Dragon fruit farming thrives in Rajshahi flourishing employment

Asadul Islam Helal, 48, has nowadays become a well-known face as an entrepreneur for his successful venture in dragon fruit farming in Rajshahi.

Once a job holder, Helal now turns a job provider, creating employment opportunities for many. With growing demand of dragon fruits in local markets in the country, it reshaped the region's agricultural landscape too.

Helal is a potential farmer of Bidirpur village under Godagari upazila in the district. Initially driven by his hobby, Helal had planted some dragon fruit seedlings ten years back.

Upon being optimistic, he commercially began farming the nutritious but non-conventional fruit on four acres of land in 2019.

"I have invested around Tk10 lakh for dragon fruit farming on each acre of land," Helal shared BSS yesterday (7 March).

He said, "It takes one and half years to yield fruits since the planting of seedlings."

Dragon fruits are usually harvested during summer, particularly from February to November, said Helal, noting that he has already earned around Tk 16 lakh from the growing industry this season.

Beaming with joy, Helal proudly mentioned that he left his institutional job earlier and now himself a job provider.

Shafiul Islam Mukta, a resident of Pirijpur village under the same Upazila, has taken dragon fruit cultivation into a larger scale. He manages four orchards across 52 bighas of land in Gogram and Matikata areas.

Mukta earned Tk 35 lakh by selling dragon fruits last year. This season, he has been selling dragon fruits at Tk 300 to 450 per piece, depending on size and quality.
"Farming on one bigha of land costs around Tk 2.70 lakh, but the returns are promising," he said.

Originally from the Central America, the South America, the commercial farming of the fruits has nowadays garnered huge popularity in the Southeast Asia and China.

Talking to BSS on Friday, retired Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension Monjurul Huda said the production of dragon fruit in Rajshahi, Natore, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts has doubled over the past 15 years. Farmers are expanding their businesses with rising demand. 

The Pirijpur Agro Farm Limited has developed an orchard of dragon fruits on seven bighas of land in Pirijpur area under Godagari upazila.

Shish Muhammad, a shareholder of the farm, said they are selling dragon fruits on both online and in person, receiving overwhelming responses from wholesalers and retailers.

Rafiqul Islam along with three of his partners initially began dragon fruit farming experimentally in the Kendobona area under Nachole upazila in Chapainawabgonj district. Encouraged by profits, they have now scaled up the fruit production.
"The investment is low, the cultivation process is easy and the profit margin is high," said Rafiq.

Monjurul Huda said the dragon fruit farming requires minimal maintenance, and its growing popularity is attracting more farmers. The plants, which grow up to 2.5 meters, thrive in loamy soil with compost. Overwatering must be avoided to prevent issues like fruit splitting and yellowing. The plant blooms only at night, sometimes requiring hand pollination for better yields.

Experts, however, prefer cutting to seed germination for dragon farming as the latter one is found to be comparatively a slower process.

With rising demand, dragon fruit is fetching high prices in markets. In Rajshahi, it sells for Tk 450 to 600 per kg, while in Dhaka's upscale markets, prices range from Tk 700 to 800 per kg. However, the price remains out of reach for many common consumers. Despite this, the increasing number of commercial growers and strong market demand indicate that dragon fruit farming is set to become a major agricultural success in the region.