Night looks like day in parts of Sharsha upazila in Jashore, where dragon fruit is being grown under artificial light. By extending daylight with lamps, growers are getting three times the yield out of season. The "light" method has opened a new chapter for dragon fruit, and farmers are profiting and expanding.

Young entrepreneur Abedur Rahman of Benapole, in Sharsha, has revolutionised off-season dragon fruit growing with modern lighting technology. In winter, when days are short and there is not enough sunlight, dragon fruit plants flower and fruit less. To overcome this, he has installed hundreds of energy-saving LED bulbs across his 10-bigha orchard, raising winter yields almost threefold.

The lights are switched on in two sessions every day, from dusk to midnight and from 3am to 6am, keeping photosynthesis going. The plants begin to flower even in the cold. The winter fog that can darken whole days no longer halts production.

"I first started dragon fruit on 10 bighas on a trial basis, and to ensure off-season production in winter I installed lighting on the 10 bighas," Abedur said. "Off-season fruit can be sold at several times the peak-season price." According to the report, a 10-bigha orchard costs Tk 70 lakh and returns Tk 40 lakh a year, and dragon fruit can be harvested for ten years.

Rows of plants under glittering LEDs have made the orchard a visitor attraction; hundreds come every day, and some compare it to farms in Europe. Visitor Rashedur Rahman Rashu said he had never heard of dragon fruit grown with lighting and came to see it. Worker Zakir Hossain said the lights bring fruit in winter and fog, and the fruit is sweet. The fruit supplies Sharsha and is sent to Jashore and other districts, and some Dhaka traders buy directly. The orchards are also creating jobs.

Upazila agriculture officer Dipak Kumar Saha said dragon fruit is grown on about 85 hectares in the upazila. Because off-season fruit fetches higher prices, farmers are profiting and cultivation is growing, and farmers are now using artificial lighting to produce dragon fruit out of season.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.