Former corporate worker finds success with Hami melon in NW China's Xinjiang

"I wanted to grow the kind of Hami melon that tastes exactly like what I enjoyed when I was little and help increase the incomes of my fellow villagers," said Yan Xiaobing, head of Xiaobing planting cooperative, explaining his decision to leave a well-paid job at a foreign company to grow Hami melons.

"My parents grew Hami melons all their lives. They were the best melons in my memory, but they often sold at low prices," Yan said. "I wanted to return and help sell them properly."

The change in Yan's career path took place in 2016, when he returned to his hometown, Santanghu town in Kazak Autonomous County of Barkol, Hami city, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to become a Hami melon farmer.

Fortunately, he succeeded.

Yan Xiaobing (left) samples a "Kudou Hami melon" with a fellow farmer in a field in Santanghu town in Kazak Autonomous County of Barkol, Hami city, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (People's Daily Online/Chen Xinhui)

Using traditional melon-growing methods passed down from his father and fellow villagers, Yan cultivated high-quality Hami melons and helped turn the once humble fruit into a reliable source of income for local farmers.

Yan's effort to revive the flavor he remembered from childhood was full of setbacks.

"Pitfalls came almost every year, and each one was different," he said.

In his first season, he focused on flavor, letting the melons ripen fully before harvest, a decision that brought its own challenges.

Torrential rain lasting three days ruined Yan's crop, splitting open every melon on more than 50 mu (about 3.33 hectares) of farmland.

"I lost terribly," he said. "At the time, many villagers thought I would never farm again the following year."

Undeterred, Yan started over and set out to combine traditional planting wisdom with modern marketing channels.

Drawing on methods taught by his father and lessons from fellow growers, he revived the authentic taste of Hami melons by irrigating fields with water mixed with Kudouzi, a common local medicinal plant, and fertilizing with sheep manure.

Using his family's 6 mu of farmland as a test plot, Yan showed that selling high-quality Hami melons online could work.

Boxes of "Kudou Hami melon" are loaded onto a truck in Santanghu town in Kazak Autonomous County of Barkol, Hami city, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of Hu'axi Azhati)

When Yan produced the quality Hami melons he sought in 2017, Barkol county officials and the local e-commerce service center stepped in, providing resources and creating new sales channels to help him market the fruit.

The "Kudou Hami melon," which Yan markets as the "Hami melon with childhood taste," ripens in late July to early August, filling a gap between early and late-season varieties.

A new development model featuring joint efforts by local Communist Party of China (CPC) organizations, Yan's agricultural cooperative, e-commerce platforms and local farmers has helped overcome logistical hurdles that once kept Hami melons from wider markets, bringing the fruit to dining tables nationwide.

Online sales of the "Kudou Hami melon" brought in 1.04 million yuan (about $146,012) in 2017, rising to 1.96 million yuan in 2018 and climbing steadily in the following years, Yan said.

"This year, sales revenue is expected to top 20 million yuan," Yan said, smiling at the promise of a bumper harvest.

Today, Yan's cooperative manages more than 600 mu of "Kudou Hami melon," raising incomes for local growers by about 1 yuan per kilogram and helping more than 100 households move toward shared prosperity.

"The fact that I can help my fellow villagers increase their incomes is the sweetest reward I can get from the land," Yan said.