Dragon Fruit Farming: If you see, dragon fruit cultivation was first introduced in the 1990s in India. It became more popular with farmers as it is a profitable crop. So most of the states in India started dragon fruit farming.
Dragon fruit plants can produce fruits for up to 20 years continuously. And maintenance of this dragon fruit is also easy. In this article, we look into the story of a successful farmer who started dragon fruit last year and earned lakhs of rupees this year.
Success Story of Dragon Fruit Farmer Mr. Tandu Saidulu Goud
When Raitubadi Youtuber who is very famous on YouTube went to this saidulu farmer to interview him about his dragon fruit farming and asked about the success story of this farming, the farmer shared why he had started and everything.
- Mr. Tandu Saidulu Goud is a farmer in Addanki, from the Andra Pradesh district.
- A few years back, saidulu went to Apollo Hospitals and he saw that the doctor was talking to a patient whose platelets had decreased and the doctor was advising the patient to eat dragon fruit for the quick rise of platelets.
- Also, saidulu has observed that for the “person whose platelets decreased to 15000 after eating dragon fruit within 3 days, the platelets skyrocketed to 1,50000”.
- After seeing this, the farmer was amazed and started thinking about this fruit and he started gathering information and investigating various dragon fruit sellers and cultivators in the market to gain proper knowledge on it.
- Then he got clarity on whether he could start this dragon fruit farming or not.
- As we all know, dragon fruit has many varieties like yellow, red, white dragon fruits, and more. Saidulu started cultivating red dragon fruit inside as well as outside of the fruit.
Also Read: 72-YO Creates New Dragon Fruit Varieties After Collecting 88 Types From Around the World
How Saidulu Has Started Dragon Fruit Farming on His 5 Acres of Land
When we are ready for dragon fruit farming, there should be a proper elevation of the land. These types of dessert plants can be grown on any type of cultivating soil. Saidulu has started dragon fruit farming on his 5 acres of land. Know how?
- Saidulu says that to start this dragon fruit farming, he used 400 poles per acre and for 5 acres he used 2000 poles as the stand for dragon fruit plants.
- And he bought 8000 dragon fruit saplings, for all the 4000 poles that are used in 5 acres, as he thought to plant 4 plants for each pole.
- And even for the poles he used Cycle tires on the top of the pole and they also used 2000 tires.
- He also used a drip system for each plant and as well as he also used a sprinkler system for the whole plant as the heat of the sun will be high in the summer season.
- For this whole setup, he invested 25 to 29 lakhs for these 5 acres of land.
- When the Raitubadi YouTube talks about watering the plants, the farmer said that in the rainy season, it doesn’t need any watering plants, but in summer we just give water 2 times a week.
- Saidulu also says that dragon fruit plants don’t get any diseases so he will not use any pesticides or chemicals but there will be ants that eat the fruit so, he uses the neem oil for that.
- And he also says that the youtube, size of the fruit that he was cultivating is less compared to others because he only uses vermicompost rather than using urea and other chemicals.
- Because by using urea and all he can get the big size but the taste of that fruit will be decreased.
- Also talking about the weeds, the farmer explains he uses a mini tractor to remove the weeds from the land once a month.
- The harvest that he was taking from these dragon fruit plants is one and a half to 2 lakh per acre as this is the first year.
- In the second year, the harvest will be doubled and you can get 3 to 4 lakhs of rupees per acre. Likewise year by year the profits of the dragon fruit plants will be increased says saidulu to Rythubadi Youtuber.
- He doesn’t use any pesticides or fertilizers on the plants as he wants to be a model of organic farming.
Past History of Farming By Saidulu
In the past, if you see saidulu has been cultivated in other types of crops and all of those are explained below.
- Saidulu said that, before cultivating these dragon fruits, he used to cultivate Mosambi and Shrigandha trees.
- When he was growing these trees he used different pesticides and fertilizers, even though the trees were grown healthy, when it came to the time of harvest, the trees used to die or rot.
- So at that time, he started using vermicompost only for the trees that he had grown.
- And this vermicompost was prepared by himself he says. Initially, he used to buy this vermicompost outside but due to its lower quality, he started making it on his own.
- He is following the same for the dragon fruit trees too.
- While talking about this vermicompost, maybe the growth of the tree will be less compared to other chemicals but the harvest will be good saidulu says to Youtuber.
- YouTube of Raitubadi also asks that using vermicompost the size of the fruit will be less but saidulu says, “By using vermicompost even though the size of the fruit is less, it is healthy and organic as well as tasty”.
- So, he also says that “if the government gives a subsidy to the farmers to cultivate dragon fruit farming, every farmer will start growing them and everyone will be benefited”.
Key Outcomes
Finally, Saidulu was very happy and satisfied with his dragon fruit farm and the work he was doing. He says that ” Present Year as it is the first harvest he is taking 8-10 lakhs of profit on these 5 acres of dragon fruit farm but the profit will be doubled or increased more year by year”.
As his farm was beside the highway many people came to visit his farm and he was also selling his fruits on the roadside and in front of the farm. Daily they sell 500 kg of dragon fruit which costs Rs. 30 to 40 thousand.
If you are also interested in this dragon fruit farm, just visit some of the dragon fruit farms in your area, talk to the farmers who are growing, and then make a wise decision.