Jashore farmer hits the jackpot with dragon, plum farming

BENAPOLE, Oct 31: Cultivating two types of fruits- dragon and plum- on the same land has come as a boon for a farmer in Chaugachha Upazila of Jashore district fetching him a stunning profit.
Witnessing his overwhelming success, many other farmers of the same neighbourhood are also getting inspired to cultivate the fruits.
Each plum tree bears a huge amount of fruits and the main crop dragon is also growing well at the same time.
Many people are amazed to see two types of crop being cultivated on the same land at the same time and the farmers are also thinking of continuing farming the fruits by using the method.
Official sources said farmers in Chaugachha Upazila cultivated dragon on 10 hectares of land and plum fruit on 80 hectares this year.
Farmer Rabiul Mandal, son of late Elahi Mandal of Sultanpur village in Hakimpur union of the upazila, said his family lives on agriculture.
Earlier he became very much successful in producing paddy and jute and now cultivating these two types of fruits has turned out to be profit-making concern for him.
In continuation of that success, he has cultivated an improved variety of dragon fruit on about two bighas of land along Chaugachha main road in the village this year.
Dragon is a long-term crop; it takes a long time for the tree to give fruit, he said. He planted seedlings of the beautiful variety of fruit through the field.
At present the entire field is full of flowers and fruits.
Assessing the amount of fruits that has appeared, he thinks he could recover the total production cost, only from the plums, if there is no natural calamity this year.
Farmer Rabiul said, "Dragon farming has received widespread recognition and support in the Chaugachha Upazila."
Farmers are benefiting largely by cultivating the fruit. "Considering the profit, this year I am cultivating dragon on two bighas of land."
"I decided to cultivate plum with dragon and in a day or two I planted quality seedlings of plum in the whole field. At present all the trees have fruits," he added.
Separate fertilisers and pesticides have to be applied for the two crops. There is no problem for this.
Rabiul Mandal also said plum farming together with dragon is a profitable initiative.
Raisuddin, agriculture officer of Chaugachha Upazila, said dragon has been cultivated on 10 hectares of land in Chaugachha and plum cultivated on 80 hectares of land in the upazila. Plum cultivation with dragon is undoubtedly a good venture.
The agriculture office is working for the farmers to take such new initiatives, he added. [email protected]