A tea estate in Kulaura, Moulvibazar, has turned about an acre of land unsuited to tea into a commercial dragon fruit orchard. Some 14,000 plants of the Thai Red, Jumbo Red and White Pink varieties on the fallow land outside Sirajnagar Tea Estate's plantation are now heavy with fruit.

The estate set up the orchard in 2024 with an investment of only Tk 12 lakh. Fruiting began in the second year, and about Tk 12 lakh of fruit has already been sold this season, with more expected before the season ends. Workers said the fruit is ready to pick within 25-26 days of flowering, so the same plot can be harvested in rounds.

Estate manager Shamim Islam said the dragon fruit had been planted to improve fallow land outside the plantation and had turned out to have commercial promise; no pesticide is used, so the organically grown fruit is safe. Tea workers do the pruning, flower care, weeding and picking alongside their regular work, earning extra wages, and the fruit is given to them free.

Tea worker Josna Pashi said she can now take good-quality dragon fruit home from the garden at no cost and the whole family eats it. Md Jashim Uddin, Kulaura's upazila agriculture officer, said land unfit for tea is no longer being left idle: brought into planned production, such orchards open a new source of income for tea gardens and help meet the workers' nutrition needs.

Reported by Krishi Shomoy's Moulvibazar correspondent. Source: Krishi Shomoy