Gupei Watermelon

Gupei Watermelon

　　Mingguang Gupei Watermelon is a specialty of Gupei Town, Mingguang City, Chuzhou, Anhui Province. Gupei Town in Mingguang City is a major watermelon-producing area with a long tradition of watermelon cultivation. Since last winter, the town has shifted its approach — moving from mass-producing common watermelons to creating branded premium ones. Focusing on being “early to market” and excelling in “innovation,” the town has vigorously supported the production of greenhouse watermelons. At the same time, it has proactively worked with supermarkets to enhance product quality. As a result, watermelons now hit the market over 20 days earlier, and per-mu profits have increased by more than 3,500 yuan.

　　The 18,000-mu watermelon harvest in Gupei Town, Mingguang City, has been bountiful, with daily shipments of several hundred thousand kilograms currently underway.

　　This year, the watermelon planting area in Gupei Town has surged from 1,500 mu last year to 18,000 mu. The town also organized 18 training sessions on watermelon cultivation for local farmers. Thanks to improved farming techniques, the average yield this year reached 2,500 kg per mu across the 18,000-mu area. To ensure both a bountiful and profitable harvest, as early as early June, the town dispatched brokers to cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Hefei to assess the market and help farmers find buyers. By late June, when the watermelons hit the market, traders from all over flocked to the town.