The health benefits of watermelons are pretty obvious; we know that commonly, sweet juicy fruits are recommended in curing diseases of heart and blood vessels, kidney, liver, disorders of salt metabolism, obesity and many other ailments. Watermelon is the richest source of potassium, magnesium, iron, folic acid, vitamins, acids and pectin substances. So, you need our Watermelon Farming – Business Plan And Feasibility Study Template
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WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE
The health benefits of watermelon should be highlighted, and can be classified as follows:
1. Helps You Hydrate
Drinking water is an important way to keep your body hydrated. However, eating foods that have a high water content can also help. Interestingly, watermelon is 92% water.
2. Contains Nutrients and Beneficial Plant Compounds:
Among the fruits, watermelon is one of the lowest in calories — only 46 calories per cup. A cup (154 grams) of watermelon has many other nutrients as well, including these vitamins and minerals:
WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE
Vitamin C: 21% of the RDI. – Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps prevent cell damage from free radicals.
Vitamin A: 18% of the RDI.
Potassium: 5% of the RDI.
Magnesium: 4% of the RDI.
Vitamins B1, B5 and B6: 3% of the RDI.
Watermelon is also high in carotenoids, including beta-carotene and lycopene. Plus, it has citrulline, an important amino acid.
3. Contains Compounds That May Help Prevent Cancer.
Researchers have studied lycopene and other individual plant compounds in watermelon for their anti-cancer effects.
4. May Improve Heart Health
Heart disease is said to be the number one cause of death worldwide. Several nutrients in watermelon have specific benefits for heart health.
WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE
5. May Lower Inflammation and Oxidative Stress
Inflammation is a key driver of many chronic diseases. Watermelon may help lower inflammation and oxidative damage, since it’s rich in the anti-inflammatory antioxidants lycopene and vitamin.
6. May Help Prevent Macular Degeneration
Found in several parts of the eye, lycopene helps protect against oxidative damage and inflammation.
It may also help prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This is a common eye problem that can cause blindness in older adults.
7. May Help Relieve Muscle Soreness
Citrulline, an amino acid in watermelon, may reduce muscle soreness.
8. Is Good for Skin and Hair
Two vitamins in watermelon — A and C — are important for skin and hair health.
9. Can Help Improve Digestion
Watermelon contains lots of water and a small amount of fibre — both of which are important for healthy digestion.
You may be wondering why listing all these health benefits. Yes, it is because of what you are going to read next, that is, the economic implications of the health benefits. It is for the economic reasons that you are in business. Starting a watermelon farming business can yield massive profits as you can cultivate and harvest three batches of watermelon fruits in a year. These are reason why we encourage you to start your watermelon farming business as soon as possible.
WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE
Reasons Why You Should Invest In Watermelon Farming Business:
Understanding the business:
High Turnover-: It takes a watermelon eighty five days to get to maturity from the planting date. This means you can have three sets of harvested watermelon fruits to sale within the year and if you started out the business on a large parcel of land, then you are sure to get huge returns on your investment.
Ready Market -: Because people are aware of its health benefits, especially, that it contains some enzymes that help to fight against cancer causing cells in the body; the demand for watermelon is very high.
Watermelon Is Pest Resistant-: This means that watermelon plant is resistant to pests and diseases that usually affect plants; you will not need to spend much on greeting ride of pests from affecting the watermelon.
Very Easy to Start: As long as you have the land space needed for the farming, you don’t need much of other things to get your watermelon business up and running; you don’t need much technical knowledge to run a watermelon farm.
BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE
Things You Need to Start a Watermelon Farming Business :
Your business Plan.
Large Expanse of Land-:
Each watermelon plant is called a vine; and the vines get to spread out as they mature and they need space for the plant to bear bigger fruits.
Sunlight-:
A watermelon plant requires sunlight to grow well. So the land space must be in a location where there is adequate sunlight to nurture the plants. – at least up to 6 hour sunshine daily.
Good Seedling: The type of seedling you use will affect the output or quality of watermelon fruits your plants will yield. There are very various varieties of watermelon species, you have to make a choice of which variety you wish and carry out further research on how to handle the cultivation process before you embarked on it.
The following are the varieties to chose from:
- Garden Baby. 68-78 day. Sweet, juicy, crisp. Small round fruit, 6 to 7 inches in diameter, icebox size; weighs 6 to 8 pounds. Dark green rind with faint striping; red flesh. Extremely compact vines. Reliable in cooler regions. Open-pollinateBush Charleston Gray. 90 days. High sugar content. Small, oblong fruit similar to Charleston Gray except for the smaller size of fruit and vine; weighs10 to 13 pounds. Gray-green rind; flesh deep red, fine-textured. Needs just 3 to 5 feet across. Ideal for small garden. Open-pollinated.
