Gift Mini Watermelon Cultivation Helps a College Graduate Village Official Forge a Path to Prosperity

Wu Kundao, now 28 years old, after graduating from university in 2009, started growing gift mini watermelons together with a college graduate village cadre, and thereby forged a path to prosperity.

Discovering a Good Business Project by Chance

In 2009, after graduating from university, Wu Kundao ran into setbacks everywhere on his job search.

"After attending several job fairs, I still couldn't find a suitable job," Wu Kundao said. Once, when he visited a friend's home, he tasted a kind of small watermelon that not only had thin rind but was sweeter than ordinary watermelons. At that moment he thought that if he could grow this kind of miniature watermelon, even if the price was a bit higher, there should still be a market for it.

First Planting Brought Both Gains and Losses

By searching online, Wu Kundao found that Xinda Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd. had idle greenhouses in Shizhangzhuang Village, Jiangzuo Town, Yichuan County. Each greenhouse covering 3 mu had an annual rent of 3000 yuan. Adding staff wages and the costs of buying fertilizer and seeds, each greenhouse required an investment of about 6000 yuan per year.

Not long after the first planting of miniature watermelons, the watermelons in the greenhouses began to show seedling death. On average, the seedling death rate in each greenhouse was 1/5. It turned out that these greenhouses had previously grown tomatoes, and both tomatoes and watermelons belong to the Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae family. Affected by continuous cropping, when watermelons were planted without sterilizing the soil, disease and death occurred very easily. By the May harvest, the 5 greenhouses that originally could have harvested 10,000 kg of watermelons harvested only about 7500 kg.

Focusing Exclusively on the Gift Fruit Route

In 2011, Wu Kundao staggered the watermelon planting period in each greenhouse by about one week, so that the sales period for the product could be extended from May to July.

At the same time, Wu Kundao sold watermelons to high-end hotels according to the standard of each box weighing about 7.5 kg and priced at 149 yuan, positioning the product as gift watermelons. In 2011, Wu Kundao's profit from selling watermelons increased to 70,000 yuan.

"After the watermelons are harvested each May, the greenhouses sit idle, which is a great waste of resources. Since last September, we started growing premium strawberries in the greenhouses," Wu Kundao said. At present, the company already has 10 greenhouses, and in different seasons each year there are corresponding gift fruits on the market. In the future, if conditions permit, he will also introduce more new excellent fruit varieties and expand the scope of business.