The Chinese have a special love affair with watermelons. In the hot summer, watermelon accompanied countless Chinese people through the summer heat, melt the heat.
How much do Chinese people love watermelon? How did Chinese people achieve “watermelon freedom”? How does the small watermelon reflect changes in agricultural technology?
How much do Chinese people love watermelon?
In terms of output, China’s annual output of watermelon in 2020 will be 60,246,900 tons, accounting for 59.29% of the world’s total watermelon production. If the total output of the world’s second to tenth producing countries is added up, it is only about 1/3 of that of China.
Despite producing nearly 60 percent of the world’s watermelons, China will still import about 97,000 tons of watermelons in 2020. Also in 2020, China exported only about 44,000 tons of watermelons. This means that in 2020 alone, about 60.29 million tons of watermelons will be consumed in the domestic market. I have to say that there is a huge demand for watermelon in China.
How did Chinese people achieve their “watermelon freedom”?
Although watermelon has a long history of cultivation in China, the cultivation area has not been very large. In the early days of the founding of New China, the total area of watermelon cultivation in China was less than one million mu, and the cultivation areas were mainly concentrated in North China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and other traditional producing areas. Due to the restriction of production conditions, the yield and quality per unit area of watermelon in this period are not high, and the market time is also concentrated in midsummer.
Since the 1970s, with the great improvement of farmland water conservancy conditions, the introduction, breeding and promotion of fine varieties, as well as the popularization of advanced fertilization and plant protection technology, the yield level and quality of watermelon in China have been improved to a certain extent, and the planting distribution is more widespread.
The 1980s is the rapid development stage of watermelon planting in China, not only the rapid increase in planting area, watermelon varieties are gradually diversified, and many excellent varieties are rapidly popularized. On the basis of the development in the 1980s, by the early 1990s, China’s watermelon production began to show a qualitative leap, an increase of up to 83%.
With the continuous development of China’s economy, in the 1990s, the watermelon production area around the country has developed in the direction of annual production and supply on the basis of stabilization, greenhouses and greenhouse cultivation has developed rapidly, and early spring cultivation and autumn delayed cultivation have been greatly developed, which means that people can eat watermelon all year round.以上翻译结果来自有道神经网络翻译（YNMT）· 通用场景