Manila Bulletin, January 6, 2012, 4:17pm
By ZAC B. SARIAN

MANILA, Philippines — The melon family – watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew - are major crops in Taiwan. That’s because the farmers have discovered them to be usually more profitable to grow than many other crops. For one, the yield is high when the proper seeds and technology are employed. They don’t take a long time to grow. The fruits are well liked by consumers and so the market is big.

In the past many years, thousands of cultivars have been developed by plant breeders, especially those of Known-You Seed Company, Taiwan’s biggest seed firm specializing in the melon group, pepper, tomato, eggplant, cucurbits, crucifers, papaya, sweet corn and several others.

It could be said that Known-You has been largely responsible for the popularity of melons and watermelons today. Starting as small seed store in 1968 in Fengshan, Kaohsiung, it has grown into a giant company, thanks to the dedication of its founder Wun-Yu Chen who at 86 still goes to his office and visits the company’s experimental farms regularly. He has, however, delegated much of the administrative work to his son, Lung-Mu Chen, who is also a plant breeder.

Known-You’s success was not instant. It took a lot of effort not only to produce new cultivars but also to convince the farmers to plant the improved varieties. They had to set up demonstration farms, had to conduct lectures and seminars, and also come up with promotional activities such as harvest festivals.

The annual watermelon festival, for instance, is a major event that is participated in by hundreds of grow-ers. It has created much interest in the industry among farmers, traders and input suppliers. There is intense competition for winning in the different award categories such as the biggest, the sweetest fruits, and so on. The participants are not after cash awards. In fact, the owner of the winning fruits will usually contribute a substantial sum to the coffers of the seed association or to some other beneficiary. The reward comes in the form of prestige and higher prices for the owner’s produce.

While it was not that easy to convince the farmers to try the new seeds, they would become loyal customers once they have the seen the advantages of growing the improved varieties. Just like Lee Chin Yue, 83, who first tried hybrid watermelon seeds 40 years ago, or three years after Known You was established.

Since then, up to now, he has been planting watermelon and melons. He could not hide the profits he had reaped the past 40 years. One evidence is his palatial house that has three storeys. Lee Chin Yue has also influenced the farmers in his community. Today, they are planting no less than 250 hectares to melons and watermelons in Tongsan.

His son Lee Hung Chen is also a melon farmer for many years now. Unlike many other farmers, he prefers to grow honeydew melon, particularly the Honey World variety. This is an early variety that ripens in 45 to 55 days after flowering. The flesh is light green, tender and sweet. What he likes most about Honey World is that it is much easier to manage than the cantaloupe varieties. The cantaloupes, he said, are often attacked by mildew diseases.

Lee Hung Chen says it does not require a big area to make a decent profit. In fact, he has planted to Honey World only 100 plastic-roofed tunnels which are one meter wide and 60 meters long. In each tunnel, he has planted 150 hills that will give about 300 fruits (two per hill). With an average weight of 2 kilos per fruit, that means 600 kilos per tunnel. Multiply that by 100 tunnels and you get 60,000 kilos or 60 tons.

Lee’s honeydew fruits are due for harvest this coming Chinese New Year and prices are expected to be high. But even if the price would be the prevailing price during our interview last December 21, which was NT$28 per kilo, the gross income from the 100 tunnels would be NT$1.68 million. His cost of inputs was NT$160,000 while labor cost is estimated at NT$100,000. Add to that other costs in packing and transporting the produce and there’s still a big margin.

Multiply that by the thousands of farmers benefiting from the seeds and technologies developed by Known-You and you realize how huge is their impact on the lives of farmers, especially the smallhold farmers. And then consider the impact of the same on the lives of millions of farmers in other countries where Known-You seeds are grown such as the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, United States, Korea, Indonesia and many others around the world.

The plant breeders of Known-You are continually conducting research to come up with varieties for the changing times. These could include hybrids that have shorter growing period that will be suitable for areas with short rainy period. Other hybrids could be ones that are more resistant to pests and diseases. Then new hybrids could either be smaller or bigger, depending on the target market.

For instance, there could be demand for smaller fruits that will be more affordable in some areas. Small fruits have their own advantages. They could be eaten in one sitting so you don’t have to store in the refrigerator unconsumed portions. Or they could be easier to market because they are more affordable, especially where the purchasing power is limited.

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RABBIT & PASTURED CHICKEN SEMINAR – A seminar on rabbit production and pastured chicken will be held on Saturday, February 4, at the PRRM Conference Room, 56 Mother Ignacia corner Lazcano St., Quezon City.

The discussion on rabbit production will be handled by Dante Delima while Dr. Rey Itchon will handle pas-tured chicken raising. Both rabbit and pastured chicken raising are highly recommended in vegetable growing areas.

The seminar is under the auspices of Spread Organic Agriculture in the Philippines (SOAP). For more infor-mation, email: preadorganicagriculture@yahoo.com.


Source: Money grows on watermelons