Farmers grow more honeydew melons by irrigation drip method

Honeydew melons grown in membrane houses and watered by a drip irrigation system have brought higher incomes to farmers in Tien Giang Province.- Photo tiengiang.gov.vn

The department’s Centre for Biotechnology Application has helped local farmers who used traditional cultivation methods to shift to the high-tech method.

Vương Thi My Thanh, deputy director of the centre, said the 500sq.m membrane house and an auto-drip irrigation system cost a total of VND150 million (US$6,535).

Four crops of honeydew melons are sold at an average price of VND30,000 ($1.3) per kilogramme.

Each 500sq.m of honeydew melons produces 1.5 tonnes per crop, earning a profit of VND22.5 million ($980).

Growers could produce about 30 tonnes of honeydew melons per hectare per crop, earning a profit of VND450 million ($19,607) for each crop.

Ngo Huu Nguyen, a farmer in Cho Gao District’s Binh Phuc Nhut Commune, said he was now growing honeydew melons in a 400sq.m membrane house.

Thanks to the high-tech method, each year he can grow four crops and harvest about four tonnes, with a profit of over VND60million ($2,614).

Meanwhile, a farmer living in My Tho City Nguyen Van Ba invested VND150 million to build a 550sq.m membrane house, producing 1.5 tonnes of honeydew melons per crop with a high net profit of VND90 million ($3,920) a year.

“Growing crops for a short time in a membrane house helps control insects and disease, recoups the initial investment, and saves water resources,” he said.

In particular, 10 farming households in Go Cong Dong District’s Tan Tay Commune are building a network of membrane houses with a total area of 1,548sq.m, reaching a net profit of VND200 million ($8,714) each year.

Farmers in neighbouring provinces of Vinh Long, Ben Tre and Long An are also using the drip irrigation and membrane house methods.

Most farmers with small fields can reap the benefits of such methods, particularly in cities and provinces of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region that are seeing rapid urbanisation.