NIASM Technical Bulletin: 27

Dragon Fruit Cultivation in India:

Scope, Constraints and Policy Issues

Authors
G C Wakchaure
Satish Kumar
Kamlesh K Meena
Jagadish Rane
H Pathak

भाकृअनुप – राष्ट्रीय अजैिवक स्ट्रैस प्रबं धन संस्थान

ICAR–NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ABIOTIC STRESS MANAGEMENT
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
मालेगां व, बारामती, पुणे 413 115, महारा12, भारत
Malegaon, Baramati, Pune 413 115, Maharashtra, India
Citation
Wakchaure GC, Satish Kumar, Meena KK, Rane J and Pathak H (2021) Dragon Fruit
Cultivation in India: Scope, Constraints and Policy Issues. Technical Bulletin No. 27.
ICAR–National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati, Pune, Maharashtra,
India, p. 47+vi.

Printed: August, 2021

ISBN No.: 978-81-949091-4-9

Published by
Director, ICAR–National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati, Pune,
Maharashtra.

Design & Art

Mr Pravin More, ICAR-NIASM, Baramati, Maharashtra
Mr Sunil Kumar Sinha, ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack, Odisha

All Right Reserved

© 2021, ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati, Maharashtra.

Disclaimer
The views expressed in the bulletin are of the authors’ personal, made based on the
analyses of own and freely available information in public domain. ICAR–National
Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati, Pune, Maharashtra, India assumes no
responsibility of the statement made and not liable for any loss resulting from the use of
this bulletin.

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 CONTENTS
Sl. No. Title Page
Foreword
Preface
1. Introduction 1
2. Global Status 2
2.1 World dragon fruit production 2
2.2 Global leading suppliers, market, export and imports 5
2.2.1 Major dragon fruit supplier countries 5
2.2.2 Demand of dragon fruit in world markets 6
2.2.3 World export and import 7
3. National Status 8
3.1 Dragon fruit production in India 8
3.2 Marketing, export and import in India 12
3.2.1 Marketing channels and prices 12
3.2.2 Import and export trade in India 13
4. Potential areas for dragon fruit cultivation in India 15
4.1 Degraded land and rainfed areas 15
4.2 Dragon fruit–a viable option for degraded/rainfed land in 17
India
5. Constraints in dragon fruit cultivation 18
5.1 Nursery and varietal improvement related problems 18
5.2 Orchard establishment and training system 19
5.3 Lack of standard protocols of cultivation practices for 20
diversified agro–climatic regions
5.3.1 Water and nutrient management 20
5.3.2 Weed management 21
5.3.3 Insect, disease, predators and disorders in dragon 22
fruit
5.4 Poor/excess flowering, flower and fruit dropping, 24
yellowing and rotting/dropping owing to excess rainfall
and temperature

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 5.5 Stunted growth and sun burning of canopy 27
5.6 Reduction fruit size and yield 27
5.7 Non–uniform fruit size 27
5.8 Canopy and residues management in older orchards 27
5.8.1 Canopy management 27
5.8.2 Canopy residue management 28
5.9 Harvesting, cleaning and grading practices 28
5.10 Post–harvest management practices 29
5.11 Marketing and human resource development 31
6. Researchable issues in dragon fruit production 31
7. Policy issues for promoting dragon fruit in India 32
8. SWOT Analysis 34
9. Conclusion 36
10. References 37
Appendix– I 40
List of dragon fruit varieties available in different
countries
Appendix– II 41
Global market overview of value added products of
dragon fruit
Appendix– III
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about dragon fruit 44
farming

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Foreword
Climate change induced abiotic stresses are becoming
major challenges for ensuring food and nutrition security to
India’s burgeoning population. There is a pressing need for
reducing the adverse impacts of these environmental
stresses on agriculture. As there scope for expanding the
agricultural land in the country is limited, our focus should
be on intensification of sustainable agriculture in about 120
million hectare degraded land of the country with abiotic
stress adaptation and mitigation strategies, which should include the diversification
to more stress-tolerant crops.

