hope this helps
Step-by-step explanation:
When a small group of farmers in eastern China looked at their watermelon fields one spring morning in 2011, they had quite a shock. The fields were not full of a bumper crop like that shown in this picture. Instead, the fields were full of shattered watermelons. The melons looked like they had been blown apart.
A row of watermelons in a field.
Field of ripe watermelons
The problem was limited to about 45 acres (18 hectare) of melons near Danyang. Experts concluded a chemical called forchlorfenuron was at fault. This chemical makes fruits and vegetables grow faster and larger than normal. In fact, they can grow 20 percent bigger!
China’s Watermelon Crop
China grows more watermelons than any other country. All parts of the watermelon are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Farmers see benefits in increasing the size of each melon. Bigger melons bring bigger profits. Melons that grow faster also get to market more quickly. As a result, several farmers had treated their watermelon crop. But the melons grew much faster than anyone expected—in fact, so fast that they burst apart.
Scientists who studied the situation stated that several important things went wrong. First, the type of watermelon these farmers grow is fairly thin-skinned. Under the best conditions, it would be more likely than other types of melon to split. Adding the growth stimulant made that result even more likely.
Watermelons are also more likely to split when the amount of water they receive fluctuates. Watermelons are 92 percent water. During drier weather, their skin tightens. If a heavy rain follows, the plant must absorb a lot of water very fast. The result is cracking. In this case, farmers applied the chemical before a period of heavy rain. The pressure from the water plus the growth stimulant caused the melons to burst.
Chemical Use—Good and Bad
Farmers use many chemicals on crops. That is especially true in a country like China where many people make a living as farmers, and where agriculture is an important part of the economy. The chemical used on the watermelons was a growth stimulant. It makes each acre more productive. Farmers also use pesticides. These chemicals kill pests such as insects or rodents that destroy crops. They use other chemicals to control weeds or kill organisms that spread disease.
Much of China’s farmland has been used for a long time. Fertilizers are needed to add nutrients to soil that years of use have pulled out. China’s farmers also raise livestock and poultry under conditions where many animals are crowded together. Antibiotics are widely used to control the spread of disease.
The goal of heavy chemical use is to boost farm productivity. In fact, China is the world’s largest user of agricultural chemicals. It uses 30 percent of the world total on just 9 percent of the world’s farmland. They do help China produce more food. But chemicals can also cause problems—and not just exploding watermelons.
Some chemicals can be harmful to people or the environment. Most of China’s farms are small—fewer than 5 acres (2 hectares). Studies show that small farms are more likely to use chemicals inefficiently. They may use them in way that can be harmful to the environment. Small farms are also less likely to use innovations in technology that reduce the need for chemicals.
Still, China knows the harm these chemicals are doing to the land. It has set a goal of no further growth in the use of these chemicals by 2020. That means farmers will have to cut back on the chemicals they spray onto their crops. And that should also mean no more exploding watermelons.
