Sweet melons fill the air of Hangcheng, ushering in a good harvest season
Yanliang District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, is a large aircraft industry base in China integrating aircraft research and design, production and manufacturing, flight testing and appraisal, and teaching and scientific research, and is known as China's "Seattle." In recent years, however, this place has vigorously developed the sweet melon industry, with the planting scale stabilizing at 65,000 mu, becoming the country's largest early-spring sweet melon production base and enjoying the reputation of "Hometown of Chinese Sweet Melons." "Yanliang Sweet Melon" has become another bright calling card for Yanliang after "China's Aviation City."
In Yanliang, when talking about the development of the sweet melon industry, melon farmers invariably give a thumbs-up to the experts at the Sweet Melon Experiment and Demonstration Station of Northwest A&F University. In their hearts, the fact that Yanliang sweet melons have grown to today's scale and that melon farmers have become prosperous and are heading toward a moderately prosperous life all bears the deep imprint of "Northwest A&F University."
Experts and professors go to the front line, establish a station, and promote transformation
Yanliang has superior natural conditions for agriculture and is a premium production area for sweet melons. Since the 1950s, thin-skinned sweet melons have been grown locally. However, because traditional thin-skinned sweet melon varieties came to market late, had poor quality, were not very competitive, and had low returns, the sweet melon industry never really took off.
At the beginning of this century, the new thick-skinned sweet melon variety "Zaomi No. 1," bred by Du Junzhi, an expert from Northwest A&F University, was vigorously promoted locally, and the Yanliang sweet melon industry quickly rose. By 2005, the planted area of Yanliang sweet melons had reached 25,000 mu.
Along with the rise of the industry came problems such as a single variety and uneven levels of seedling raising and cultivation management. In addition, some melon farmers sought quick success and instant benefits, fertilizing and spraying pesticides blindly, which affected the market reputation of the Yanliang sweet melon industry.
At the end of 2006, Northwest A&F University gave full play to the university's advantage as a cluster of scientific and technological talent and officially established the "Yanliang Sweet Melon Experiment and Demonstration Station" in Guanshan Town, Yanliang District. In addition to appointing Du Junzhi as chief expert, it also selected and appointed many well-known experts such as Wang Ming to form an advisory group, and at the same time selected and appointed experts in plant protection, plant nutrition, protected cultivation, and agricultural technology extension to be stationed long term, jointly promoting the transformation and upgrading of the Yanliang sweet melon industry.
Overcome difficulties, stay grounded, and take comprehensive measures to ensure a good harvest
After the experiment and demonstration station was established, the experts, based on Yanliang's soil, climate, and the actual development of the sweet melon industry, carried out scientific research on new variety breeding, seedling raising, cultivation, fertilization, and pest and disease control, using technical strength to support industrial development.
Over 10 years, the experiment and demonstration station bred more than 60 new sweet melon lines, including early-maturing honey melons, muskmelons, and thin-skinned series, to meet different market demands, and identified and registered 6 new sweet melon varieties such as "Xitian 208," "Xinong Xinzaomi No. 1," "Qianyu No. 1," "Xinong Cuibao," "Shaantian No. 1," and "Shaantian No. 9," with an annual promotion area in Yanliang District of more than 50,000 mu, accounting for more than 90% of the district's total area, successfully achieving the renewal and replacement of sweet melon varieties in Yanliang District.
In response to the weaknesses of the local traditional method of raising seedlings in nutrient soil pots on heated brick beds, such as great difficulty, low seedling survival rate, and poor quality, the experts carried out research on plug-tray substrate seedling raising and successfully promoted it, with a technology popularization rate of more than 98%.
Guide training to a higher level, cooperate in operations, and venture into the market
As the development of the sweet melon industry entered a stable and mature stage, the drawbacks of the traditional household-by-household business model became increasingly prominent. Northwest A&F University also recognized that relying solely on technical support could no longer meet the new requirements of the sweet melon industry's development, so the university selected and appointed agricultural economics experts such as Wang Zhengbing to supplement the expert team at the experiment and demonstration station, engaging in marketing and brand building to further promote the transformation and upgrading of the Yanliang sweet melon industry.
The experiment and demonstration station cooperated with the Yanliang District government to select representatives of growers in batches to receive specialized modern agricultural system training at the university, and guided and supported them in establishing cooperatives and taking the path of modern agricultural development. The experiment and demonstration station successively supported the establishment of more than 20 specialized cooperatives (associations) and cultivated nearly 100 brokers specializing in sweet melon marketing.
Zhang Xiaoping, chairman of the Yanliang Kenong Melon and Vegetable Professional Cooperative, established the professional cooperative in 2008 under the guidance of the experiment and demonstration station. At present, the cooperative has 260 member households, a protected sweet melon base of 2,600 mu, and an annual output of 4,000 tons of sweet melons. In 2015, the per capita income of the cooperative was 40% higher than that of surrounding members. This year, he also took the lead in establishing the Jingwei Green Agricultural Products Professional Cooperative Union in Yanliang. "Our union members include those specializing in seedling breeding, those specializing in sweet melon production and marketing, those specializing in packaging, and those specializing in e-commerce. With the strong support of Northwest A&F University behind us, we dare to think of anything and dare to do anything, and we are full of confidence in future development!" Zhang Xiaoping said.
Over 10 years, Yanliang sweet melons grew from 25,000 mu to 65,000 mu, and income per mu increased from more than 4,000 yuan to more than 8,500 yuan. Yanliang sweet melons that came to market this March even sold for a good price of 50 yuan each. "Plant for half a year, idle for half a year, and in half a year earn several years' worth of money." This rhyming saying happily hangs on the lips of Yanliang melon farmers. In 2015, Yanliang's total agricultural output value reached 3.688 billion yuan, of which the output value from the sweet melon industry was 680 million yuan.
Wang Xuefeng, reporters for this newspaper Xiao Liwei and Hu Mingbao