Dragon fruit (Kamalam) is a unique nutraceutical fruit crop that can be grown
even with the poor resources of the degraded lands in the rainfed regions. However,
for promoting dragon fruit as a promising crop in the stressed environments,
information related to its adaptability, consumer acceptability and marketability
should be studied and documented in details. The present bulletin on dragon fruit
cultivation provides the desired information on the scope, potential areas of
cultivation as well as production and trade at national and global levels. The bulletin
outlines the cultural and post–harvest management practices, farmers’ constraints,
as well as major researchable and policy issues with detailed SWOT analysis for
cultivating the crop in India. The bulletin will help in guiding the state agricultural
departments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, State Agricultural Universities, policy makers
and private entrepreneurs to promote the crop for enhancing farmers’ income in the
abiotic stressed environments.

I sincerely acknowledge the valuable contributions made by the scientists of

ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management (NIASM), Baramati,
Maharashtra in developing the technologies for cultivation of dragon fruit and
preparing this useful publication.

I wish that the farmers, researchers, entrepreneurs, consultants, growers and

students working on dragon fruit will make the best use of the information presented
in this bulletin.

Trilochan Mohapatra
Secretary, DARE & DG, ICAR
Govt. of India
Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi

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Preface
Food security of substantial population across the world depends on agro–ecologies
constrained by abiotic stresses. The adverse effect of these stresses can be further
exacerbated by the climate change, which can potentially reduce agricultural
productivity. This can affect livelihood, income and socio economic status of poor and
marginal farmers who are not equipped for adaptation to predicted climate change
scenario. Hence, climate resilent technologies including crop diversification and
intensification are highly essential particularly for vulnerable areas that include
underutilised barren lands which constitutes about 36% of geographical area in India.
ICAR–National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management has taken lead to carry out
research for delivering stress mitigation and adaptation strategies for the benefits of
farming community of barren, flood and drought prone regions through basic and
strategic approches that includes diverisfication options involving underutilised, non
conventional and exotic crops.
Dragon fruit is emerging as a super crop, even for degraded land owing to its ease
of cultivation and several health and medicinal benefits. It has got potential to grow in
diversified agro–climatic conditions and hence it is also gaining popularity in India. But
the major challenge is to standardize region specific protocols of cultivation, harvesting
and post–harvest management practices for enhancing yield and quality. For making
dragon fruit cultivation profitable, particularly in degraded and barren regions of India,
proper understanding of global and national scenario of production, marketing and
consumption pattern in addition to production technology is highly essential. Thus main
aim of this bulletin is to present an overview of global and national status, to identify
farmer’s constraints and to shortlist researchable and policy issues for popularization of
dragon fruit in India.

We sincerely acknowledge the valuable guidance and contributions of Dr. P.S.

Minhas and Dr. N.P. Singh, former Directors, ICAR-NIASM for initiating and facilitating
experiments on dragon fruit. We also thank the DDG (NRM) and ADGs in the NRM
Division of ICAR, the scientists, consultants, entrepreneurs and progressive farmers for
their guidance, support and providing valuable information on dragon fruit. We sincerely
thank devoted technical staff and administration who extended their support in
establishing experimental dragon fruit orchard at ICAR–NIASM, Baramati.

We hope that the bulletin will serve as a ready–reckoner for the farmers,
extension functionaries, researchers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, consultants, and
students engaged in research, cultivation and marketing aspects of dragon fruit.

