Showing posts with label Fruits. Show all posts
Money Grows on Watermelons | Taiwan
Posted by Unknown in Fruits, Watermelon Cantaloupe and Honeydew on Saturday, 26 January 2013
(Mb.com.ph)
The melon family – watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew - are major
crops in Taiwan. That’s because the farmers have discovered them to be
usually more profitable to grow than many other crops. For one, the
yield is high when the proper seeds and technology are employed. They
don’t take a long time to grow. The fruits are well liked by consumers
and so the market is big.
In
the past many years, thousands of cultivars have been developed by
plant breeders, especially those of Known-You Seed Company, Taiwan’s
biggest seed firm specializing in the melon group, pepper, tomato,
eggplant, cucurbits, crucifers, papaya, sweet corn and several others.
It
could be said that Known-You has been largely responsible for the
popularity of melons and watermelons today. Starting as small seed store
in 1968 in Fengshan, Kaohsiung, it has grown into a giant company,
thanks to the dedication of its founder Wun-Yu Chen who at 86 still goes
to his office and visits the company’s experimental farms regularly. He
has, however, delegated much of the administrative work to his son,
Lung-Mu Chen, who is also a plant breeder.
Known-You’s
success was not instant. It took a lot of effort not only to produce
new cultivars but also to convince the farmers to plant the improved
varieties. They had to set up demonstration farms, had to conduct
lectures and seminars, and also come up with promotional activities such
as harvest festivals.
The
annual watermelon festival, for instance, is a major event that is
participated in by hundreds of grow-ers. It has created much interest in
the industry among farmers, traders and input suppliers. There is
intense competition for winning in the different award categories such
as the biggest, the sweetest fruits, and so on. The participants are not
after cash awards. In fact, the owner of the winning fruits will
usually contribute a substantial sum to the coffers of the seed
association or to some other beneficiary. The reward comes in the form
of prestige and higher prices for the owner’s produce.
While
it was not that easy to convince the farmers to try the new seeds, they
would become loyal customers once they have the seen the advantages of
growing the improved varieties. Just like Lee Chin Yue, 83, who first
tried hybrid watermelon seeds 40 years ago, or three years after Known
You was established.
Since
then, up to now, he has been planting watermelon and melons. He could
not hide the profits he had reaped the past 40 years. One evidence is
his palatial house that has three storeys. Lee Chin Yue has also
influenced the farmers in his community. Today, they are planting no
less than 250 hectares to melons and watermelons in Tongsan.
His
son Lee Hung Chen is also a melon farmer for many years now. Unlike
many other farmers, he prefers to grow honeydew melon, particularly the
Honey World variety. This is an early variety that ripens in 45 to 55
days after flowering. The flesh is light green, tender and sweet. What
he likes most about Honey World is that it is much easier to manage than
the cantaloupe varieties. The cantaloupes, he said, are often attacked
by mildew diseases.
Lee
Hung Chen says it does not require a big area to make a decent profit.
In fact, he has planted to Honey World only 100 plastic-roofed tunnels
which are one meter wide and 60 meters long. In each tunnel, he has
planted 150 hills that will give about 300 fruits (two per hill). With
an average weight of 2 kilos per fruit, that means 600 kilos per tunnel.
Multiply that by 100 tunnels and you get 60,000 kilos or 60 tons.
Lee’s
honeydew fruits are due for harvest this coming Chinese New Year and
prices are expected to be high. But even if the price would be the
prevailing price during our interview last December 21, which was NT$28
per kilo, the gross income from the 100 tunnels would be NT$1.68
million. His cost of inputs was NT$160,000 while labor cost is estimated
at NT$100,000. Add to that other costs in packing and transporting the
produce and there’s still a big margin.
Multiply
that by the thousands of farmers benefiting from the seeds and
technologies developed by Known-You and you realize how huge is their
impact on the lives of farmers, especially the smallhold farmers. And
then consider the impact of the same on the lives of millions of farmers
in other countries where Known-You seeds are grown such as the
Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, United States, Korea,
Indonesia and many others around the world.
The
plant breeders of Known-You are continually conducting research to come
up with varieties for the changing times. These could include hybrids
that have shorter growing period that will be suitable for areas with
short rainy period. Other hybrids could be ones that are more resistant
to pests and diseases. Then new hybrids could either be smaller or
bigger, depending on the target market.
