From Imports To Self-Sufficiency: How India Plans To Grow Dragon Fruit On A Massive Scale

In a bid to reduce import and increase production of dragon fruit, the government is working on a roadmap to increase the cultivation area of the exotic fruit to 50,000 hectares in next five years from 3,000 hectares at present.

In India, the cultivation of dragon fruit, known locally as Kamalam, is fast picking up and farmers of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mizoram and Nagaland have taken up its cultivation.

At present, the total area under cultivation of Dragon Fruit in India is more than 3,000 hectares which is not able to meet the domestic demand, hence majority of the dragon fruits available in Indian market is imported from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

The import of dragonfruit in India started during 2017 with a quantity of 327 tonnes, which has increased sharply to 9,162 tonnes in 2019 and the estimated import for 2020 and 2021 is about 11,916 and 15,491 tonnes, respectively.

The projected import value was about Rs 100 crores for 2021.

"With focus on Atmanirbhar Bharat, there is need to reduce import and increase our own capacity for production. In this endeavor under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), a roadmap is being prepared for cultivation of this crop in the identified potential area to increase the production of exotic and niche area fruits including Kamalam. The target for area expansion under MIDH for Kamalam is 50,000 hectares in 5 years," the Union Agriculture Ministry said on Monday (13 March).

The cultivation of this fruit has started recently and a plantation of this healthy fruit is established at ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port-Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and IIHR, Bengaluru, Karnataka, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, dragon fruit provides fast return with economic production in the first year after planting and full production is attained in 3-4 years.

The life expectancy of the crop is about 20 years and average economic yield after 2 years of planting is 10 tonnes per acre.

At present,, the market rate is Rs 100 per kg fruit, so the revenue generated by selling fruits per year is Rs 10,00,000.

Under MIDH, the Ministry of Agriculture has approved a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for dragon fruit to be established by Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) Bengaluru at Hirehalli in Karnataka on 9 March to focus on production, post-harvest and value addition of the fruit.

The Centre will work for development of latest production technology as per the international standard and off season production and demonstration of these technologies for high yield production.

The Centre will aim to achieve self-sustenance in dragon fruit production, value addition and enhancing economic development of the farming community.

The CoE will also focus on developing high performance variety with improved yield, nutrient use efficiency, nutritional quality, tolerance against biotic and abiotic stresses, standardisation of propagation techniques, distribution of quality planting material through public participatory approach, development of protocol for post-harvest handling and storage to reduce post-harvest losses and promote export to distant markets, development of value-added products and processes for product diversification and higher revenue realisation, dissemination of developed technologies to the farmers and other stakeholders through training, field visits, etc.

With the growing interest in farmers and the quick returns that they are getting from cultivation of dragon fruit in agricultural and marginal lands, the ministry expects that the new areas will come up under dragon fruit and the import will be totally substituted through domestic cultivation.