Prices of oriental melons also increase due to poor harvest caused by abnormal climate

Following apples, the production of oriental melons has also plummeted. This is due to frequent rains and a significant decrease in sunlight due to climate change.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation’s (aT) agricultural product distribution information, the intermediate sale price of 10 kilograms of oriental melon was 104,000 won as of April 1. Compared to 78,520 won a year ago, the price is up 32.4 percent and 39.5 percent from 74,507 won in the average year. The intermediate sale price is the price sold by middlemen and wholesalers to retailers and consumers.

The reason for the increase in oriental melon prices is due to the poor harvest. According to the North Gyeongsang Provincial Government's analysis of oriental melon shipments from five joint agricultural products markets in Seongju, 257,700 kilograms were shipped in late February (from 21 to 25), down 45 percent from the recent seven-year average of 472,768 kilograms. Seongju accounts for 80 percent of the country's oriental melon cultivation area.

The decline in production, like that of apples, is attributed to abnormal climate. Seongju had 12 rainy days in February, 10 more days compared to two days a year earlier. The amount of precipitation also increased more than nine times from 11.5 millimeters to 105.5 millimeters. With the frequent rainfall, sunlight hours have been reduced by about half from 205 hours to 127 hours.

Sunlight hours are the most important growth factor for oriental melons, which are grown in greenhouses in temperatures above 50 degrees. The number of sunlight hours in Seongju over the past 10 years was seven hours. An official from the North Gyeongsang Provincial Government said, "Oriental melons are harvested in earnest from February to July. When we investigated the cause of the lower-than-normal yield in February, we found that the damage caused by the decrease in sunlight was severe." North Gyeongsang Province estimates that 4,344 farms and 1,577 hectares of oriental melon fields in Seongju, Kimcheon, Goryeong, and Chilgok suffered damage caused by decreased amount of sunlight. Most of the affected areas are concentrated in Seongju (3,809 farms, 1,361 hectares of damaged area).

North Gyeongsang Province has proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to support the recovery cost of agricultural disasters and is conducting a thorough investigation. On March 15, the ministry acknowledged the agricultural disaster caused by the lack of sunlight and is considering providing state funding. Farmers are worried that they will ruin their harvest this year. After the first harvest, oriental melons can be harvested up to four to five times depending on the growing conditions.

Ms. Ahn, in her 60s, who has been farming oriental melons for 30 years, said, "The growing conditions are so bad that some farmers have just seen their oriental melons come into bearing. The percentage of low-grade fruit that cannot be sold due to poor development is also quite high."

According to Seongju-gun, the amount of low-grade oriental melon generated from January 1 to March 14 this year was 461,582 kilograms, up 2.4 times from 134,394 kilograms a year earlier.

Losses due to poor harvests are also huge. Considering the same production as in previous years, seasonal workers were hired, but there was no work due to the decrease in production. Mr. Kim, in his 50s, said, "In the afternoon, I have nothing to do, so I sit and rest with foreign workers," adding, "Normally, we would produce 400 to 500 boxes of oriental melons at this time of year, but now we don’t even produce 250 boxes."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.