For
instance, there could be demand for smaller fruits that will be more
affordable in some areas. Small fruits have their own advantages. They
could be eaten in one sitting so you don’t have to store in the
refrigerator unconsumed portions. Or they could be easier to market
because they are more affordable, especially where the purchasing power
is limited.
By ZAC B. SARIAN
China: New Technology Brings Apple Harvest
Posted by Unknown in Apple, China, Fruits, Harvesting, Research and Technology on Friday, 25 January 2013
(China Daily )
After a period of storage, Dandong's Hanfu apples have become a
sought-after fruit on the market. It is sometimes even sold at a price
10 times higher than that of common apples. Fuyun Hanfu Apple Production
Cooperative is located in the Helong Manchu ethnic township in
Donggang. There, Yu Bo, chairman of the cooperative directs workers to
load and transport Hanfu apples. Each apple weighs over 0.5 kg and a
carton of them reach 5 kg. "They are golden apples. The wholesale price
has raised to more than 200 yuan ($ 31.58) a carton here. In Shanghai's
supermarkets, the price can reach as high as over 300 yuan a carton,"
says Yu Bo.
The
cooperative has 151 members. Since the end of October, it has delivered
50,000 cartons of fine Hanfu apples to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and
other big cities. Yu Bo said that the reason for the popularity of Hanfu
apples among high-end consumers of large cities is their high quality
which can be attributed to increasingly advanced technologies. Farmer
Zhang Hongfeng from Kanxia village, Shizijie township, harvested 100,000
kg of Hanfu apples this year. They were sold for 8 yuan per kilo on
average. The price of fine apples among them reached 12 yuan per kilo.
"Two years ago my apples would only be sold at half of today's price or
less." Zhang Hongfeng told us.
In
the early days when he contracted the orchard, the quality of the
apples stagnated at a low level because of outdated varieties and
backward management. Later, new technologies such as fruit bagging and
reflective membranes were adopted, and both the output and quality of
the apples improved. In his orchard, pipelines for water-saving
irrigation have just been implemented. "With them, we will no longer
worry about dry seasons," said Zhang Hongfeng. He credited the
continuous increase of output to the new technologies promoted by
Donggang's fruit tree station. With the application of new technologies,
the quality of Donggang's Hanfu apples has continuously improved and
they have even won the first place at Liaoning (Shenyang) International
Agriculture Exposition for two consecutive sessions, in 2009 and 2011.
The Inside Track | Fruits & Vegetables
Your five a day doesn't have to be raw – cooking your fruit and veg may help you to get your vitamins and nutrients
Everybody
knows that fruit and vegetables contain antioxidants, and are good for
you, although we still don't know exactly why. Current research no
longer supports the use of antioxidant supplements, but high antioxidant
levels in the blood do seem to be associated with a reduced risk of
heart disease and some cancers.
However,
we're often told that if you cook vegetables you "remove the goodness".
This was always code for removing the vitamin C, which does oxidise
quickly and is sensitive to heat. But vitamin C is not something we tend
to be short of these days, because of all the juice we drink, and how
much fruit and veg is available all year round. In fact, plenty of other
vitamins are not affected by heat at all, while some, such as
beta-carotene, are actually absorbed better because of it.
Beta-carotene
is a form of vitamin A, which is valuable for immune function, healthy
skin and healthy eyes. It is found in the cell wall of carrots, among
other things, which means that if you eat raw carrot you would only be
able to absorb a certain amount because your gut cannot break down all
the cells. The rest will simply pass right through your digestive tract.
When you cook carrots, however, you are weakening some of those cell
walls and making the beta-carotene more available, so a greater
percentage is absorbed. This is something we can measurably demonstrate
in blood levels.
There
are antioxidant compounds too, which are also absorbed better from
cooked foods. Lycopene, for instance, which is a pigment in tomatoes. Or
a group of chemicals called polyphenols. These are not classed as
nutrients, meaning that there isn't a deficiency state, but they are
associated with healthy effects, and all of them benefit from heat
treatment.
The
bottom line is: eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, but eat them however
you like. Salad, soup, casseroles, boiled, frozen, tinned, stir-fried,
whatever. And by all means add garlic, olive oil, cheese sauce or
anything else that will help you to eat more of them. Until you're
deep-frying peas in batter, I think the balance will always be in your
favour.
The writer Ursula Arens is a registered dietitian
The Guardian
