Early this month, Zhang Baiwang, a villager of Zhanghe Village in Yanhu District, took his watermelons to Linyi County to sell.

He got very little for them.

At noon, as Zhang was riding home, the county's transport bureau impounded his tricycle, demanding he pay 465 yuan road-maintenance fees.

Zhang didn't have enough money, so he called his wife Li Aifang, asking her to send the money.

For Li, distressed that the watermelons had not sold well, the impounding of the tricycle was the last straw.

Li, 52, hanged herself.

The Linyi transport bureau later gave Zhang 4,600 yuan, a local newspaper reported.

Li's death has been a catalyst for the despair of local watermelon farmers.

Some farmers have plowed their watermelons in, preparing to plant other fruit or vegetables.

Some even threw away their watermelons as garbage because prices were so low.

In the city's Nansunwu Village, a third of the village's more than 133 hectares of plowland was used for watermelons.

But the weak market has forced villagers to discard a third of their melons.

A hectare of watermelons costs 4,500 yuan to produce, but will return on average only 3,000 yuan, the newspaper said.

Wholesale prices have dropped to 4 fen (0.5 US cents) a kilogram on average in the city, the newspaper said.

An official of Yuncheng's agricultural bureau surnamed Lang said the poor market resulted mainly from mediocre quality.

Lang said it was rainy in Yuncheng this year, but watermelons prefer dry weather that can help the fruit grow big and sweet.

The use of chemical fertilizer also affects the taste.

In addition, many farmers planted watermelons on the same land this year and last year.

These melons were prone to rot, he said.

Lang said 5,040 hectares of watermelons were planted in Yuncheng this year, a jump of 69.5 percent from last year.

Local authorities have taken several measures to help farmers survive.

Traffic police will allow farmers to sell watermelons on most streets of Yanhu District, provided they don't affect traffic.

The newspaper said the retail price of melons was 1 yuan a kilogram on Sunday in Taiyuan, capital of the province. The wholesale price was about 0.9 yuan a kilogram and most watermelons came from Shaanxi and Hebei provinces.