Spain is the country with the world's best yield in the production of watermelons with 4.78 kilos per square metre, according to data for 2014 released by Faostat (the statistical agency of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO), processed by Hortoinfo.
Spain is followed by Morocco, with a yield of 4.54 kilos per square metre; Greece, with 4.33; South Korea, with 4.07, and China, with 4.04 kilos of watermelons per square metre.
Over the last ten years, the world's watermelon production has grown by 21.57 percent, from 91,306 million kilos in 2005 to 111,009 in 2014; the largest figure in history.
The total acreage devoted to this crop worldwide amounts to 3,477,438 hectares, with an average yield of 3.19 kilos per square metre.
Countries
Of the 111,009 million kilos of watermelons that have been produced in the world, three quarters come from China, the world's leading producer, with 74,843 million kilos, 1,852,300 hectares and a yield of 4.04 kg/m².
The second in the ranking is Turkey, with 3,885 million kilos, 157.520 hectares and 2.47 kg/m², followed by Iran with 3,568 million kilos, 132,786 hectares and 2.69 kg/m².
In fourth place is Brazil with 2,171 million kilos, 94,375 hectares and 2.30 kg/m².
The fifth position in the ranking is for Egypt, since in 2014 it produced a total of 2,014 million kilos of watermelons on 70,017 hectares, with a yield of 2.88 kilos per square metre.
Spain stands in thirteenth place, with 858.57 million kilos grown on 17,949 hectares, with a yield of 4.78 kilos/square metre, the highest of any country in the world.
Morocco is fourteenth in the ranking, with a production of 724.91 million kilos on 15,969 hectares and an average yield of 4.54 kilos per square metre.
Source: hortoinfo.es
