Henan province stands as China's premier watermelon production region, contributing one out of every five watermelons consumed nationwide. This past summer, a concentrated surge of market supply led to sales stagnation across numerous localities, prompting an urgent question: what triggered the widespread difficulty in selling watermelons?
Yanling County, a key watermelon-producing area in Henan, witnessed farmer Li Qiumei, who cultivated 50 mu this year, successfully sell her entire harvest with the assistance of a government-backed agricultural support initiative. Though she incurred slight losses, she expressed contentment, noting it far exceeded her expectation of watching the fruit rot in the fields. Li explained that the expansion of planting area this year naturally drove prices down once output exceeded demand, as watermelon, being highly perishable with high water content, cannot be stored for extended periods.
Farmers in the region predominantly grow open-field watermelons, interplanted within wheat fields during April and May, allowing for an additional harvest after the mature wheat is collected. Li provided a cost breakdown: their traditional varieties require minimal investment and upkeep, with inputs around a few hundred yuan per mu and average yields of roughly 6,000 jin per mu. In favorable market years, revenue can reach 3,000 yuan per mu. Given the robust profitability of the past two seasons, many farmers expanded their acreage. However, unusually high spring temperatures this year accelerated the growth cycle and boosted yields, causing open-field watermelons to coincide with greenhouse varieties in early July, flooding the market. Concurrently, substantial supplies from regions like Ningxia entered the market, while Henan's aging open-field varieties, cultivated with minimal management, struggled to compete.
At the Zhengzhou Wanbang Logistics City, the province's largest produce trading hub, daily sales during peak season averaged 820 tons of watermelon, yet provincial produce accounted for merely 20 tons, with the remaining 800 tons sourced from other provinces. Market manager Ning Yabing observed that local varieties suffer from outdated genetics, subpar sugar content, and inconsistent shapes, failing to meet bulk distribution standards. In contrast, out-of-province watermelons benefit from large-scale cultivation, standardized sorting, and reliable supply chains, while local producers lack a complete post-harvest logistics network. By early July, these combined factors depressed procurement prices for mid-to-low-quality open-field watermelons to between 0.1 and 0.45 yuan per jin.
In response to the surplus, Henan's provincial government convened multi-departmental task forces to investigate and address watermelon sales, establishing a dedicated working group within the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to map production and distribution. Nationwide compassionate purchasing efforts provided immediate relief, and by early August, sales in major producing areas like Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Anyang, and Hebi were nearing completion.
Why did greenhouse watermelons maintain stable sales? While open-field varieties faltered, greenhouse-grown watermelons, comprising roughly half of the province's total planting area, remained resilient, with many pre-sold to external buyers before harvest. This stark contrast begs examination. Xiayi County, one of Henan's two primary greenhouse watermelon counties, is already planning its next planting cycle. Its 180,000 mu of greenhouse crops commanded prices more than double those of open-field varieties, with many first-harvest fruits booked in advance.
Grower Zhang Xingkang from Beiling Town highlighted the sophisticated greenhouse design featuring three-layer structures and six-layer films, which optimize insulation for earlier planting and harvesting—typically hitting the market in mid-to-late April, two months ahead of open-field produce. This early advantage extends beyond infrastructure. Xiayi promotes new varieties specifically bred for greenhouse conditions, employing standardized management of light, temperature, and irrigation to ensure uniform sugar content and texture across all fruits. To build brand reputation and secure premium pricing, the county instituted the role of professional melon inspectors.
Gao Bo, vice president of the Xiayi Watermelon Association, explained that every procurement station now employs certified inspectors who rigorously grade fruits, ensuring premium quality commands premium prices while inferior produce is appropriately channeled, guaranteeing consistent quality that encourages bulk purchasing without repeated inspections. Beyond quality assurance, sales channels are meticulously cultivated. Before harvest, the county proactively partners with wholesale markets and supermarkets to bolster the Xiayi watermelon brand's external reach. Sun Xiaomei, deputy director of the Xiayi Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, noted collaborative agreements with multiple large supermarket chains, achieving online transaction volumes exceeding 200 million yuan this year, with dual online-offline strategies enabling immediate clearance upon ripening.
Greenhouse watermelon cultivation occupies about half of Henan's total planting area, concentrated in Xiayi County, Zhongmu County, and other regions. Recent years have seen active introduction of improved varieties to enhance taste and appearance, alongside adoption of trellis cultivation and other technologies that improve ventilation and light exposure within greenhouses, reduce pest incidence, and boost yields through rational dense planting, achieving commercial fruit rates above 95%. Zhu Yingchun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, emphasized that mitigating market volatility ultimately hinges on leveraging superior varieties, advanced technology, standardized practices, organizational strength, branding, and downstream processing to ensure farmers can cultivate successfully and sell steadily.
How should watermelon cultivation and sales evolve next year? Greenhouse watermelons offer excellent taste and strong sales but require substantial investment, making province-wide adoption challenging. Open-field varieties are easy to grow and yield abundantly yet suffer from inconsistent quality and weak market competitiveness. So, what path should Henan's open-field watermelon industry pursue? As this season's open-field sales wind down, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has convened over ten relevant departments and officials from major production areas to accelerate development of transformation and upgrade plans. The first challenge to address is curbing blind expansion in production. A province-wide agricultural monitoring and early warning system is under construction, incorporating a watermelon big data platform that will refine production forecasting models and enhance supply-demand analysis. Wei Na, director of the Economic Crops Division, stated that before each planting season, localized information on intended planting areas, historical price trends, and current market demand projections will be published and communicated.
The second challenge involves restructuring planting patterns—reducing old varieties that flood the market simultaneously while appropriately expanding seedless watermelon cultivation with late-maturing, storage-resistant characteristics, alongside promoting new varieties with stronger market appeal. Xu Zhihong, another researcher at the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, noted that lessons from this season's surplus will drive genetic improvements, aggregating superior watermelon genes to achieve higher sugar content and better tolerance under high-moisture conditions, aligning with evolving market demands.
The third challenge centers on smoother sales channels for upgraded open-field produce. Henan plans to leverage the "Yunong Youpin" regional public brand to guide smallholder farmers into cooperatives, standardizing cultivation and uniform packaging, with order-based procurement safeguarding farmer incomes. Wei Na emphasized that channels and resources accumulated through the recent compassionate purchasing campaign will be leveraged to establish ongoing partnerships with major supermarkets and leading enterprises, creating sustainable sales networks that transition support from temporary crisis relief to long-term empowerment.
Having weathered the sales crisis and now pursuing transformational breakthroughs, the future of Henan's open-field watermelons lies not in emergency interventions but in durable development strategies. Only through varietal improvement, standardized cultivation, and institutionalized market channels can watermelon farmers achieve lasting security and prosperity.