Farmers in Jiulong town in Hailing district of Taizhou city, East China's Jiangsu province, recently welcomed the start of the watermelon harvest season.
One of the big watermelon growers, Wang Huatai, said the variety he grows is called Meidu and has a thin skin, juicy texture, large size and a sugar content of over 13 percent.
It's selling for around 8 yuan ($1.10) per kilogram, making it 10 percent dearer than ordinary watermelons and many people are buying it out of sheer admiration for them, Wang added.
He attributed his success in watermelon planting to the crop rotation planting method. Only a small portion of the contracted land is allocated each year to plant watermelons, while the land previously planted with watermelons is used for sowing wheat and rice, thereby bringing in maximum profits.
Planting watermelons on land that has previously been sown with wheat and rice makes it easier to achieve high yields, Wang added.
So far, Hailing's first batch of watermelons has gone to market and the picking period will run to early October.
The watermelon planting area in the district now covers over 1,000 mu (66.67 hectares), with a total output of nearly 3,000 metric tons.
Wang Huatai (R) samples some of his prized watermelons. [Photo/WeChat account: weihailing0523]
Watermelon cultivation is flourishing in Hailing district. [Photo/WeChat account: weihailing0523]