Dragon Fruit Cultivation
Dragon fruit is also known as “cactus fruits” or “pitana“.
Dragon fruit is tropical and sub-tropical plant.It is native to south America.
About 100-150 years, spanish people took it to Vietnam.
In Vietnam, people use dragon fruit as a decorative plant. When they intially taste its fruit, they like the taste.
Then they started making hybrids and start cultivation in commercial scale and now it is cultivated all over the world.
Now Vietnam exports 90% of world’s dragon fruit.
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| Dragon fruit cultivation |
In this blog we have provided all the information on dragon fruit farming, so read the article till end.
So, let’s get started…
Introduction
It belongs to catcus family. Catcus plant doesn’t stand itself. It needs support for its growth.
Dragon fruit grows at least for 20 years and its weight becomes (200-300) kg. SO, Support system should be strong and long lasting.
For this, the best support system is made up of cement pillers. They will support dragon fruit for their lifetime.
We shouldn’t use wooden pegs as they are attacked by insects like termits in long run and also we shouldn’t use metal support as they can damage the plant.
Selection Of Plants
Proper selection of plant is very important in dragon fruit cultivation. If wrong planting material is selected, then it will cause huge loss to owner.
Things that should be considered while selecting planting material of dragon fruit are:-
✔️plant variety whether it is fast growing or slow growing.
✔️Productivity whether it is high or low.
✔️Pollination whether it is self-pollinated or cross pollinated.
✔️How much is the temperature tolerance of that variety.
✔️Sweetness and life of fruit.
✔️Disease and pest resistant capacity if selected variety.
There are about 21 parameters that should be considered while selecting the variety of dragon fruit because all our output will depend on that variety.
Varieties Of Dragon Fruits
There are different varieties of dragon fruit. Some of varieties are listed below:-
1.Frankies red
2.Tricia
3.Red jaina
4.Vietnam white giants
5.American beauty
6.Condor
7.Lavern
8.Yellow dragon fruit
Yellow Dragon fruit is also known as yellow pitahaya. It is the sweetest dragon fruit.
Soil
Dragon fruit can be grown in almost all type of soils. Proper drainage facility should be provided.
Generally, loose soil is considered as good soil for dragon fruit cultivation.
Propagation
Dragon fruit can be grown by the help of cuttings. About (6-12) inch cutting of good variety is taken and is grown in poly bag.
Spacing Of Plants
Dragon fruits needs good space as it expands its branches. The scientific spacing for dragon fruit plant is:-
Row-Row Distance= 10 feet
Plant-Plant Distance= 8 feet
Plant-Plant Distance= 8 feet
So, the spacing is (10×8) feet.
So, In area of 1 acre about (400-500) plants of dragon fruit can be cultivated.
Investment And Income
Investment costs depends on variety of dragon fruit cultivated, land levelling, method of irrigation(Drip Irrigation is best), support system and number of plant you want to cultivate.
So, if we go on numeric value of investment about (5-6) lakhs is need for an area of 1 acre.
Now, If we talk about the Income from dragon fruit, it also depends on variety of plant.
Some variety gives large output in short period of time while some are slow fruiting varieties.
The market price of dragon fruit is quite impressive. On an average we can earn at least 10 lakhs in one harvest.
Our intial investment cost gets recovered after 2nd harvest and we can also earn some profit at that time.
Production
We can get different production depending upon variety. The production of dragon fruit goes on increasing.
The highest production we can get from dragon fruit is from (5-15) years.
On an average we can harvest about (10-12)ton of dragon fruits from a land area of 1 acre.
Harvesting
First harvesting is done in about 1 year and regularly after 9 months. It also depends on variety.
We can get harvest from dragon fruit for about 20 years. In intial years, production is low and in successive years production goes on increasing.
Maximum harvest can be done in period of (5-15) years after planting.
We can harvest up to 6 tons in 1 acre from 2nd year but it also depends on variety.
Until now we have got information about the cultivation of dragon fruit. Now, let’s talk about the Benefits of dragon fruits:-
✔️Different minirals like iron, calcium, phosphorous, protein and carbohydrate are found in dragon fruit which are very essential for our body.
✔️It is rich in Vitamin B and Vitamin C
✔️Dragon fruit is good for diabetis patient because it contain fibers.
✔️It helps in digestion.
✔️Different anti-oxidants are found in dragon fruits.
Dragon fruit has high demand in market and its production is low. So, if we start dragon fruit cultivation, then we can get good sucess in this business.
What is your favourite fruit, do let us know in comments below.
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