"I fell in love with Japan and the Japanese cantaloupe"

Cantaloupe melon varieties are rather uncommon on the Chinese market. "The main reason for this is limited cultivation technology and experience. Drawing from Japanese cultivation technology is one thing, but combining the cultivation technology with China's climate and soil is an entirely different matter. Only through continuing tests and improvements can we successfully grown cantaloupe melons," says Mr. Zheng from Hainan Chun Agricultural Development, a grower of Japanese cantaloupe melons in Southern China.

The Jade, a Japanese cantaloupe melon

The first encounter and then many years of cultivation
"When I was young, I studied Japanese. I also regularly went to Japan for business. That's where I first tasted cantaloupe melons and the look and taste of the fruit left a deep impression on me. The net pattern on the outside gives the green melon a very artistic feeling. Many people don't believe that cantaloupe melons grow naturally when they see one for the first time. They all think the net pattern is added in the last stage before ripeness. Because the beauty of the pattern varies, the price for a beautiful melon can be ten times higher than the average. The cantaloupe melon should be eaten around 7 days after harvest, because that's when it's fully ripe. The water content goes up to 88%. The fruit flesh has a vibrant fragrance with a hint of musk. The taste is sweet and very juicy."

"When I came back to China, I discovered there was no similar fruit on the market. It made me determined to understand and promote the variety. I gradually discovered that Chinese agricultural specialists had brought back cantaloupe melons from Japan in the 90s for cultivation experiments. But they were never cultivated on a large scale. Over those 20 years, more than 100 enterprises and families tried to cultivate cantaloupe melons in China, but there were none who could work out a stable high quality or supply the whole year through."

"We believed that we had the capabilities to fill that void. So from 2011 we started bringing in green cantaloupe melon seeds from Japan. We also welcomed a Japanese cultivation specialist, who helped us to bring their technology to the warm environment of Hainan for cultivation experiments. In the first two years, the quantity and the taste of the fruits wasn't right. We weren't familiar with the Hainan natural environment. At times, the melons didn't have a nice net pattern either. We had no other option but to continue inviting Japanese and Chinese cultivation experts to improve our cultivation techniques. In 2014, we finally had a first small harvest of high-quality green melons. The taste could match that of Japanese cantaloupe melons. Our years of hard work started to pay off."

 

After we fine-tuned the method of cultivation of the Hainan cantaloupe melon we eventually developed a stable quality, had scaled production and a continuous supply the whole year round.

"While we persisted in the use of Japanese cantaloupe melon seeds for the cultivation, we successively built large-scale cultivation bases in Hainan, Hebei, Shandong, etc.. The cantaloupe melons from Hainan mainly supply the market from December until May the following year. The Hebei and Shandong melons can supply the market in the remaining months. That way we became the only cultivation enterprise for Japanese green melons that was engaged in large-scale cultivation and that offers a supply the whole year through."

"At the same time, we also registered the 'Jade' brand name. We use it to sell our green melons in a professional way."

 

"Looking back at these last years, it becomes clear how many colleagues in the business perished in the process of experimentation. Thinking of it, we believe that the following reasons influence the possibility of success. First of all, the cultivation cost of cantaloupe melons is high. Not only are the seeds expensive, but the growing period is long and the cultivation techniques are demanding. Seeds imported from Japan for example cost 2 RMB per seed, but the growing period is 15 days longer than that of Hami melon. Also, the cultivation technique does not only influence the taste of the melon, but also the formation of the net pattern on the peel. If you add continuous supply throughout the year to that, it's even more difficult. Even if the problems in the cultivation segment are solved, selling and attracting consumers is still another world of challenges. Take attracting consumers as an example: cantaloupe melons should be consumed 7 days after the harvest for the best taste. Eaten earlier, they are sweet but less aromatic, so the true value gets lost. How then can we convince consumers to wait patiently for 7 days? Or how can we supply melons that are ready to eat? This is the main factor that decides the profit. In the past 20 years, many people believed the green melons to be an investment with a good product and a good profit, so they resolutely started cultivation. But in the end, the endeavour always ended in failure due to one of these many reasons."