Farmers plan to increase the area for watermelons and melons in 2025 in the Kherson region

Kherson region, photo: Suspilne Kherson

In 2025, farmers on the right bank of the Kherson region intend to significantly increase the area for growing gourds.

According to Dmytro Yunusov, director of the Department of Agriculture of the Kherson Regional State Administration, the area under watermelons may increase by one and a half to two times compared to 2024, SEEDS quotes.

Last year, more than a thousand hectares were planted with melons in Kherson region, and the harvest increased from 3,000 tonnes in 2023 to 22,500 tonnes in 2024. This high demand for Kherson watermelons encourages farmers to expand their crops.

«Our Kherson watermelon is very popular, and there was a high demand for it in Kharkiv, Kyiv and other regions of western Ukraine. And even when our watermelons had not yet grown in the fields, they were already purchased by entrepreneurs from other regions. Given this demand, we plan to increase the area under Kherson watermelons by one and a half to two times in 2025,» said Dmytro Yunusov.

At the same time, he noted that it is impossible to reach the pre-war level of melons production without liberating the left bank of the region, as the soils of the left bank have better conditions for growing such crops.

As a reminder, the state has paid over two billion hryvnias in support to Ukrainian agricultural producers, including farms in Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, which operate in the frontline and de-occupied territories.