Farmers in Cua Lo are busy harvesting melons to 'run' from the rain

Currently, the melons in the fields of Dien Bien hamlet, Nghi Huong (Cua Lo town) have not cracked their skins and are not ripe enough. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Melonis a cooling fruit, considered a specialty of the coastal area of ​​Cua Lo, very popular with tourists. This year, the melons have just reached the harvest season to serve beach tourism, but heavy rain is forecast in the coming days. Therefore, farmers rushed to the fields to harvest melons to avoid the rain.

Ms. Dao Thi Hoa, Nghi Huong ward said: “The melons have not yet ripened when the forecast is for rain. If it rains, the old melons will crack and rot; the young melons will be soggy and wilted. Therefore, for the past two days, people have been rushing to the fields to harvest the melons that are about to ripen. The harvested melons must be sold immediately and cannot be stored, so even if they are cheap, they must be sold off.”

Although the crop is not ripe enough and the price is low, due to unfavorable weather, people accept to harvest quickly. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Usually, households will harvest melons early in the morning, then transport them to the markets to sell, and harvest another batch in the afternoon to sell to traders. However, due toadverse weather,It will rain so people go out to the fields to harvest all day, even the fruits that are not ripe enough have to be picked.

In the Dien Bien melon fields, people are gathering to harvest melons, and at the same time contacting traders to buy them, transport them to the retail market, and sell them to tourists along the coastal road.

For the area of ​​green melons, people take advantage of the opportunity to go to the fields to "catch" the fruit and put it on the beds so that the water does not flood and cause rotting. Photo: Thanh Phuc

"As a cooling fruit, if it's hot, it will sell very well, supply cannot meet demand. However, when it rains, people will harvest all at once, so there will be congestion and stagnation. Like my family, this afternoon we have to harvest all the old melons, sell as much as we can to wholesalers, and sell the rest to retail at markets and to customers along the way, to salvage whatever money we can," said Ms. Dang Loan, a melon grower.

Many households planted their crops late, and the melons were not ripe enough to harvest because no one would buy them. For these areas, people have to "leave it to the weather". If it rains lightly, the damage will be less, but if it rains heavily and for a long time, they will definitely lose everything.

People sell melons along the coastal road. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Currently, the entire ward still has about 1.5 hectares of green, unripe melons that cannot be harvested. Although they are not ripe enough to harvest, these households still go to the fields, dig drainage ditches, "catch" the fruit on high beds and remove leaves to "save" the melons from being damaged if it rains in the coming days.

It is a local plant, self-cultivated, requires little care, does not require pesticides and has a short growing period. There are two melon crops per year, the main crop is planted from February and harvested in early April; the fruit crop starts from May and is harvested in late June.

On average, each sao of melons brings in an income of 15-20 million VND, after deducting expenses, the net profit is 7-10 million VND, 7 times higher than growing rice. Therefore, at times, the melon growing area of ​​the ward reached tens of hectares with hundreds of households growing.

Traders buy melons in the field. Photo: Thanh Phuc

But in recent years, partly because the area of ​​land used for growing melons has been reclaimed to serve the construction of coastal roads, partly because the price of melons has dropped, melons have low productivity, so people have continuously lost crops, so the area for growing melons has narrowed. In this year's spring melon crop, the whole ward only planted less than 4 hectares of melons, the remaining area, people have switched to growing other crops such as corn, peanuts, and watermelons.

Ms. Hoang Minh, a melon grower, said: “Every year, my family grows 2 sao of melons, but now it has decreased to less than 1 sao. Growing cucumbers costs less, requires more effort, and there is no need to worry about the sun or rain. As for melons, it takes months of care, and if it rains when it is time to harvest, we will lose everything.”

If every year, the price of melons at the field is 20,000 - 25,000 VND/kg, now it has dropped by half. However, fearing that heavy rains will damage the melons, people are forced to harvest them all and sell them at a loss. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to local people, this year's melon crop has suffered huge losses due to consecutive unseasonal rains, causing the melon plants to die prematurely, rot, and have low flowering and fruiting rates, while the melons are also smaller and less attractive. In particular, now that the melons are starting to ripen, they are experiencing rain, so they have to sell them at low prices. As a result, income from melons has dropped sharply, only 50% compared to previous years.

Mrs. Hoang Huyen -Chairman of Nghi Huong Ward Farmers' Associationsaid: "Mellow melon is a specialty of Nghi Huong, Cua Lo town. The sharp reduction in the area of ​​growing melons will cause the locality to lose a typical agricultural product. In the coming time, in addition to training to improve techniques for growing and caring for melons to achieve productivity, the promotion and introduction of this cooling fruit will be promoted, thereby connecting a stable output for melons. In the near future, the promotion and introduction of the specialty melon will be integrated and promoted in the town's "Farmers' Competition" contest".