Johnson is a celebrity now. The 55-year-old farmer from Payippad panchayat in Changanassery of Kottayam district is in the news for reaping a bumper harvest of watermelon from his land. “Although I have been a farmer from the age of 13, I never cultivated this. It was my son Ninson who suggested this. Neither did I expect such a harvest nor so much media attention. I spent over ₹1 lakh on preparing the land and have earned nearly ₹5 lakhs profit so far,” shares Johnson.
Watermelon cultivation has not caught up in Kerala; during the summer months, the fruit comes in bulk from neighbouring states for sale along roadsides and fruit shops. However, the scene is slowly changing as farmers are cultivating the fruit on an individual or collective basis. “What has made me happy is that at least 50 farmers, most of them young, called me up to know more about cultivating the fruit. I have proved that this is a lucrative business and hope my success will inspire many more farmers to take it up. Next year I plan to do it on a bigger scale,” says Johnson.
Setting an example
Ameer Babu from Karinjapadi in Malappuram district is a pioneer in the field who has inspired many farmers in his neighbourhood to take up watermelon cultivation. He began cultivating it eight years ago and Karinjapadi watermelon has become a brand in itself.
“We have a farmers’ collective, Karinjapadi A Grade Vegetable Cluster and during the first lockdown members of the cluster decided to start watermelon cultivation. Now 22 of us are cultivating it in a total of 18 acres out of the 35 acres managed by the cluster. Vegetable farming does not yield enough profit always. But the case is different with the watermelon because of the high demand. That is why even though last year’s crop was washed out in the summer rain, we decided to do it this year as well,” says Ameer, who is also the secretary of the cluster. The harvest is planned for next month.
Among the commonly grown varieties are the red flesh-green rind, yellow flesh-green rind, red flesh-yellow rind and red flesh-dark green rind. Watermelon cultivation is more prevalent in the north Kerala belt, especially parts of Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. “The farmers plan the harvest for the month of Ramzan (April) as it is the go-to fruit to break the fast in Muslim households,” says T Pradeep Kumar, professor and head, Department of Vegetable Science, and director of planning, Kerala Agricultural University.
In South India, currently, watermelon farming is prevalent in Puducherry, parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. “It can be cultivated easily in Kerala as well because the fruit belongs to the Cucurbits family that also has gourds, pumpkin and cucumber. However, farmers are reluctant because of the lack of awareness and the exorbitant cost of seeds, especially of the hybrid varieties,” he says.
For example, seeds are priced from ₹40,000 per kilogram and even goes up to ₹1 lakh per kilogram. While the seeds of the common variety cost ₹350 for 50 grams, the same quantity of yellow flesh-green rind variety cost ₹3,850, says Ameer.
Joint venture
Even then, more farmers are turning to watermelon cultivation, says Saifulla P from Kuruva in Malappuram. Winner of the young farmer award instituted by the Kerala government, he has been growing the fruit for six years now and has currently planted it on four acres. “At least 10 farmers in our panchayat and nearby areas have started it. They had even approached me for guidance. Some of us are doing it as a joint venture as well,” he adds. One of them is Hamza Panakkal who took to farming after returning from West Asia six years ago and is growing the watermelon on four acres. “It was heartbreaking when we lost the entire crop last year just 10 days before the harvest because of the rain. But that didn’t stop us from planting the seeds this year,” he says.
Laluprasad VP from Balussery, Kozhikode, is another farmer who has had a successful stint in watermelon cultivation. Last year he grew it on three acres and harvested around 15 tonnes of the fruit. “Now that it is proved that the fruit can be grown in our soil, more people have entered the fray this year. Some of them had contacted me and I even visited a few of the farms upon their insistence,” says Laluprasad.
In Kasaragod, it is the Kudumbashree Mission that is spearheading watermelon farming by cultivating it on 12 acres spread across six panchayats in the district. “The Kudumbashree groups were concentrating on yellow cucumber cultivation for some time. Even though they get a good yield, they often find it difficult to sell the produce. That’s when we decided to switch to watermelon. The crop needs less maintenance and the profit is guaranteed for a good harvest. We are selling it directly from the farms under the brand Farm Pick Four varieties are being grown now and this include Maharaja hybrid variety, which gives you a fruit weighing up to 15 kilograms,” says Iqbal CH, assistant district mission coordinator of Kudumbashree, Kasaragod.
In the polyhouse
Meanwhile, Shafeek A Shihab from Thiruvananthapuram is getting ready for his second attempt at growing watermelons in his polyhouse that is currently being repaired. Three years ago, he cultivated the Japanese Sakata (Yellow Buttercup) variety that has yellow flesh and green rind.
“It is difficult to grow the melons in polyhouses because of the weight of the fruits. Also, you have to do the pollination manually. In my polyhouse, I used sturdy fruit nets to hang the fruits. Besides hand pollination, I also used black ants to carry out the pollination,” says Shafeek.
Usually, it takes two to three months to harvest the fruit, depending on the variety of seeds used. Chicken manure is the commonly used fertiliser. The crop can be grown using drip irrigation or open precision farming. While the wholesale rate is ₹20 per kilogram (a fruit weighs at least 3.5 kilograms), retail rate goes up to ₹30-35 range, says Iqbal.
Recently, a group of farmers from Palathara at Kottakkal in Kozhikode sold the melons with QR code stickers to make locally-grown fruits stand out from those that come from other states.
