Gujarat: Morbi farmers cultivate dragon fruits through organic farming

RAJKOT: After Kutch bloomed with its ‘kamalam’ success, paving the way for cultivation of dragon fruits in Gujarat, the interest in the exotic fruit soon caught on with Morbi farmers too.
Pioneering the efforts to grow the imported fruit in the tiles hub is Satish Ghodasara, a farmer in Saurashtra region who is now setting an inspiration for many other tillers in the state.What’s more, he has a step further and is cultivating the fruit through organic farming!

It all starts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaping praises in his radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’ on Kutch farmers who toiled hard to make dragon fruit farming a success in the harsh terrains. Ghodasara too firmed up his desires to start cultivating this exotic fruit in hs own farm in Morbi.
Banaskantha, Bhavnagar and Kalawad regions followed Kutch to sweeten their prospects with dragon fruit farming.
“I got all the knowledge I needed to acquire for dragon fruit farming from the ‘Krishi Mahotsav’ organized by the state government. That apart, I met those farmers engaged in dragon fruit farming in Banaskantha, Bhavnagar and Kalawad,” Ghodasara told TOI.
“I have erected 445 poles in my farm and planted 1,780 dragon fruit saplings which I had brought from Hyderabad. I have not used pesticides or chemical fertilizer. Instead, I have used cow dung,” he added.
According to Ghodasara, the plants take two year’s time to bear fruits. In the first year, one pole yileds two kilo fruits, while after the third year, each pole will produce four to five kilo fruits.
“The atmosphere and environment of Morbi are conducive to dragon fruit farming. Ghodasara has produced an example for other farmers to emulate. It is soon to become a money spinner for the farmers of our region,” says D A Sarvada, a senior scientist with Morbi agricultural science department.