- And, Bush Jubilee. 90-100 days. Sweet, high sugar content. Small, oblong fruit to 24 inches long; weighs 25 to 35 pounds. Light green rind with dark green stripes; bright red flesh, firm texture. Spreads just 3 to 5 feet. Open-pollinated.
- Bush Sugar Baby. 75-80 days. Juicy, sweet flesh. Small, round fruit; weighs 12 pounds; dark green rind with no stripes; red flesh. Vine spreads just 3 to 3½ feet. Open-pollinated.
on WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE, The following are long vine watermelons species for larger spaces.
- Calsweet. . 90-92 days. Sweet. Large, oblong fruit to about 17 inches; weighs 25 to 30 pounds. Rind light green with dark green stripes; bright red flesh. Open-pollinated.
- Charleston Gray. 85-100 days. Excellent, crisp flavour. Large, cylindrical fruit to 24 inches long; weighs 30 to 35 pounds. Thin but tough rind is light greenish-gray; red flesh. Vigorous vine. Sunburn and heat resistant. Open-pollinated.
- Crimson Sweet. 80-97 days. Very sweet, high sugar content. Large, slightly elongated fruit to 12 inches long; weighs 35 to 30 pounds. Thick, hard rind; light green darker green stripes; bright red flesh, fine texture. Open-pollinated.
- King of Hearts. 80-85 days. Sweet, delicious, crisp. Oval-shaped; thick green rind with medium green stripes. Bright red flesh, medium texture. Hybrid.
- Sugar Baby. 68-86 days. Big melon sweetness. Small, round fruit fits in the icebox, 6 to 8 inches long; weighs 8 to 10 pounds. Thick, dark green rind turns almost black; bright red-orange flesh, fine texture. Excellent for home garden. Open-pollinated.
Watermelon Farming – Business Plan And Feasibility Study Template – Short-season watermelon – less than 90 days.
- Garden Baby. As described above.
- Cole’s Early. 80 days. Sweet, good quality. Broad, oval fruit; weights15-20 pounds. Thin rind; dark green with light green stripes; light red flesh. Popular in northern states. Open-pollinated.
- Sugar Baby. As described above.
- Fordhook Hybrid. 75 days. Juicy, delicious. Weighs 14 pounds. Red flesh. Vigorous grower.
Yellow-flesh fruit.
- Yellow Baby. 75 days. Sweet, excellent flavour. Small, round to oval fruit to 7 inches in diameter; weighs 8 to 10 pounds. Thin rind; light green with darker green stripes; bright yellow flesh. Good storage. Hybrid.
- And, Yellow Doll. 65-70 days. Extra sweet, crisp. Small, round to oval fruit; weighs 4 to 8 pounds. Thin rind; green with dark green stripes; yellow flesh. Semi-compact vine. Open-pollinated.
WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDYTEMPLATE
Consult older farmers for better choice of seedling.
The Cultivation Process-:
The cultivation process in watermelon farming is quite complicated as you need to plant the seedlings in a specific way to give them better space to germinate. When planting the watermelon seed, each hole for the watermelon seedling needs to be 1 foot deep and over 1.5 feet wide. Cover the hole with fertiliser, place the seed on the top and push with your finger till it gets to at least 0.5 foot deep.
Watermelon Farming – Business Plan And Feasibility Study Template – for the spacing, you should allow a space of 8 feet between each plant to allow the vines enough space to spread out when the plant begins to grow. If possible, do the planting when the whether is hot, up to at least 70 degrees hot, because watermelon functions better in hot weather.
WATERMELON FARMING – BUSINESS PLAN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY TEMPLATE Watering-: For the first few weeks after planting, you need to water the watermelon generously twice in a week, then reduce the watering to just once every two weeks as soon as the vines start sprouting out. This is to help increase the sugar content in the watermelon fruit. If a watermelon has a watery taste, that was because the farmer continued to water it consistently even after the vines started growing and didn’t give it the needed space to absolve sugar from the soil.
Weed Control-: Since the watermelon plant is pest resistant, you need to focus more on getting ride of weeds on the farm; this can be done with herbicides.
Harvesting-: This is the part everybody is waiting for because harvesting means that the sales and money making period is around the corner. We above that watermelon plant may take up to 85 days to get to maturity. The question is; how do you know that you watermelon is ready for harvest? Your watermelon is ready for harvest when the fruit looses its outer shiny appearance and also when the part of the fruit that touches the ground changes into a rich yellow colour.
Marketing -:
After harvesting, the final step is transportation from the farm to the wholesaler, retailer or final consumption for sale. To successfully sell your watermelon produce, you have to know who and where your market is. The main market for your produce include: owner of fruit stores, grocery store owners, restaurants and hotels, pharmaceutical companies that need watermelon extracts as raw material for the production of supplements.
Finally, Watermelon is a fresh produce and you don’t expect it to stay fresh for a long time after it is harvested, that is why you need to carry out a feasibility research in your location even before you start the farm to ensure that there is a ready market and high demand for your produce.
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