Ibrahimpur village in Nabinagar upazila of Brahmanbaria. Most of the people in this village are farmers. In addition to paddy and vegetables in the land, some people are involved in sunflower cultivation. The exception is Mohammad Ali Azzam Sarkar. He walked a different path. Watching YouTube, he is cultivating dragon fruit as a hobby. This is not the end, Ali Azam's dragon is showing the way to others. Many people have started cultivating dragon fruit after seeing him.
Recently, Mohammad Ali Azzam Sarkar's orchard was visited and dragon fruit trees were twisted into five feet high poles. Three to four raw-semi-ripe dragon fruits are hanging on the tree. People from different areas of the upazila are coming to know the cultivation method of dragon. Talking to Mohammad Ali Azam Sarkar in the garden. It is learned that he started cultivating dragon fruit in 2021 on the entire land of ancestral property about 6 bighas in Ibrahimpur village. His two brothers Abul Hossain Sarkar and Mizanur Rahman Sarkar inspired him to cultivate this dragon. He planted about 3200 saplings on 600 poles.
The tree bears fruit one to one and half years after planting. Recently he has been able to sell about 200 kg of dragon fruit per day from his garden. Each tree bears three to four fruits. It takes three to four years for a tree to mature. The mature tree bears 25 to 30 dragon fruits. With the success of experimental cultivation, he is increasing the cultivation of dragon fruit. There is a lot of demand for dragon fruit in the market. Several farmers of Nabinagar municipal area have started dragon farming.
They said that the risk is less in dragon farming and many people are encouraged to see more fruit. If Krishi Bank or various NGOs had arranged loans on easy terms as opposed to dragon farming, other farmers would have resorted to dragon farming.
Nabinagar Upazila Agriculture Officer Jaglul Haider said the dragon is the fruit of a creeping cactus tree born in the jungles of South America. Currently, dragon fruit is being cultivated in Thailand, China, Malaysia, India and Bangladesh. The soil and climate of Bangladesh are suitable for dragon farming. Of the four types of dragons, Baudragon-1 (white) and Baudragon-2 (red) are suitable for commercial cultivation. In our Nabinagar Upazila, Ibrahimpur, Municipality, Shyamgram, Rasullalabad, Barail and other places, several farmers have cultivated dragon in about 10 hectares of land this year. My guess is that about two crore rupees worth of dragon fruit will be sold this year. On behalf of our Department of Agriculture, we give proper advice to those who are interested in this cultivation.
Dragon is cultivated in all types of soils, he added. However, good yields are obtained in high lands. Seedlings have to be planted by digging holes three meters apart. Seedlings can be planted at any time of the year. However, it is better if it is between April and September. Trees are to be tied to cement or bamboo poles. The tree bears fruit within 20-25 days of flowering. Each fruit weighs 200-600 grams. A 12-18 month old tree bears 5-20 fruits. A mature tree bears a maximum of 60 fruits. Dragon fruit can also be produced in the roof garden tub.
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