GROWING ORGANIC MELONS, EXPENSIVE BUT ALWAYS “SOLD-OUT”

Acknowledged to have a good connection with high-tech agriculture after graduation, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung invested in planting organic melons which are 3 times more valuable than regular ones.

In 2003, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung( Hai Phong) skipped many attractive job opportunities and decided to return to his hometown to start his own business. At Hai Phong High-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd., he has known many foreign experts and access to knowledge related to agriculture from advanced countries. 

Organic melons have high value and are favored by the market. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

Along with his work, the opportunity to expand agricultural knowledge finally came and bring him to go abroad to study and improve his expertise in agriculture.

During his time abroad, he had the opportunity to study the production and basic science in the agricultural field in Israel; water and irrigation management, which helped him find solutions for many problems.

After coming back home, in 2016 he decided to quit his job at the company to return to his hometown to grow melons. In An Tho commune, An Lao district, 3.2 hectares of Korean melons, pearl melons, and Israeli melons have been invested and developed by Mr. Hung with a total investment of more than 1 billion VND for an irrigation system and facilities.

Through testing, the quality of the soil and irrigation water, the farming processes, the criteria for pesticide residues, heavy metals as well as product quality criteria are met the standard. By the beginning of 2021, Hung's melon is recognized as an organic product.

Thanks to strict adherence to the organic production process, Mr. Hung's melons are always very popular, even though the price is much more expensive than the market. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

Mr. Hung said that the production of organic melons needs to strictly follow the process of applying fertilizers and pesticides.

Regarding fertilizers, he uses organic fertilizers including composted chicken manure and imported organic fertilizers. In the first 3 weeks after planting, he only used inorganic fertilizers imported from Israel. If the plant is weak, it can be applied within the first 4 weeks. When melons have small fruits as small as chicken eggs, then they used organic fertilizers.

The time from the date sowing seeds to harvesting melons lasts 75 days. Mr. Hung only produces 2 crops of melon to give the land time to rest and limit pests in 1 year. With a yield of 0.8 - 1 kg/m2, for each crop, Mr. Hung earns more than 300 million VND from growing melons after deducting costs.

“The main character lies in product quality and sugar level assurance. Organic melons are expensive, so the high price is easy to understand. Recently, when I went to the wholesale market to ask about the price of similar melons, I found the prices to be very different. If melons in the market can only be sold from 15 to 20,000 VND/kg, my organic melons are sold for 2 or 3 times and are always sold out,” Hung said. 

With only 6,000 m2 growing organic melons, each crop Mr. Hung earns more than 300 million VND after deducting expenses. Photo: Dinh Muoi.

He added: “The cost of producing 1 crop for 6,000 m2 of melons is 40 million VND, excluding the irrigation system invested separately from the beginning. The cost for 1000 m2 is about 15 million VND and the income is 150 million VND if the price of melon is 50,000 VND/kg.”

It is known that his melon products are sold on different channels, including familiar channels, organic fruit stores in Hai Phong city. Currently, customers often come to his place to buy melons, but the products are often not enough to sell when the harvest is in progress.

“Being compared to the traditional way of growing melons, growing organic melons gives outstanding economic efficiency, of course, it requires hard-working and risk-taking to do it. However, if the quality is not guaranteed and they do not taste good, the market will not need it, and consumers will not choose the product obviously." Hung confessed.

Source: ĐINH MƯỜI (nongnghiep.vn)