67-year-old woman turns barren land into empire of dragon fruit, juice and saplings

Retirement age is just a number, and barren land can be profitable. At 67 years of age, Reeva Sood has broken many stereotypes by turning 35 acres of barren land into a lush green farm of dragon fruit and nursery business and setting up India’s first dragon fruit juice plant in Una, Himachal Pradesh.

The organic dragon fruit juice, free of sugar and preservatives, is sold under the Agriva Naturally brand in 225ml bottles, priced at Rs 165 each. The juice is available in two variants - Dragona Masala and Dragona Triphala. Reeva intercrops dragon fruit with medicinal plants and has a thriving nursery business, selling saplings at Rs 100 each.

She sells ‘A’ grade organic dragon fruit at Rs 200 to Rs 220 per kg and uses ‘B’ and ‘C’ grade fruits for processing into juice. The monthly turnover is Rs 4.5 lakh from the sale of dragon fruit, its juice and saplings.

“I also purchase dragon fruits from other farmers for processing into juice. This provides them with a consistent source of income. Our daily processing capacity is 20,000 bottles,” Reeva tells 30Stades.

From barren to bountiful

Reeva’s land parcel is spread over three villages of Gunghrala, Akrot and Behar Bithal in Behar Jaswan panchayat in Una. “We bought this land because it was available at nominal rates due to being barren and inaccessible by road. This type of uneven and dry land, in the local language, is called ‘khud’ or good-for-nothing land,” Reeva tells 30Stades.

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However, she firmly believes any piece of land can be made productive by following organic practices. “I wanted to set an example that no matter what the condition, we can make land work by using cow dung, cow urine and other natural organic manures,” says Reeva, who has also been working for women's empowerment for over three decades.

She intercrops dragon fruit with Sarpagandha, Moringa, Ashwagandha, Kalmegh and other medicinal crops. Dragon fruit vine requires support, which is provided by cement poles. Typically, two poles are kept 10 feet apart and hold four vines of dragon fruit each. 

“I use the space between dragon fruit poles for farming of medicinal crops,” she adds.

She uses moringa to prepare ‘moringa atta’. Along with the sale of roots and powders of medicinal plants, her monthly income (with dragon fruit business) is around Rs 10 lakh.

Dragon fruit cultivation and juice-making

In 2018, Reeva procured 2,000 dragon fruit saplings from Maharashtra and planted them over one acre. “After that, I learned to prepare saplings from stem cuttings and did not buy from the market to expand my farm. With continued improvisation and using our mother plants, I have prepared saplings which give the first yield in 18 months (instead of the typical three years),” she points out.

To strengthen the fertility of the land for dragon fruit farming, she puts cow dung in the pit before planting and makes vermicompost and jeevamrit on the farm.

“I have adopted infertile cows, abandoned after they stop giving milk. I have made a shed for these cows, feed them naturally-grown grass and trained our field staff to collect the dung and urine for making manure and compost,” she says.

Her annual dragon fruit production is 20 tonnes and will increase as plants mature.

The research and development work for dragon fruit juice was undertaken at the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Punjab and received support from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Una.

“Dragon fruit juice is rich in antioxidants, Vitamin C, fibre, and minerals like magnesium, iron, and calcium, boosting immunity. Since it is preservative-free, the shelf life is six months. We use the autoclave method for bottle sterilisation,” explains Reeva.

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She is currently selling the juice online and in retail stores in Himachal Pradesh and some areas of NCR. “More tie-ups are in the offing as we are seeing demand from across India,” she adds.

Reeva empowers local women by providing them employment on her farm and juice plant. They harvest the fruit and then process it. “After plucking, the fruit goes for washing and is then peeled manually. After that, pulp and seeds are segregated through a machine. In the end, the juice is extracted and packaged in premium glass bottles, which can be reused,” the agripreneur explains.

She uses cotton bags for packaging. “They are stitched by Him2Hum Farmer Producer Company,” says Reeva, who also works with many farmer-producer groups to create awareness about organic farming and processing of crops.

(US Anu is a Madurai-based writer. She specialises in stories around human interest, environment and art and culture)

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