Drip irrigation has opened new possibilities for dragon fruit farming. The method is winning the trust of farmers in Joypurhat for producing quality crops at low cost. Not only in dragon fruit but in flower gardens and fruit orchards, farmers in the district are benefiting from it. Other farmers are becoming interested after seeing it, saying: "If the government let us use this kind of system too, we would."

Golam Azam Ali, a farmer from Pali Chakmohan village in Joypurhat Sadar upazila, told Jagonews24: "I started growing dragon fruit on two and a half bighas three years ago. Then I irrigated by hiring a shallow machine for Tk 200-250 an hour, and I had to flood the whole field, which cost a lot. Last year a local NGO trained us and gave us the drip irrigation system free of charge. Using it, costs are much lower. The plants get exactly as much water as they need. I hope profits will rise further this year."

Golam Azam is not the only one; many in the district are using the method. Mohammad Helal, a farmer from Khanjanpur in Sadar upazila, told Jagonews24: "I have lychee and latkan (burmese grape) trees on 4 bighas. This is the first time I have used the method. With it, no labourers are needed for irrigation, and I don't have to water every part of the land, so costs are much lower. I hope we will profit from it."

Dilip Chandra, a farmer interested in the method, told Jagonews24: "We used to flood-irrigate our land, which took a lot of water. Now, coming to Azam bhai's farm, I see that no water is wasted with this method. If we were given a system like this, we would use it too."

Ahsan Habib, agriculture officer of the non-governmental development organisation JRDM, told Jagonews24: "Farmers used to have to irrigate with a lot of water, which pushed up irrigation costs and reduced their profits. The organisation is working to spread this method among farmers so that their irrigation costs come down and they make more profit."

Shahidul Islam, additional deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), told Jagonews24: "Other methods waste a lot of irrigation water. Drip irrigation is now being introduced by both government and private bodies, letting farmers irrigate crops and orchards at low cost, so they spend less and earn more. The DAE is working to expand the method further."

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