The Da Ban area in Ku Ke village, Thuan Minh commune, Ham Thuan Bac district has long been famous for being a barren land, with most of the cultivated land only producing 1-2 crops per year. However, based on this disadvantage, farmer Tran Van Quot in group 8, Doc Lang village, Thuan Minh commune has turned it into an advantage to develop a model of growing watermelons on canvas, bringing high profits.
With nearly ten years of experience in growing melons, every year, Mr. Tran Van Quot spends 2.4 hectares of land in the Da Ban area to grow watermelons spread on tarpaulins. He said that this land is often dry, heavily dependent on rainwater, so it is not suitable for cultivating some short-term water-loving crops, but on the contrary, it is very suitable for growing watermelons, because this crop does not tolerate flooding, does not need too much water and grows well on sandy soil, while the soil quality in the Da Ban area fully meets these factors. Like every year, at the end of October this year, Mr. Quot planted watermelons on the entire area; the variety he chose was Thanh Long 266 watermelon, bred by Nam Viet Seed Company; The advantages of this melon variety are strong growth, short time from planting to harvest, good resistance to pests and diseases, large, long fruit with dark green color, few seeds and sweet, average weight of each fruit when harvested is from 4 - 6 kg so it is very popular in the market...
To help watermelon plants grow well and achieve high productivity on arid land, Mr. Quot applies technical processes to the care stage: such as making beds about 50 cm high, bed surface 80 cm wide, distance between beds from 2.5 - 3 m; covering the bed surface with plastic tarps to prevent weeds and keep the soil moist, and sowing seeds in holes 40 cm apart. During the care process, combine manure or organic fertilizer with chemical fertilizer; for top dressing, it is divided into 3 stages: stage 1 after 12 - 15 days, stage 2 after 20 - 22 days and stage 3 after 40 days from planting. In addition to fertilizing, he regularly monitors pests and weeds by manual methods and sprays pesticides. At the same time, he prunes the vines when they are growing to focus nutrients on nurturing fruits and flowers. Due to production in arid areas, irrigation water is an important factor that Mr. Quot pays special attention to. Accordingly, he designed a water pipe system from the Ku Ke - Phu Son canal to store in ponds next to his family's melon fields. From these ponds, he installed an automatic irrigation system that covers the melon beds evenly; depending on weather conditions, the number of irrigations and the amount of water per day are adjusted by Mr. Quot to suit each stage of melon growth...
According to Mr. Quot, the weather at the end of this year was dry, the rain ended early, so the irrigation water in the Da Ban area was not guaranteed, and during the watermelon harvest period, the leaves burned, which more or less affected the yield and quality. Up to now, after 2 months of planting, he has started harvesting 2.4 hectares of watermelon, the average yield is about 28 tons/ha, a decrease of more than 2 tons compared to previous watermelon crops.
Although the yield has decreased, the price of watermelon has increased this year, so Mr. Quot's family still earns a high profit. Currently, traders buy watermelons from his family's garden for 6,000 VND/kg, an increase of more than 1,000 VND compared to the same period last year. With this price, plus a yield of 28 tons of watermelons/ha, he earns 168 million VND, minus expenses, he still makes a profit of nearly 90 million VND/ha. With 2.4 hectares of watermelon yielding 67.2 tons, Mr. Quot earns over 400 million VND, minus expenses, he still makes a profit of more than 210 million VND.
“In recent years, Thuan Minh commune has always paid attention to implementing the policy of converting crop structure, aiming to increase the value of cultivation per unit area, improving income for people. And watermelon is one of the crops that the locality encourages farmers to expand, especially in arid lands, suitable for the advantage of not needing too much water of melon plants. This year alone, the whole commune produced more than 50 hectares of watermelon, spread across all crops, but the most in the winter-spring crop of 2023 - 2024 to meet consumption demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year. Through actual production, watermelon has affirmed its strong role when bringing higher economic efficiency than some other short-term crops and a significant source of income for many households. In particular, with watermelon, Thuan Minh commune has also fully exploited the cultivated land areas, many arid lands have been utilized...” - Mr. Nguyen Van Toan - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Thuan Minh commune Minh said.
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