In India, dragon fruit cultivation was first introduced in the 1990s. It became more popular among farmers because of its profitability and once established. It required fewer inputs. The plant can produce for more than 20 years, has strong nutraceutical characteristics, and is suitable for value-added processing. Let’s check out a way of earning 12 lakh from Dragon fruit cultivation.
Dragon fruits have drawn farmers across India due to their little maintenance and excellent profitability. As a result, dragon fruit farming has exploded in Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, and also is some other north-eastern states. According to a recent study conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management in Baramati, Maharashtra, dragon fruits are grown on 3,000-4,000 hectares across India.
Every year, the country produces over 12,000 tonnes of fruit. The fruit can be shipped to nations in the Persian Gulf, the European Union, and the United States. India sent its first cargo of dragon fruit to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in June 2021, from a Maharashtra farmer. The cactus family includes the dragon fruit plant. It is resilient and thrives in various weather conditions and soil types, particularly in India’s semi-arid and desert areas. It favors slightly acidic soil and can withstand certain salts in the environment.
Earning 12 lakh from Dragon fruit cultivation
The success story of Mr. Nagender reddy
Mr. Nagender reddy belongs to the Guntur district, Telangana. A few years back, when his daughter faced issues with dengue, she was immediately admitted to the hospital. After treatment, the doctor expressed that the platelet count in her daughter’s blood is relatively low, so he suggested Mr. Nagender make her eat dragon fruit. He did not know what that fruit was until then. He immediately went to the market and bought some dragon fruit, and after consuming them, her daughter’s platelet count skyrocketed. He was amazed to see the results in such a short time and understood the demand and need for dragon fruits in the market.
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He started gathering information and investigating various dragon fruit sellers and cultivators in the market to gain proper knowledge on dragon fruit farming. He quickly started the dragon fruit cultivation under his strict supervision and took care of everything those plants needed while cultivating them. Now Mr. Nagender reddy is earning high profits through dragon fruits. He started this farm in half an acre at the start, and now he expanded this farm into 2 acres in just four years. Let us get into the details of his dragon fruit farm.
Land preparation details of Mr. Nagender’s farm
To cultivate Dragon fruit plants, you must choose land at a proper elevation. These plants can be grown in any cultivatable soil. It does not need to have a particular type of soil to grow. However, red soil is preferable. Before planting the Dragon fruit plants, use the animal manure in the soil, which we can obtain from cattle waste. This can result in the fast and healthy growth of the plant. Do not use chemical fertilizers or insecticides. Make sure anything you use on the plant is organic.Â
Cultivating dragon fruits according to Mr. Nagender
Mr. Nagender chose American beauty species of dragon fruit to cultivate. This dragon fruit species is rich in taste and abundant in nutrition. The fully grown fruit can weigh up to 300 to 500 grams in this dragon fruit species. He started dragon fruit farming four years ago in July, which is the proper season to cultivate dragon fruit. You can harvest these crops once a year, and in the following July, you can again start with a new crop of dragon fruit, says Mr. Nagender.
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Also, once you finish harvesting these crops, you start cultivating them again by making necessary changes, saving the buying cost of the dragon fruit plants after harvesting the first batch. He invested 5 lakh rupees as a running cost per acre to cultivate dragon fruits. One Dragon fruit seedling cost is rupees fifty, says Mr. Nagender. Mr. Nagender says that since the Dragon Fruit grows from the support of poles, you need to install cement poles in your land. It takes nearly 500 cement poles to cultivate Dragon fruit plants for one acre.
You must provide each pole with four crops which means per acre. You can cultivate two thousand Dragon fruit plants. The distance between the two poles should be equal to 12 feet. You can also use iron rods and tyres to make the poles. This can decrease the running cost. You can save half of the money if you choose iron rods and tyres to make the poles rather than cement poles. If you build the poles with cement, it takes 250 rupees per pole, but if you create the poles with Iron rods and tyres, it takes only 100 rupees per pole, says Mr. Nagender.
