The watermelons are sweet, with thin skin, and can be produced offseason. They are mainly sold in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Buhalqa Sidik, 25, returned to her hometown to work as an agronomist in the company's watermelon project, learning from Shandong's experts about watermelon growing technique.

"I majored in agriculture in university and I've combined what I've learned in theory with practice here. I've successfully grown watermelons on my own this year and also guide about 20 local farmers how to plant the melons," she said.