How this Odisha farmer earns Rs 50,000 monthly from dragon fruit farming on just 0.2 acres

When Babuli Mallick, a welder, got a job with Chennai-based Eversendai Construction Pvt. Ltd in 2012, he did not know his life would change forever. The following year, he was posted to Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, as a welder.

“In Kuala Lumpur, I met three dragon fruit farmers. They were prosperous, growing dragon fruit on small patches of land. The fruit commanded a good market rate. I was inspired,” Babuli tells 30Stades.

He decided to take up dragon fruit farming at his native place, Ishanpur in Odisha, whenever he got an opportunity. However, when he returned home in 2022, he realised he did not have much land for dragon fruit cultivation.

Also Read: Kerala farmer replaces rubber with rambutan and dragon fruit, earns Rs6 lakh per acre

“The two to three decimals of land my father owned were suitable only for paddy cultivation. During Kharif, paddy requires 333mm to 821mm of water, and in Rabi, 402mm to 659mm. But a drought-tolerant dragon fruit plant needs only one to two litres of water daily, even at the peak of summer. So I could not use that land,” he says.

Babuli took eight gunthas (0.2 acre) on lease and began dragon fruit farming in 2022. “I invested around Rs 1 lakh to set up pillars and purchase saplings. The main expenditure in dragon fruit farming is setting up concrete pillars. Being a cactus vine, the fruit needs support for optimum growth. One pillar can support four plants,” says Babuli, who dropped out of school as a teenager.

From welding to organic farming

Since Babuli wanted to practice organic farming, he learned about vermicomposting and making Jeevamrita through online videos. “I added a lot of cow dung manure to the soil before plantation and also learned to prepare Jeevamrita and vermicompost on the farm,” he says.

To begin with, he put up 25 pillars on an experimental basis and procured 100 saplings from the Bargarh district headquarters in Western Odisha at Rs 70 per piece, including the transportation cost. He kept a row-to-row gap of 10 ft and a pillar-to-pillar gap of eight ft. 

“Each pillar, about five feet high, holds four plants. In the first year, each pillar yielded five to six kg as fruit trees give good production only after the third year,” he says. Babuli put up 55 pillars with 120 plants in another two gunthas at different intervals.

“Now, 80 out of the 105 pillars yield fruit. The annual production has gone up from 30 kg of the exotic fruit per pillar to around 50 kg. I expect each of them would bear more than 60 kg of fruits by the end of next year (fourth year),” says Babuli. 

He sells dragon fruits at Rs 200 to Rs 220 per kg. “I also make saplings in my small nursery on the plot and sell each at Rs 50. Locals and traders from Cuttack, Khordha, Puri and Jharsuguda purchase my dragon fruits,” he adds. 

Also Read: Moringa and Dragon Fruit on the Rocks

He has planted saplings around the remaining pillars in the other five gunthas this year. Babuli reaches his field by 6 am daily to tend the plants, harvest the fruits, and weed out unnecessary growths without hiring any labour. He has not taken assistance from any government or non-government agencies.

How organic dragon fruit farming is done

Babuli first ploughs the land and leaves it for two months. Then he mixes slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) with the soil and again leaves it for about one month. Then a mixture of cow dung and vermicompost is added to the soil.

Finally, the pillars were installed to plant saplings around them. Again, the required quantities of cow dung, vermicompost, jeevamrita, neem cake and mustard cake are added. 

“Ploughing loosens the earth, while slaked lime kills harmful pests in the soil. If fungus affects the plants, I apply neem oil,” Babuli adds. 

Babuli prepares jeevamrita by mixing cow dung, bovine urine, jaggery, gram flour and some soil collected from the roots of a banyan tree. Similarly, he prepares vermicompost on five beds. He uses 25 kg of earthworms and 1200 to 1500 kg of cow dung in each bed.

Also Read: Nurse quits high-paying govt. job to make vermicompost; clocks Rs24 lakh annual turnover

He makes the beds only during winter, as transportation of fresh cow dung to its site becomes impossible during the rains and summer. “In India, earthworm species Eudrilus, Eisinia fetida and Perionyx excavatus are used along with fresh cow dung to make vermicompost, but I use only Eisinia fetida. I procure it from the Kendrapara district at Rs 500 per kg. A tractor load of fresh cow dung costs me Rs 2,500 to Rs 3000,” says Babuli.

“I apply 150 to 200 gm of powdered neem cake at plant roots every fortnight and use 150 to 200 gm of mustard cake diluted in 10 litres of water once every three months. Similarly, I use 15 kg of dried cow dung and five kg of vermicompost at the roots of old plants once in three months. In case of a new plant, the quantity of cow dung reduces to eight kg and vermicompost to two kg,” he explained. 

Babuli’s wife sometimes looks after the plants when she has free time. His two sons, Santosh and Sameer, also help him on the farm. 

(Niroj Ranjan Misra is a Cuttack-based freelance writer. He writes on rural and tribal life, social issues, art and culture, and sports.)

Also Read: Ex-banker turns rocky land into dragon fruit paradise, clocks Rs50 lakh annual turnover

Look up our YouTube Channel