Bring the melons home to grow in the garden

(Baonghean.vn) - Mong people's upland melons have long been grown only on high mountains, but the border commune of Nam Nhong has tried to grow them in home gardens and has brought surprising results.

Mrs. Vi Thi Sinh (right) - the first person to bring upland melon to grow in Na village.

We went to the house of Mrs. Vi Thi Sinh in Na village, Nam Nhoong commune, the first person to bring melons to the village to grow, because the two old people could not go to work on the fields like other people. Seeing people in the same village go to work on the fields and have melons that sell for a lot of money, some people get rich thanks to the melons on the fields, Mrs. Sinh thought hard at night and decided to try planting 20 trees around the house. Over time, the melons grew well, after 45 days they started to bear fruit, after more than 2 months the melons gave up to 300 kg of fruit, traders passing by also wanted to buy them to sell at the district market.

Ms. Vi Thi Xinh, Na village, Nam Nhoong commune, Que Phong district shared: "My family not only has melons to eat but also sells them for 4 million VND. Honestly, I have never had so much money like this before."

The upland melons brought back to the village for planting still retain their delicious, sweet, crunchy and cool taste. Each fruit weighs 1-2 kg. The early season price is 25-30 thousand VND/kg, the main season price is 15-20 thousand VND/kg. In particular, this melon has a dense flesh and few seeds, so it is very popular when used to make salads. This melon can be grown 3 times a year and is a specialty of the Nghe An highlands and is planted from February to September every year."

The melons sometimes weigh up to 2kg.

Seeing that Mrs. Xinh was able to grow melons in the village, many households told each other, households with few people and weak laborers who could not go to the fields also tried to hoe the land to grow melons like Ms. Lu Thi Xanh in Huoi Cam village, Ms. Lu Thi Phuong in Na Khich village,... up to now the whole commune has more than 1 hectare of melons grown in the villages.

The initial results of planting upland melons in the village have been encouraging. This will be the basis for households with few people and weak labor to take advantage of abandoned areas to develop the economy, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the locality.

Therefore, in the last 6 months of 2016 and 2017, Nam Nhoong commune has a policy of planting melons in all villages with a total area of ​​about 6 hectares.

Melon is sold at the highland market in Que Phong.

Mr. Vi Van Tinh, Vice Chairman of Nam Nhong Commune People's Committee, Que Phong District said: To encourage people to produce, we will ask the district to support money for fertilizer and find outlets to help people avoid price pressure when the melons produce the main crop.

Bringing upland melons to the village is a new direction not only for the people of Nam Nhoong commune but also for other communes with particularly cold weather conditions such as Tri Le, Thong Thu, and Nam Giai, to help households lacking healthy labor develop the economy and reduce poverty in the locality.

Van Thanh