Authors

vi
1. Introduction
Dragon fruit, pitaya or strawberry pear (Hylocereus spp. and Selenicereus spp.)
or Kamalam is emerging as a super crop worldwide, even in the marginal lands,
owing to its health and medicinal benefits. It is basically a climbing cactus vine,
originated from Central and South America, tolerant to the abiotic stresses and
resistant to pests and diseases. It has many advantages including low water and
nutrient requirements, relatively less requirement of resources for establishing
the orchard and maintenance; multiple harvest of fruit in a year; potential to
sustain high yield up to 20 years; high benefit to cost ratio; and high
nutraceuticals and functional properties (e.g. rich in antioxidants and fibres).
All these qualities are attracting the growers worldwide to establish and expand
dragon fruit farming, provide opportunity for global export and encourage for
high quality produce to meet the market demand. Being a crassulacean acid
metabolism (CAM) plant with xerophytes’ characters, it has got ability to grow
in a wide range of agro–climates including areas of high temperature and water
scarcity regions. The dragon fruit can be cultivated commercially up to altitude
of 1700 m with rainfall ranging from 500–1500 mm. With shallow roots (<40
cm), it is not much choosy in requirement of soils and can be cultivated in wide
range of soils but without excess moisture. However, the slightly acidic (pH 5.5–
6.0) loamy soil, rich in organic matter and atmospheric temperature ranging
from 20–30°C are preferred as ideal conditions for commercial cultivation of
dragon fruit orchards. Therefore in recent two decades, dragon fruit has gained
wide popularity in tropical Asian countries, which initiated its commercial
cultivation around the world (Sanoamuang, 2019).
In India, climate change induced abiotic and biotic stresses viz., episodic
and frequents droughts, floods, widespread land degradation,
salinity/alkalinity, extreme temperatures, pest and diseases represents
significant challenges for agriculture particularly in less fertile, barren land and
semi–arid drought prone regions. In comparison to fertile areas, agriculture
sector in these resource poor regions are severely affected by abiotic stresses
and lag far behind in crop production, diversification and yield as well as
agricultural market economization. Focusing on crop and fruit diversification,
intensified farming system could cope with problems of water shortages/floods,
low fertility and poor soil for sustainable development of these regions. Hence,
there is an urgent need of identifying diverse native and exotic crops/fruits,
species and genotypes that can be grow in a harsh ecosystem as an alternative
and remunerative crop. However, for selecting such crop and fruits for
introduction, facts related to its adaptation, shelf–life, consumer acceptability
and market opportunity must be critically assessed for socio–economic
development of debt ridden farming community of barren, flood and drought
prone regions. Dragon fruit is one such potential crops that can be easily
cultivated in large parts of degraded land and drought prone areas of the
country. It has received worldwide recognition, first as an ornamental plant and
then as a fruit crop, and has become a choicest fruit for salads owing to its
colourful bracts, dark red flesh and edible tiny black seeds embedded in white
flesh. Value added products like juice, jam, jelly, candy, syrup, and wine can be
prepared from dragon fruit pulp. It is one of the fastest returning perennial fruit
crops having potential to quick returns from investments with production in

1
second year and full production in five year of plantation. With all these
qualities, this fruit is gaining popularity among the Indian farmers,
entrepreneurs and consumers of both rural and urban areas. In the last 3–5
years, some of Indian growers have put forward steps to adopt cultivation
technologies of dragon fruit for its commercial production. Since the crop is
comparatively new for diverse agro-climatic conditions of India, the major
challenge is to optimise region-specific protocols of cultivation, harvesting and
post–harvest management practices for maximum yield and quality
performance. Further, to ensure success in production of dragon fruit
particularly in drought affected degraded and barren land areas of India, proper
understanding of global and national scenarios of cultivation as well as
marketing and consumption pattern is highly essential. The objectives of the
present publication are to (i) know the present global and national cultivation
status of dragon fruit; (ii) identify farmer’s constraints and their views on
dragon fruit cultivation and (iii) suggest researchable and policy issues for
enhancing adoption and farmers profit in India.

2. Global Status
2.1. World dragon fruit production
Being a native of Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica, dragon fruit was
introduced during 1990 for its commercial cultivation in south Asian tropical
countries. At present, significant production and expansion of fruit is occurring
in many countries viz., Vietnam, China, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and United States. However, its
production and marketing data is rarely available apart from its spontaneous
expansion around world. Dragon fruit is classified as group of minor tropical
fruit depending on market availability, production, planted areas and
economics consideration (FAO, 2012; Liaotrakoon, 2013). Further, it is believed
to be listed in FAO database under item name tropical fresh nes. along other
tropical fruits (FAOSTAT, 2020). Available evidences from individual countries
and recent reports published by some of the private organisations suggesting
the dragon fruit production increased significantly in past and current decade
(Chen and Paull, 2018; Mordorintelligence, 2020).

