Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

Everyone loves fruits, not least of which is the sweet and appetizing melon. There is never going to be a denial that given a chance, hungry mouths may lunge forward to grab a last bite of its juicy mesocarp.  

Small kids, especially, love them as they are not only sweet and fragrant, but also a little crunchy, depending on the degree of ripeness.  

It does not matter if the fruits are slightly over ripe as it does not affect their condition to any significant extent.  

On the other hand, fruits that are a little over ripe are in fact more fragrant and aromatic.  Such fruits also appeal to the seniors and elderlies even though their mouths may have only a few teeth left.

Melons belong to the Cucurbitaceae family with many members that are always in demand as items of dessert and table food.  It has a specie that is known as Cucumis melo which is regarded as a true melon.

This is most beneficial as it has a large number of cultivars and cross breeds that today supply much of the melon market throughout the world.  Although they are all melons, there are subtle differences particularly in the shape, skin colour and reticulation.

As a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, melons are herbaceous annuals that have an inherent ability to climb and sprawl as growth progresses and extends in all directions particularly in areas where sunlight is sufficient.

This allows for flowering and fruiting to occur virtually throughout the whole year.  This feature is therefore taken advantage of by many enterprising growers to fatten their pockets and enrich their livelihood.

But sadly, this enterprising spirit is still lacking in Malaysia particularly in Sabah where folks lack the means and ideas to venture out and take advantage of high potential agricultural plants.

In many overseas locations including in China and Taiwan where most people prioritize entrepreneurship skills in their daily lives, it seems they have an uncanny ability to see through stuffs that have great potential to yield high returns.

These are evidenced by the flood of hundreds of millions of tourists pouring out annually to visit other countries that they would never have dreamt of visiting 10 or 15 years ago.  

Of course these go hand in hand together with relevant agencies and departments to see that the goals of enriching the people, the district and the province are achieved.  

The analogy is simple, but relevant within our local context.  The population of the Sabah state is about 3.5 million but it is safe to say that 70-80% do not have the ability to travel outside the state or even outside ASEAN.

Why?  Because money is lacking. Most do not earn big salaries, nor are they involved in any meaningful or profitable businesses. The rest are stuck in one-man-shows or cucuk tanam ubi kayu in the kampung. And sadly, remaining poor.

Why so, despite the availability of fertile lands in the rural areas?  This is mainly because most of them have not been shown the opportunity in agropreneurship, nor have been guided or taught in practical hands-on short courses that they can apply to eke out better incomes from their lands.  

Therefore, relevant agencies and departments must stop slumbering and must wake up now. With melons, another god-sent opportunity is opening the doors to progress and advancement.  

The fruit is a great horticultural item that is easy to grow, highly productive, cost very little in terms of monetary input, and most important of all, it fetches good money.  

Therefore, the time is now ripe for the poor farmers to dump their crumbling Bedford flatbed truck of a clunker and buy a new Hilux or Isuzu Navara to cater to their expanding agribusiness.  

This is provided they have learnt enough of the tricks of growing melons on an expanding scale, and provided they have been taught the tricks of the trade by relevant agencies and departments.

Very often, most consumers simply call melons as rock melon, sweet melon honeydew melon, musk melon, cantaloupe or hami melon.  The latter is mostly produced in the province of Xinjiang in China, whereas cantaloupes and musk melons are terms more widely used in the west.  

In ASEAN, particularly in Malaysia, melons are simply known as rock melon or honeydew melon.

Visually, the differently-named melons do not look similar.  For instance, honeydew melons are always smooth with very insignificant netting on the surface and it feels comfortable to coddle as there are no rough edges or thorns.  

They are also rounder and smaller in size, with diameters that usually remain within a range of 15-20 cm.  

The other melons are mostly reticulated with hami melons being the sweetest and having a visibly elongated shape.  Their flesh or mesocarp are thick and are mainly yellow with varying degrees of white to pale greenish colour.  

On the whole, all of them have very thick and sweet flesh with noticeable levels of fruity aroma.

Melons are not difficult to grow and harvest.  To begin, just go and purchase some good seeds and then sow them in the same way as seeds of other climbers are sown.

The seeds sprout quickly, usually within 5-10 days from sowing.  Make sure they are well-watered especially during hot dry seasons.  Also, regular fertilisation or manuring is necessary to ensure plump results.  

Flowering and fruiting may be visible after that, and from there, it is joyous days all the way to the feasting table….and to the bank too to deposit but not pinjam.

The above writer may be reached at: onggrow@yahoo.com