Khorshed Alam, who took up dragon fruit as a hobby in Kurigram, now dreams of farming it commercially. From 30 plants at the start, his garden now has more than 2,000 dragon fruit plants, and he sells dragon fruit worth more than a lakh taka a year. He is the son of Dabir Uddin, a businessman of Puraton Hospitalpara village next to Riverview High School in Kurigram municipal town. Alongside his other business, he took the initiative after watching dragon fruit farming methods on YouTube, and after long waiting and effort he now hopes to profit from the fruit.

Talking to Khorshed Alam, it emerged that he saw dragon fruit orchards on a trip to Thailand. He brought back dragon fruit cuttings and first planted one seedling on his roof. Seeing it flower and fruit a year and a half later, he was inspired, and brought 30 seedlings from various places to plant on his own land. He now has more than 2,000 dragon fruit plants on 50 decimals of land.

At Tk 100 per plant, he has spent Tk 2 lakh in all so far, and has earned a lakh taka from this long-term project to date. His dragon fruit farming is creating new entrepreneurs in Kurigram, and many in the district are coming forward to grow dragon fruit commercially.

Khorshed Alam said: "Dragon fruit is a long-term crop and a profitable one. It costs a bit at first, but little afterwards. Other crops need constant care, fertiliser and pesticide; in that respect dragon fruit is very good. With a little care, dragon fruit can be grown."

He said: "I was first inspired by watching dragon fruit farming on YouTube. Then I planted one plant, then brought 30 plants and began on a small scale. The garden is five years old. It now covers 50 decimals with more than 2,000 plants. We sell fruit worth about Tk 2-3 lakh a year."

Ripon, who looks after the garden, said: "Dragon fruit needs little care. Fruit sets within a month of flowering. There are three varieties of dragon fruit here, planted using the Chinese and Vietnamese methods. Last year we sold fruit worth about Tk 3 lakh. This year the yield is a bit lower because the weather was not good. We hope for better next year."

Md Imran, who came to see the garden, said: "We buy dragon fruit at the market. Coming to a garden for the first time, I bought dragon fruit from Khorshed Alam bhai. It is a very good initiative. If the country's agriculture department gives full support, unemployed young people like us can create jobs by growing dragon fruit."

Kurigram Sadar upazila agriculture officer Nahida Afrin said: "There are four dragon fruit gardens in Kurigram Sadar upazila. Dragon fruit is selling at Tk 150-200 a kg. But people in Kurigram are not very used to dragon fruit. There is great demand for it in other districts."

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