At present world market contributes four types of dragon fruits: (i) red
skin, white flesh (Hylocereus undatus), mainly from Vietnam and Thailand; (ii)
red skin, red flesh (Hylocereus polyrhizus) come mainly from Israel and
Malaysia; (iii) red skin, purple flesh (Hylocereus costaricencis) from
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Israel; and (iv) yellow skin, white flesh
(Hylocereus (Selenicerus) megalanthus) from Colombia and Ecuador (Fig. 1).
The red–skin with white flesh, red–skin with red flesh, and red–skin with
purple flesh and yellow–skin with white flesh accounts approximately 94, 4.0,
1.5 and 0.5% shares in world market. Guesstimates can put on current world
dragon fruit production to be more than 2.1 million tons (Mt) in an area of 1.12
lakh ha (2017–18). Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia,
Philippines, Cambodia, India and USA are the leading producers (Table 1).

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 Red skin, white flesh Red skin, red flesh

Red skin, purple flesh Yellow skin, white flesh

Fig. 1. Different types of dragon fruits.

Three major countries viz., Vietnam, China and Indonesia contribute more than
93% of dragon fruit production of the world (Fig. 2). The share of Vietnam
alone is more than half (51.1%) of the world production over an area of 55, 419
ha with average productivity of 22–35 t/ha/year. The volume of dragon fruit
produced in Vietnam is more than 1 Mt (Table. 1) of worth US$ 895.70 million
(Chen and Paull, 2018). Dragon fruit cultivated in almost all provinces of
Vietnam, but largely concentrated in Binh Thaun, Tein Giang and Long An
regions (Hein, 2018). China is second largest producer contributing 33.3% of
world production of dragon fruit i.e., producing about 7, 00,000 tons dragon
fruit of worth US$ 397 million over growing areas of 40,000 ha with average
productivity of 17.5 t/ha/year (Table 1; Fig. 2; MZMC, 2020).

Table 1. Major dragon fruit producing countries (2017-18).

Country Area (ha) Production (ton) Productivity (t ha–1)
Vietnam 55,419 10,74,242 22–35
China 40,000 7,00,000 17.5
Indonesia 8,491 2,21,832 23.6
Thailand 3,482 26,000 7.5
Taiwan 2,490.6 49,108 19.7
Malaysia 680 7,820 11.5
Philippines 485 6,062.5 10–15

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Country Area (ha) Production (ton) Productivity (t ha–1)
Cambodia 440 4,840 11.0
India 400 4,200 8.0–10.5
USA 324 5,832 18.0
Australia 40 740 18.5
South Africa 12 100 8.3
Total 1,12,264 21,00,777 -

Source: Compiled from Ahmad et al. (2019); Chen (2018); Chesda (2018); Hein et al. (2018);
Muas et al. (2019); and other digital information available in public domain.

Malaysia Philippines Cambodia India USA

0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3%
Taiwan
Australia
2.3%
0.04% South Africa
Thailand 0.005%
1.2%
Indonesia
10.6% Vietnam
51.1%

China
33.3%

Fig. 2. Global dragon fruit production (% share country-wise).

Among major provinces and regions of China, Guangxi has the largest growing
area of 13,000 ha, followed by Guangdong with 10,000 ha and Hainan and
Guizhou, each with about 6,600 ha (MZMC, 2020). Indonesia is third largest
producer of dragon fruit contributing 10.6% of world production and produces
annually about 2.22 lakh tons dragon fruit over an area of 8,491 ha. Dragon
fruit is mainly cultivated in Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Bali Island of
Indonesia and its average productivity varies from 15–30 t/ha/year. After 2014,
more than 700 ha of dragon fruit orchards in East Kalimantan and West
Sumatra provinces became unproductive due to severe damage of stem canker
disease (Muas et al., 2019). Taiwan and Thailand contributes approximately 2.3
and 1.2% in world production (Fig. 2). The production area in Taiwan rising
steadily from 380 ha in 1999 to 2,490 ha in 2017 owing to farmers fetches stable
prices (Chen, 2018). In Thailand, the main planting areas are located in the

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lowlands of Central Plains around Bangkok. Hence, orchards with raised furrow
and ditch system are surrounded by soil barrier to prevent flooding during rainy
season (Saradhuldhat, 2018). The production and area under dragon fruit is
also increasing in other south Asian tropic countries viz., Malaysia and
Philippines. The commercial dragon fruit production is also introduced in USA,
Cambodia, Australia and South Africa in recent decades (0.5%). During 2017–
18, dragon fruit production of India is about 4,200 tons, which is only 0.2% of
the world production.

