer
"One watermelon seedling draws in a big agricultural industry." On May 21, at the 9th Watermelon and Muskmelon Festival in Caidian District, Wuhan, Hu Changlin, director of the Caidian District Agricultural Committee, introduced that 18 years ago, Caidian District introduced watermelon seedlings from Japan, South Korea and other places for planting; today it has become a pillar agricultural industry with a planting area of 42,000 mu, a total output of 100,000 tons, and an annual economic benefit of 330 million yuan, becoming a great help for farmers to escape poverty and become rich.
The reporter learned from the Caidian District Agricultural Committee that, as the number one district for the watermelon and muskmelon industry in Hubei Province, Wuhan's Caidian District once again increased its income from watermelons and muskmelons this year, occupying 70 percent of Wuhan's early melon market.
Eighteen years ago, Wuhan's watermelon and muskmelon production was zero, but at that time Wuhan residents could consume about 1 billion yuan worth of watermelons and muskmelons a year. At the end of 1997, the Caidian District Party Committee and District Government decided to launch a "sweet cause," letting watermelons and muskmelons "grow" money in farmers' pockets. At the end of that year, the district introduced high-quality watermelons and muskmelons and promoted trials at the Zhuru Original Seed Farm.
Hu Changlin told the reporter that Caidian's watermelons and muskmelons have developed from the single small seedlings introduced at the beginning into more than 10 varieties including Wanfulai, Nabite, Early Spring Red Jade, and Elizabeth. Production is entirely carried out strictly according to standardized technical procedures, achieving unified seedling supply and unified planting standards, with balanced quality and the characteristics of abundant water, high sugar content, thin rind, and refreshing taste. In 1999, the local watermelons and muskmelons registered the "Lianhua Lake" trademark with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In 2000, they were certified as green food by the China Green Food Development Center, and the products are marketed with a unified brand, unified packaging, and unified price. In March 2013, Caidian District's watermelons and muskmelons obtained a geographical indication certification trademark from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the high-quality watermelons and muskmelons produced were rated by the Wuhan Municipal Government as one of the city's five major advantageous agricultural products.
Liu Xiangguo, 60 years old this year, is a farm worker at the Zhuru Original Seed Farm in Caidian District, Wuhan. In recent years, by growing watermelons and muskmelons, he has built considerable family assets. In Zhuru Town he built a 4-story building worth 400,000 yuan, in the urban area of Caidian District he spent 400,000 yuan to buy his son a commercial apartment of more than 100 sq m, and in his hometown he spent 300,000 yuan to build a rental factory building. In Liu Xiangguo's watermelon and muskmelon greenhouse at the Zhuru Original Seed Farm, he told the reporter: "I was able to build this family fortune basically by growing watermelons and muskmelons."
In 1998, Liu Xiangguo trial-planted 5 mu of watermelons and muskmelons, and that year achieved a net income of more than 10,000 yuan. The next year, he expanded planting to 17 mu, achieving a net income of 60,000 yuan. In 2000, he expanded planting again to 50 mu and 100 greenhouses, achieving a net income of 180,000 yuan. This year, because he is getting older, he reduced the planting scale to 23 mu. He told the reporter: "Net income will not be less than 100,000 yuan."
When Liu Xiangguo and Wang Shengjun, former deputy director of the Zhuru Original Seed Farm and current section chief of the Planting Industry Section of the Caidian District Agricultural Committee, get together, they calculate the watermelon accounts: at present there is no worry about selling watermelons and muskmelons. From coming to market in early May to leaving the market at the end of June, the average wholesale price is 1.5 yuan per jin. Calculated at a minimum yield of 4,000 jin per mu, gross income is 6,000 yuan; after subtracting expenses, net income is at least 3,000 yuan.
By contrast, the net income per mu for one season of cotton is less than 1,000 yuan, and weeding and flower picking labor must also be added; rice is relatively simple, with mechanical planting and mechanical harvesting, but net income per mu is only about 800 yuan; ordinary watermelon is relatively simple to grow, but its market price is lower, and net income per mu is only 1,000 yuan.
Wang Shengjun said: "The sales market for Caidian's watermelons and muskmelons has already been opened up. If farmers' melon yields go up, that means they have made money." To this end, Caidian District built a seedling-raising factory to solve the problem of farmers' seedlings easily dying, fundamentally providing a guarantee for farmers to become rich, and also opened a "Watermelon and Muskmelon Expert Courtyard" to implement unified technical guidance.
The Caidian District Agricultural Industrialization Office introduced that "calculated at an average of 5 mu per household, watermelon and muskmelon planting has already helped 10,000 farmers in Caidian become rich."
In Liu Xiangguo's view, the driving effect of watermelons and muskmelons is not limited to this. "Look, don't the drivers of these melon transport vehicles coming and going also benefit?" he said, pointing to vehicles on the rural road. Moreover, working in watermelon and muskmelon greenhouses can also increase farmers' income. Liu Xiangguo said: "For just this one season of watermelons and muskmelons, I spent more than 10,000 yuan on hired help."
Xu Zhixia, a villager in Junying Village, Caidian District, has also grown watermelons and muskmelons for 13 years. She said that by growing two crops of watermelons and muskmelons a year and planting Artemisia selengensis after October, her family's 3 mu of fields can net 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. In Junying Village, the planting area of watermelons and muskmelons and Artemisia selengensis reaches 1,500 mu. Village officials introduced that over the past 10 years, the whole village's agricultural income has increased by more than 10 million yuan, and per capita net income has risen from 2,800 yuan to nearly 10,000 yuan.
Only when planting bases are large-scale do they have a voice in the market. It is understood that Caidian District has basically formed a high-quality watermelon and muskmelon industrial belt along National Highway 318 to Hongbei Agricultural Science and Technology Park and five demonstration sections in Xiaosi Township, Tonghu, Yuxian, Zhangwan, and Chenggong, with 15 specialized villages with a planting scale of more than 1,000 mu and 40 demonstration villages of more than 100 mu. Industrialized operation has been achieved. Relying on 68 large and small watermelon and muskmelon professional cooperatives and 5 production-area wholesale markets, the district's watermelon and muskmelon industry has extended its marketing network to more than 40 fruit wholesale markets, supermarkets, and wholesalers inside and outside the province, equipped with more than 120 transport and sales vehicles, basically forming an industrialized operation pattern of "cooperative + base + farmer."
What develops is the industry; what becomes prosperous are the farmers. According to statistics, watermelons and muskmelons have already "grown" tens of thousands of farmers in Caidian District into prosperity. At present, Caidian District has taken the watermelon and muskmelon model as the development direction of modern urban agriculture. District Party Committee Secretary Liu Ziqing said: "Suburban agriculture must aim at the metropolis, strive to play the characteristic card, and do a good job in the big article of comparative benefit."