Ke Thanh commune develops watermelon growing in rice fields

Mr. Son Duol, Bo De hamlet, Ke Thanh commune shared: “Thanks to the favorable natural conditions, Ke Thanh commune has fresh water all year round, which is favorable for people to grow rice, fruit trees and other crops. My family has 3,000m2 ^of land for growing rice 3 crops/year, the yield of the early winter-spring and summer-autumn crops is quite good, while the late winter-spring crop often has low yield due to weather effects, and there are losses. Therefore, in the late winter-spring crop, I switched from growing rice to growing watermelon at the foot of the field. This type does not need to plow the soil like sowing rice, just cover the surface of the field with a layer of nylon tarpaulin and then plant the watermelon. The time from sowing to harvest is about 60 days, the yield is 6 tons of fruit/3,000m2 ^, the selling price is 7,000 - 10,000 VND/kg depending on the season, after deducting costs, the profit is more than 30 million VND/crop/year. So with rice cultivation is many times higher".

Mr. Son Duol, Bo De hamlet, Ke Thanh commune, Ke Sach district (Soc Trang) next to a watermelon field planted at the foot of the field, earning tens of millions of VND/year. Photo: THUY LIEU

While Mr. Son Duol only grows one crop of melon intercropped with two rice crops, Mr. Dinh Phich, Bo De hamlet, Ke Thanh commune, has completely converted 6,500m2 ^of rice-growing land to grow watermelon in the rice fields for the past 2 years. Mr. Dinh Phich confided: "Watermelon has an early planting and harvesting time, is easy to care for, and if the season is favorable, the melon has a high yield, good selling price, then the profit is high. After nearly 10 seasons of watermelon cultivation, thanks to favorable natural conditions, the melon always has a high yield, usually in the dry season the harvest reaches more than 3 tons/1,000m2 ^, while in the rainy season the yield drops to about 2 tons/1,000m2 ^" . According to Mr. Phich, to grow watermelon at the foot of the field with good yield, in addition to covering the field with plastic sheeting, it is also necessary to dig drainage ditches in the melon field, the ditches both store water for watering the melons and help the field drain quickly during the rainy months. Because he grows melons all year round, after harvesting the melons, he needs to let the soil rest. With an area of ​​6,500m2 ^of land growing watermelons 3 times a year, he earns more than 120 million VND/year.

In Ke Thanh commune, the main crop is rice, farmers produce 3 crops/year. Although there are times when rice prices increase, farmers have good profits, but rice prices are also unstable, along with the unusual weather in recent years, affecting rice productivity. Therefore, many farmers have switched to growing 2 rice crops, 1 watermelon crop, or completely converting rice fields to grow watermelon. Currently, the area of ​​watermelon grown in rice fields in the late winter-spring rice crop in the commune is more than 133 hectares.

Comrade Thach Ngoc Dang - Vice Chairman of Ke Thanh Commune People's Committee said: "According to farmers' calculations, growing watermelon at the foot of the field has low investment costs, thanks to the amount of nutrients from fertilizers during the rice crop remaining in the field and growing watermelon at the foot of the field rarely encounters diseases and pests that attack the melon, so the melon yield is quite good, from 2 - 3.5 tons/1,000m2 ^/ crop, bringing in an income of 10 - 15 million VND/crop/1,000m2 ^. In order to support farmers in bringing color to the field effectively, the locality will guide on technical measures for melon cultivation; research and establish cooperatives and melon growing cooperatives to receive capital sources to expand and multiply the melon growing area to replace the late Winter - Spring rice crop...".

THUY LIEU

Source: https://baosoctrang.org.vn/nong-nghiep/202504/xa-ke-thanh-phat-trien-trong-dua-hau-duoi-ruong-lua-c825f0e/