Drought watermelons in Luoning, Henan Province are generally small this year, and small melon farmers may not care about the cost.

The reporter noticed that the watermelon in this car is only the size of an adult's palm.

The reporter went to Luoning, the origin of "brand melon", to investigate. The severe drought this year has led to low yield and poor quality of melons. Experts suggest that large-scale planting is the way out.

Now is the season when watermelons are on the market in large quantities. Luoyang local "brand melon"-Luoning dryland melon is popular because of its moderate size, thin skin and sweet taste. Especially Guanzhuang Courtyard in Dongsong Township, Luoning County, because of its high altitude, long illumination time and large temperature difference between day and night, it is very suitable for watermelon growth. In 2009, the township government registered the official champion brand watermelon trademark. According to the data, the history of planting watermelon in Guanzhuangyuan has exceeded 1700 years. Until now, villagers in several villages in this township still grow melons for a living.

Recently, however, many citizens have found that there are very few dryland melons in Luoning sold on the streets this year. In previous years, a watermelon could grow about 5 kg, but this year it is only about 2.5 kg. In this regard, Dahe Daily reporter visited the melon-producing land in Luoning County to explore the reasons.

Phenomenon this year, dryland melons in Luoning are generally small.

Zhou Lei, who lives in Xigong District, has a soft spot for watermelons in the dryland of Luoning. "Thin skin, thick sand, sweet taste and high sugar content." He told reporters that it has become a habit to eat Luoning watermelon to cool off the heat every summer. But this year, Mr. Zhou found that there are very few watermelons in Luoning on the market, and watermelons weighing more than 10 kg are hard to buy.

Yesterday morning, the reporter visited the watermelon stall along the street and found that this phenomenon does exist in Luoning melon.

10, on Luopu West Road, a tractor full of watermelons was parked on the side of the road, and the sign of "Luoning Dryland Melon" was posted next to it. Zhao Quan, a melon farmer, said that due to the drought this year, the yield of watermelons is very low, and the mature watermelons are not big, the big ones are only more than 3 kg, and the small ones are only 1 kg.

Xing Haimin, a melon farmer in Wangling Village, Dongsong Township, Luoning County, said that he planted 9 mu of watermelon and the harvest was not good. There are almost no watermelons over 5 kg. "It's good to take care of the capital." Liu Laohan, who sells melons at the intersection of Jinghua Road and Changchun, pointed to a cart of watermelons and said that a cart of watermelons was almost 1000 kg, only one was more than 5 kg, which could not sell at a good price in the county, so he had to pull it to Luoyang city to sell it.

Visiting the drought made watermelon "thin" and the yield decreased.

In mid-July last year, this newspaper reported that the boy went to town with his father to sell melons after 00 in Zhuangyuan Village, Luoning County. On July 7 this year, when the reporter visited again, including the drought-stricken farmers and all local melon farmers, they lamented, "Last year's watermelon harvest was not bad. This year's drought has reduced the watermelon production."

Drought lovers planted 3 mu of watermelon and 2 mu of cantaloupe this year. His father Qi Chunxiang took the reporter to Gua Tian to see that the largest watermelon was only the size of a toy ball and the smallest was only the size of a fist. Gua Tian is dry and cracked, and many vines have dried up.

"At this time in previous years, the vines in the field grew vigorously. When people cross fields, they must open them with their hands. " Huang Haijuan, a drought-stricken mother, said that it hasn't rained for several months this year, and most of the melons and seedlings have dried up, so it is sure to lose money.

Similarly, in Guanzhuang Village, the reporter learned that due to the drought, the situation in this village is the same as that in Zhuangyuan Village. "Every family has watermelons. Speaking of this year's drought, many melon farmers may not be able to take care of their capital. " Villager Wu Miaoqin said.

After 13, melon farmers suffered from drought again, and it was difficult to sell watermelons without breaking even.

Gansheng was born in July of 200 1 year, which coincided with the drought. There are few 5 mu watermelons "growing up" at home. Seeing that the main economic pillar was broken, his father Qi Chunxiang was very anxious, so he named his child Gansheng. Unexpectedly, after a lapse of 13 years, there was another drought this year.

Qi Chunxiang calculated an account for the reporter. "An acre of watermelon land needs to be invested in 700 yuan from buying manure, chemical fertilizer, melon seeds and plastic film. , plus labor. When the watermelon is ripe, a normal acre of land can collect about 6,000 kilograms of watermelon and sell for more than 3,000 yuan. " Qi Chunxiang sighed and shook his head and said, "This year's drought, 1 mu of land can produce 1 10,000 Jin of watermelon at most, which is more than 400 yuan, and he doesn't care about the capital at all."