2.2. Global leading suppliers, market, export & imports

2.2.1. Major dragon fruit supplier countries

World major supplier countries of dragon fruit can be broadly divided into
following three main hubs (Fig. 3).

1. Asia: Vietnam, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia,

Philippines, Cambodia, India and Sri Lanka.

2. Middle East and Europe: Israel, Switzerland and EU.

3. America: Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

At present, Vietnam is the largest dragon fruit supplier in the world,

accounting the highest share in Asia, Europe and sometimes in the United
States. Vietnam dragon fruit has been a long trademark of Asian Americans.
Particularly in Asia; Vietnam is a leading supplier to the Chinese market. Other
market viz. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia are also trying to
establish their trade in Asian markets. According to American consumer’s
website, Vietnam’s red dragon fruit is generally bigger than other types of
dragon fruit, with a nice and impressive appearance, but it is light in colour not
as crispy and sweet as yellow dragon fruit. In contrast, the red dragon fruit of
Vietnam, although not highly evaluated in form, but is rated to have superior
flavour compared to other red dragon fruit.

Israel and Thailand are known major dragon fruit suppliers for European
countries. In the US market; Mexico, Central and South America are the biggest
competitors to Asian dragon fruit suppliers owing to geographical advantage. In
Central America, Nicaragua are major producers and suppliers of red dragon
fruit to USA, Canada, Europe and Japan. Colombia is the leading supplier of
yellow dragon fruits and highly valued for their taste and form in the US
market, as they are the sweetest and most vibrant of the dragon fruit varieties.
In addition, this dragon fruit has seasonal advantages to capture the markets
when other types of dragon fruits, do not arrive as it is usually harvested in
November to February every year. Ecuador produces both yellow and red
dragon fruit. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica produce dragon
fruit in small scale particularly in the garden (dragonfruit.net.vn).

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 2
1
3

Fig. 3. World three major hubs of dragon fruits.

2.2.2. Demand of dragon fruit in the world markets

Recent estimates show that the demand for dragon fruit is growing consistently
all over the world. According to world dragonfruit.net.vn website, demand in
different global markets is highly dependent on the marketing information
related to its nutraceuticals properties and health benefits in addition to the
price and level of sweetness of fruit.

a) Asia market: Asia has the largest numbers of consumers of dragon fruit,
especially in the Chinese community, due to the belief in the good fortune
brought by the dragon fruit’s name, shapes, and colours. Consumers in
Asia, particularly China, buy dragon fruit mainly for fire-worship, so they
often focus on the form of dragon fruit. However, Japanese does not like the
big dragon fruit; they value the flavour more than the size.

b) European market: The European market is the world's leading importer

of fresh fruits and vegetables, and quite open to new products. Therefore,
although the dragon fruit is a relatively new and not widely advertised, the
price is high, but still very promising and attracting more and more
consumers in the continent. With reduction in the cost and further
enhancement in the nutritional value, dragon fruit will certainly reach most
of the population in European countries.

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c) US market: Dragon fruit is traditional good for Asian consumers in the
US. Due to the high Asian and Vietnamese communities, demand for
dragon fruit is relatively high. For other ethnic groups, dragon fruit is
relatively new and only known in the high–end market segment. However,
analysts say this is a fast–growing market in the near future, as farm owners
in Florida and California have begun planting dragon fruit to meet market
demand.

According to a recent report (Mordar Intelligence (2020), the global

market of dragon fruit is projected to register a CAGR of 3.7% over period of
next five years. The global market of this crop is growing at a robust rate, owing
to the increasing demand for fresh dragon fruit. Dragon fruit is primarily grown
for the fresh market trade and is often sold through specialty stores and
farmers’ markets in all countries. However, some of major exporting countries
like Vietnam are developing of modest post–harvest preservation technologies
for processing this fruit into exportable products (Hein, 2018).

