Technology boosts watermelon planting in winter in NW China’s Gansu

Watermelons planted in an agricultural park in Daliu township, Liangzhou district, Wuwei city, northwest China’s Gansu Province recently entered the harvest season.

A farmer harvests a watermelon in a greenhouse at an agricultural park in Daliu township, Liangzhou district, Wuwei city, northwest China’s Gansu Province. (Photo/Li Yalong)

Thanks to the application of the Internet of Things, farmers can check on the watermelons’ growth, control the ventilation and temperature in greenhouses, and water and fertilize the watermelons using a mobile phone app.

Farmers harvest watermelons in a greenhouse at an agricultural park in Daliu township, Liangzhou district, Wuwei city, northwest China’s Gansu Province. (Photo/Li Yalong)

Liangzhou district is a vegetable and fruit planting base in winter and spring in northern China. To date, it is home to 72,000 vegetable and fruit greenhouses that cover a total area of 134,000 mu (about 8,900 hectares). Its planting scale and output of vegetables and fruit grown in greenhouses rank first in Gansu Province.

A farmer harvests a watermelon in a greenhouse at an agricultural park in Daliu township, Liangzhou district, Wuwei city, northwest China’s Gansu Province. (Photo/Li Yalong)

Aerial photo shows watermelon greenhouses at an agricultural park in Daliu township, Liangzhou district, Wuwei city, northwest China’s Gansu Province. (Photo/Li Yalong)