"This melon can't sell at a good price in the county. I plan to try it in Luoyang City in a few days and strive for more selling points. " Qi Chunxiang said that selling melons is a chore, and it takes four hours to drive a tractor from home to Luoyang. Stay for 2~3 days, wait for a cart of melons to go home, then load a cart of melons, and then go back to Luoyang to sell them. It's hard.

Compared with retail planting, there is a watermelon garden with an area of about 100 mu in the north of Luoning County. The reporter saw that the watermelons here are obviously bigger and the melons are flourishing. Despite this, the owner said that due to the dry weather, the output has also decreased. But they use drip irrigation to cope with dry weather, and the quality is much better than that of watermelons that depend on the weather.

Affected by drought, Yiyang watermelon production decreased by 30%.

Yesterday afternoon, the reporter learned from the Horticulture Workstation of Luoyang Agriculture Bureau that the watermelon planting area in the city is over 60,000 mu, mainly in Luoning, Yiyang and Jin Meng. Among them, Luoning and Yiyang mainly plant dryland melons, which are planted by many retail investors and are self-produced and sold; Send it to Zhuang and other places, plant pocket watermelons, cultivate them in solar greenhouse, and take the high-end consumption route.

This year's drought in Luoning led to a reduction in watermelon production. What about Yiyang and Jin Meng? The reporter called the office of Yiyang County Agriculture Bureau. A staff member surnamed Li said that in June this year, the dry weather and low air humidity affected the growth of watermelons. Many seedlings have dried up, and the surviving watermelons are generally small, and the output is reduced by nearly 30% compared with the normal period.

Wang Xueyun, a staff member of Mengjin County Agricultural Bureau Office, said that this year's sweet potato production is better than last year, and it is not small, all of which are 10 kg. It rained several times a while ago to help watermelon grow, so it was almost unaffected by the weather.

It is suggested that "peak-shifting" should be listed, and large-scale planting may have countermeasures.

It is understood that local watermelons in Luoyang will be difficult to sell, and the price will not rise even in years of bumper harvest. Last year, this newspaper joined hands with caring enterprises to buy unsalable watermelons in Luoning and Yiyang to help melon farmers. In this regard, the reporter interviewed Fan, a senior engineer of Horticulture Workstation of Luoyang Agriculture Bureau.

Fan said that the growth of watermelon needs certain high temperature weather, but it also needs certain moisture guarantee. Drought is beneficial to the accumulation of sugar in watermelon, but excessive drought leads to yield loss and sugar content reduction. "At present, watermelon planting in some mountainous areas of Luoning and Yiyang is greatly restricted by weather factors, and the irrigation problem is difficult to solve, which directly affects watermelon production." Fan further analyzed that the local sweet potatoes in Luoyang matured late and relatively concentrated, mostly from the end of June to mid-July, and the listing cycle was short, which led to the market being occupied by foreign sweet potatoes first. The listing of dryland melons in this city has no advantage in terms of price or market share.

Yesterday afternoon, the reporter visited a number of large supermarkets in the city and found that large watermelons from other places still occupy the "mainstream" and local watermelons have not yet "settled in". The person in charge of the supermarket admits that the quality of foreign sweet potatoes is good and there is a stable supply chain, while the local sweet potatoes are mostly planted by retail investors, which has high cost and cannot be directly connected with the supermarket, and the continuity of supply cannot be guaranteed.

Zhao, director of the Luoning County Forest Fruit Series Development Office, said that 80% of the melon farmers in Luoning County are retail growers, and their ability to resist market risks is weak, and production and sales cannot connect with the market, which has affected the industrialization of watermelon.

Fan said that it is necessary to implement differentiated planting, seize the market as soon as possible and lengthen the sales time. For example, using greenhouse, raising seedlings in advance, artificially creating environment, choosing long growth cycle and staggering sales peak.

Grasping the market trend, it is better to "plant" than to "plant" skillfully.

"We should also pay attention to the development of the group and build a brand watermelon." Fan said that Jin Meng's pocket watermelons and Luoning's official champion watermelons have formed their own brand effects, and the government should also take the lead in guiding farmers to grow green and demand benefits from brands. In addition, in the sales process, it is necessary to realize the direct docking of melons and fruits with the community through government guidance. For natural disasters and force majeure factors that affect watermelon production, he suggested that we can slowly explore an agricultural insurance model that involves villagers. In the face of major natural disasters, farmers can recover part of their losses through insurance.