2.2.3. World export and import

A worldwide dragon fruit is traded >40 different countries and territories. Apart
from the traditional markets viz., Vietnam, China, Thailand, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Netherlands and Taiwan, dragon fruits are exported fastidious
markets of US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, EU, Japan Korea, Singapore and
India (Hein, 2018). This is the fifth most imported tropical fruit from Asia and
exported to China after lychee, longan, banana and mango. The estimated
export volumes and values of dragon fruits are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Estimated export quantity and value of dragon fruit of major countries
during 2017–18.

Major Importers Quantity (tons) Value (lakh US$)

Vietnam 5,11,000 3,940
Malaysia 4,256 20
Taiwan 111 3.1
Indonesia 92 2.6
Philippines Negligible -
Source: Ahmed et al. (2019); Chen (2018); Hein (2018); Muas et al. (2019)

China is the biggest consumer and importer while Vietnam is biggest exporter
of the fresh dragon fruit (mostly white flesh). Official figures show China’s
dragon fruit imports have remained steady over the past three years at over 500
thousand metric tons (t) worth nearly US$ 400 million (MZMC, 2020). As per
the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, 80% of the dragon fruits
produced in Vietnam is exported to China, while 99% of dragon fruits in the
Chinese market are imported from Vietnam. China consumes 70% of dragon
fruit produced from Vietnam apart from their own production. The high
demand for the Vietnamese dragon fruit is mainly due to its sizable production
and high economic importance. In 2018, China imports from Taiwan were
valued at US$ 2.2 lakhs, while small quantities were also imported from
Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. Taiwan largest export destination is

7
Mainland of China with a volume of 60.19 t, followed by Hong Kong 44.42 t
(Chen, 2018). About 36% of Malaysian dragon fruit is for export mainly to
Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong with average export value of US$ 20 lakh for
the past five years (Ahmed et al., 2019). Indonesia exports about 92 t of dragon
fruit of worth US$ 2.6 lakh to other countries like Singapore, Malaysia,
Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, Timor Leste, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Germany (Muas et al., 2019). As
per the recent estimates more than 20,000 tons of dragon fruits of valued US$
3.00 million are being imported annually into India from the Vietnam,
Thailand, China, Switzerland, US and Indonesia.

3. National Status
3.1. Dragon fruit production in India
In India, dragon fruit was introduced during the late 1990s (Arivalgan et al.,
2019). Thereafter, area under its cultivation was gradually increased from 4 to
400 ha in different states during 2005–2017 (Table 3). Initially cultivation of
dragon fruit was started by the farmers from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat,
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and
Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Fig. 4). Nowadays, its cultivation has extended to
Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and North
Eastern States. According to recent estimates, India’s dragon fruit production
increased drastically to more than 12,000 tons over an area of 3,000–4,000 ha
in 2020 (Table 4). These estimates are based on the first–hand information
collected by the ICAR–NIASM, Baramati from progressive growers,
entrepreneurs, consultants and officials of state agricultural departments across
the country.

Table 3. Year wise estimated area (ha) under dragon fruit cultivation in India.
Years Area (ha) under cultivation
1990 Introduced in India (0.5)
2005 4.0
2010 12.0
2012 15.0
2014 35.0
2017 400.0
2020 3,085.0#
Source: Digital and printed information available in public domain. #data collected by ICAR–
NIASM.

The rise in production and cultivated area are mainly because of states like
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and West
Bengal, which have taken initiatives to promote commercial production after
2018 onwards. Out of total 3,085 ha, more than 80% area (2,468 ha) is under
new cultivation with less than 18 months old plantation. Further, average

8
productivity of these areas is ranging from 1.5 to 3.1 t/ha. While remaining 20%
cultivation area (617 ha) is already well established and attained its full maturity
level with average productivity of 8–13.5 t/ha. Indian farmers, who follows good
cultivation practices under drip irrigation, can get up to 4.5 tons of fruit per ha
in the first year after planting, up to 7.5–10 t/ha in the second years and 16–24
t/ha on third year onwards.

Fig. 4. Major dragon fruit producing states of India.

Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra are the leading producers contributing

about 70% of India’s dragon fruit production (Fig. 5). The water scarce areas of
Kutch in Gujarat, Northern Karnataka and Western Maharashtra are major
dragon fruit growing regions of the country. Overall, southern and western
states are contributing a major share for the production of dragon fruit since
they have been growing dragon fruit during last 5–8 years. For example, more

9
than 600 farmers from Karnataka alone have taken up dragon fruit cultivation
in the last five years after seeing the performance of the fruit. In Karnataka,
area under dragon fruit cultivation was about 8–10 ha during 2012, amplified to
about 500 ha in 2020 and it is likely to reach around 5000 ha in next five years.
Presently over 200 farmers in Gujarat's Kutch are cultivating this fruit in
approx. 800 ha of land.

Table 4. Major dragon fruit producing states (Estimated area, production and
productivity, 2020).
Major States Total Area New area Productivi Producti Old Productivi Production Total
(ha) (ha) 80%, ty of A1 on in A1 Area ty (t/ha) of in A2 (t), Y2 production
A1* (t/ha), P1 (t), Y1 (ha), A2 A2*, P2 (t) (Y1+Y2)

Andhra
Pradesh 140.4 112.3 1.5 168.5 28.1 10.2 286.5 455.0

Telangana 80.9 64.8 1.8 116.6 16.2 10.0 161.9 278.4

Tamil Nadu 121.4 97.1 2.2 213.7 24.3 12.0 291.4 505.1

West Bengal 303.5 242.8 2.1 509.9 60.7 11.0 667.7 1177.7

Maharashtra 323.8 259.0 3.1 802.9 64.8 13.5 874.1 1677.1

Karnataka 485.6 388.5 3.0 1,165.5 97.1 12.4 1,204.4 2,369.9

Gujrat 1,214.1 971.3 2.2 2,136.8 242.8 8.0 1,942.5 4,079.3

Rajasthan 38.4 30.8 1.5 46.1 7.7 8.0 61.5 107.6

Meghalaya 174.0 139.2 2.8 389.8 34.8 11.4 396.8 786.6

Other 202.3 161.9 1.5 242.8 40.5 10.7 433.9 676.7

Total/ 3,084.6 2,467.7 2.2 5,792.6 616.9 10.7 6,320.7 12,113.4
average
Note: A1* newly cultivable area after 2018–19; A2*well established cultivable area with more than 4 years old plantation

The cultivation of dragon fruit increased to more than 400 ha in other parts of
Gujarat state. Similarly, it can estimated that about 250 farmers in Maharashtra
growing dragon fruit over 200 ha areas in Western Ghats regions and
remaining 100 farmers over 125 ha area in the rest of Maharashtra that includes
Marathwada, Konkan and Vidharbha regions. Similarly, agriculture
departments and SAUs of the few states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West
Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya (Singh and Singh, 2017) are in the ways of
popularising this crop in water scarce regions. There are several success stories
of farmers indicating that dragon fruit already gaining popularity in different
parts of India. This is also evident from the fact that many nursery owners have
started propagation of planting material of dragon fruit. Most widely grown and
commonly available cultivars of dragon fruit in India are the red skin-white
flesh (93%) followed by red skin-purple/red flesh (6.5%) and yellow skin-white
flesh (<0.5%). Overall, it is fast returning perennial fruit crop with economic
production in the first year after planting, and full production within three to
five years. It was also noted that after first years onwards desirable cultural

10
management practices are highly essential. Although the initial investment is
relatively high, profit is substantial within 4–5 years. The linear equation
(y= 508.33 x – 1000000, R2=0.84) was used to estimate the projected area for
the next five years up to 2025. These projection shows that the area under
dragon fruit cultivation is expected to rise more than ten times i.e. ~ 30, 000 ha
in next five years (Fig. 6). Further, this rise in projected trend will depend on
the market demands, consumer acceptability and government policies.

Others Andhra Pradesh Telangana Tamil Nadu

Meghalaya 6% 4% 2% 4%
6% West Bengal
Rajasthan 10%
1% Maharashtra
14%

Gujarat
34%

Karnataka
19%

% share in production (metric tonnes)

Fig. 5. Estimated production of dragon fruit (% share state wise), India.

