Vietnamese cantaloupe melon meets Southeast Asia and Middle East markets standards

Determination is not enough

When paying a visit to a cantaloupe melon farm in the greenhouse of Kim Long Hi-tech Agriculture Cooperative, Binh Duong province, we were served some sweet slices of a hanging melon. The pinky, soft and sweet taste of the fruit touching the tip of the tongue swept the scorching heat in the middle of May away. Kim Long’s cantaloupe melon was certified VietGap and GlobalGAP.

To gain these achievements, Nguyen Hong Quyet, the cooperative’s director has spent years struggling with the difficulties in high-tech cultivation.

Having failed several times when adopting the high-tech model in veggie cultivation, Quyet decided to shift to cantaloupe melon. After a long time of seeking and researching documents and taking another model as a reference, he succeeded with his own and bring the products to the market. Kim Long cooperative was opened in 2016 with eight members and VND2.4 billion of charter capital.

“To achieve the success, the constancy and determination are not enough as the technology requires knowledge then we have to continuously research and absorb information.”, Quyet said.

The director said that cantaloupe melon is a fastidious plant that is very sensitive to the weather and harmful insects, so it needs meticulous care, especially avoiding conventional farming, which is easy to affect productivity and quality.

The cooperative adopts greenhouse technology from Israel with the plastic roof above to shield the fruits from wind and rain, the net system protecting the fruit from insects, and an indoor convection fan to regulate the temperature for the plants to grow.

The main equipment in the greenhouse are gourds of growing media zoned in different bricks placed on canvas to stay away from the wastewater collection trough.

A cabinet drip irrigation system and ventury fertilizing provide clean water and fertilizer for the melons. The fruits are watered automatically with a timer device; the distribution of water is set according to tree age, weather conditions.

The supplement products for cantaloupe melon plants are all of biological organic origin. On average, The average income per hectare of cultivation is about VND3 billion, but the initial investment cost is quite large, about VND 2.5 billion.

“Cut the coat according to the clothes”

As an experienced farmer in high-tech agriculture, Quyet wants to take firm steps. He usually says no to mass production but balances the supply-demand, knows his limit, and cuts his coat to suit his clothes to avoid the stagnancy of products.  Besides, to ensure the quality of the products, Quyet takes all responsibility for technical progress.

A member of Kim Long Cooperative said that investing in cantaloupe production in line with high-tech agriculture is the right direction, giving quite high profits. At current prices, one hectare of cantaloupe is 10 times more profitable than that of rubber.

Quyet analyzed that the revenue generated from cantaloupe melon is dozens of times higher than those of rubber and cashew. But the cooperative needs to apply science and technology to reduce risks of diseases and climate, and to increase productivity by more than 30% against traditional farming.

After five years of establishment, the members engaging in Kim Long cooperative increased from just seven to 45 while the total area for cantaloupe melon cultivation was expanded from 1.7  to 13 hectares. It is also certificated with GlobalGap in the category of high-tech cantaloupe melon products to export to Southeast Asia and the Middle East markets.

With the application of science and high technology in greenhouses farming, the production costs have been reduced by about 20%; the impact of the epidemic has been minimized and controlled and the number of pesticides reduced by 70%. While the farmers’ health, environment as well as products are ensured safe

“Shortly, when the cooperative increases its scale in terms of area and output, we target to officially export the products to China. The next markets would be Japan, South Korea, and other countries in the region, "said Quyet.

Binh Duong is one of the localities with the largest cantaloupe melon growing area in the country, the province's products are now available in many supermarkets in many localities and provinces. The success model from Kim Long Cooperative is an example of the cooperative economic model, creating a close link between production and consumption in a methodical and disciplined manner, a prerequisite for cooperatives or businesses to succeed must be orderliness.