This story is from July 28, 2020

Gujarat: Dragon fruits are juicy delight for farmers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special mention of Kutch farmers tasting success with dragon fruit cultivation in his July 26 ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has put the spotlight on how this exotic fruit has become a money spinner for many in Gujarat.
Gujarat: Dragon fruits are juicy delight for farmers
Ashwin Sabhaya in his farm in Amreli district
RAJKOT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special mention of Kutch farmers tasting success with dragon fruit cultivation in his July 26 ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has put the spotlight on how this exotic fruit has become a money spinner for many in Gujarat.
In fact, people have quit their lucrative professions like investment banking and chartered accountancy after the sweet success in farming of this vibrant red fruit which is famed for its medicinal benefits.

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Kutch native Vishal Gada, who has a certified practising accountant (CPA) degree from Australia and chartered financial analyst (CFA) from the US, took up farming of dragon fruit in 2014-15 along with his cousin Kalpesh Hariya and friend Sagar Thakkar. Thakkar, who is also a CA, and Gada had worked as investment bankers in India and Australia, are considered to be pioneers of dragon fruit farming in Gujarat.
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“After working in the corporate sector for a decade, we decided to take up a different profession altogether. We imported dragon fruit saplings and started farming in our ancestral land in Kharua village of Abdasa taluka,” said Gada, who gets 60-80 tonnes of fruit every year which sells at around Rs 300-Rs 400 per kg.
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“Kutch is famous for its dates, pomegranate and kesar mango, but we wanted to do something different which would give good profit and therefore started dragon fruit farming,” added Thakkar.

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Vir Gala of Mota Asambhiya village of Mandvi taluka also left his job as a CA and took to dragon fruit farming in 2017. “I wanted to be an entrepreneur. At one point of time, I got tired of taxation and auditing. I came to my village to install a drip irrigation system and got to know about this fruit,” said Gala, who cultivates drag fruit on seven acre land.
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The success of this fruit is not limited to Kutch. Ashwin Sabhaya, a textile trader who had settled in Surat, started dragon fruit farming in his native Ingorala village of Amreli’s Khambha taluka and took up dragon fruit farming, around two years ago. Due to recession in textile business after the lockdown, Sabhaya has returned for good to his village and started working in the farm himself.
“I used tissue culture brought from Kerala. Initially, it was an experiment but due to severe slowdown recession in the market, I feel that there is more income in farming of this fruit than textile business in Surat,” Sabhaya told TOI.
The farming of dragon fruit is a costly affair as it requires a big investment - around Rs four lakh per acre- in the initial stage. Being a cactus, it requires watering through a drip irrigation system and as it’s also a creeper, a farmer needs to erect concrete poles for support.
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About the Author
Nimesh Khakhariya

Nimesh Khakhariya is an assistant editor with Times Of India.

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