He installed a drip irrigation system to water his plants. As a result, these plants are sturdy and do not require much water to grow. If you plan the crop in June, the flowering will start in July, and you can obtain the fruit by the end of November. Of course, you can’t expect the fruit from every branch, sometimes a particular branch can give a more significant number of fruits, and other branches can produce only 2 or 3 fruits. But the branches that provide a smaller number of fruits have a high chance of making a more significant number of fruits by the next harvest.
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A fully grown Dragon fruit can we up to 300 grams to 500 grams, says Mr. Nagender. Nowadays, many people are raising concerns about cultivating dragon fruits. Many farmers complain that they cannot get the fruit even after one year. On this issue, Mr. Nagender says that even though the Dragon fruits are study crops, they need constant maintenance and care to grow correctly. Many farmers fail at this step resulting in improper yield and losses.
While cultivating the Dragon fruit plants, you must take care of watering and constantly monitor the crops for any diseases. If you observe that your plants are getting prone to diseases, then you might need to use pesticides for your plants. Dragon fruit plants develop diseases mainly at the start and not when they grow. In the case of Dragon fruit plants, you can observe these plants produce branches and flowers when they attain 5 to 6 months of age.
When you harvest the Dragon fruit plants after the first year, you can yield nearly 1 ton per acre. In the second year, you can get a yield of almost 4 to 5 tons per acre, In the third year, you can get a yield of nearly 6 to 7 terms, and from the 5th year onwards, you can get about 10 tons per acre. From this, we can conclude that the yield we get from the Dragon fruit plants depends on how we take care of the plants. If you can manage the crops well, you might get higher yields resulting in higher profits.Â
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The life of a Dragon Fruit plant can be 20 to 25 years.
He also started selling Dragon Fruit seedlings hand-prepared by them and is ready to undertake Dragon fruit farming from anyone as a contract-based venture. When selected to cultivate Dragon fruits by contract-based farming, he charges 900 rupees per pole for any acres of land.
Marketing and profit analysis of Mr. Nagender’s farm
Mr. Nagender Expressed that for the cultivation of Dragon fruits, only the initial investment is high, and the running cost is low. Once you obtain profit from the first batch, the initial investment is wiped out, and also you can save some for the next batch. The wholesale rate of Dragon fruits is 150 rupees per kg and is sold in retail at the rate of 250 to 300 rupees per kg. Mr. Nagender Sells his fruits at rupees 300 per kg beside the highway. As his land is next to a highway, he built a stall and started selling his fruits.Â
Now coming to the profit analysis of Mr. Nagender’s farm, he is cultivating dragon fruits on two acres. Per acre cultivating Dragon fruits takes nearly five lakhs investment which means the total investment of his farm is almost 12 lakhs, including miscellaneous costs. He sells his fruits 300 rupees per kg on the highway and says that he can sell the actual yield in the same way. As a result, he gets nearly 8 tons of yield for his two-acre farm, and this yield, when sold at 300 rupees per kg, obtains an income of 24,00,000 rupees.
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When we erase the investment of rupees 12 lakh from this, Mr. Nagender earns a profit of nearly 12,00,000 rupees per year by cultivating dragon fruits. When he started cultivating Dragon fruits, his fellow villagers criticized him for growing an unknown study plant. Many people said to his face that there was a high chance for him to face the losses. He proved them wrong by obtaining high profits in dragon fruit farming. People who criticized him are now buying the fruits and seedlings to cultivate the dragon fruits.
He also got a few contracts from his villagers, says Mr. Nagender. From facing criticism to obtaining high profits, Mr. Nagender worked hard to manage the dragon fruit farm for a few years. Now he is the proud owner of his dragon fruit farm and is happy and satisfied by the work he has been doing. He named his dragon fruit farm after his daughter since he got this idea from the situations she faced.
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