34000 Estimated area in year 2025

(29368.5 ha)
29000 y=508.33 x-1000000, R2= 0.84
Area under cultivation (ha)

24000

19000

14000

9000

4000

-1000
2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026
Year of production

Fig. 6. Projected area under dragon fruit cultivation for next five years (2025).

11
3.2. Marketing, export and import in India
3.2.1. Marketing channels and prices
As far marketability concerned, there is assured market of dragon fruit in India
at present and expected to reach greater peak because of limited number of
commercial producers and high demand. In future also its demand and
awareness likely to increase mainly due to its taste, nutritional and medicinal
properties. In Indian retail market, dragon fruit is often sold as a fresh product.
Domestic and international market channel of dragon fruit is depicted in Fig.7.
In general marketing chain of domestic dragon fruit grouped into simple path of
4–5 components namely farmers, small traders/collectors, whole sellers,
retailers and consumers. At farm level, the growers can either sell dragon fruit
to small traders/collectors or whole sale retailers directly. In this situation, all
these private agents and retailers play significant roles of middle men’s between
farmers and consumers since the industrial players for processing and export
are missing completely. In certain places, growers could also sell their produce
directly to consumers through mobile/digital markets or farmers markets
(Mandi) or even nearby road sides to the farm. At present, wholesaler act as key
player to the supply of domestic and imported fruits into retail market viz.,
super market in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and
Bengaluru and small market/grocery stores in town and rural areas. The market
prices ranged from INR 55−250/kg depending on weight based three grades
(A> 400 g, B between 200−400 g and C <200 g) prevailing in market. During
offseason, prices persisted as high as INR 300−450/kg for Indian dragon fruit.
Even huge numbers of health conscious consumers in cities paying up to INR
500−600/kg for dragon fruit imported from Vietnam and Thailand.

Processing Small traders/

Collectors
×
×
Farmers Retailers Consumer

×
Whole Sellers
Export (District level)

Import Mumbai, Delhi,

(Vietnam, Chennai, Kolkata,
Thailand etc.) Bengaluru etc.

Fig. 7. Marketing channel of dragon fruit in India.

12
Like other fruits and vegetables, dragon fruit is highly perishable having shelf
life of 5–7 days at ambient Indian conditions. In case of any market glut due to
excess production, dragon fruit can be turned into various value added products
viz., jams, juice, freeze-dried chips or cookies (Ahmed et al., 2019). Thus, there
is a strong need to explore the avenues of value addition through processing, so
that the production will continuously increase and surplus produce can be
diverted for processing (Arivalagan et al., 2019). However, apart from
continuously rising demand, there is lack of information about consumer
requirement in Indian markets. In conclusion, until the market gets stabilised it
is better to avoid large-scale production of dragon fruit. The production should
be demand–driven and sustainability should be the main concern.

3.3.2. Import and export trade in India

Presently, production of dragon fruit in India is far less than the same imported
from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka etc. Freely available import
data (2015–16) of dragon fruit provided by Seair Exim Solution, New Delhi and
Infodrive India, New Delhi were analysed. As per data about 23, 166.4 metric
tonnes (MT) of fresh dragon fruits of worth US ($) 2.99 million (INR 205
million) were imported in India during December 2015 to November 2016
(Table 5). Vietnam (99.74%) and Thailand (0.24%) are the major countries
importing dragon fruit into India (Table 6).

Table 5. Import of dragon fruits to India (total quantity and values) in 2015–
2016.

Month Total quantity Value Value

(tons) (INR, million) (US$, million)
December 175.2 11.9 0.13
Jan 312.7 18.4 0.27
Feb 236.6 12.2 0.18
March 276.0 15.4 0.23
April 334.7 20.2 0.30
May 102.2 6.1 0.09
June 71.6 5.1 0.07
July 159.0 11.5 0.17
August 260.4 17.1 0.25
September 135.7 9.7 0.14
October 597.7 41.9 0.62
November 20,504.6 36.4 0.54
Total 23,166.4 205.8 2.99
Source: Seair Exim Solution, New Delhi and Infodrive India, New Delhi.

After excluding 20, 000 MT surplus amount of dragon fruits received from
Vietnam in November 2016, more than 35% supply of these fruits was noticed
in three months viz., April, November and December i.e. at the initial and peak
season either due to higher prices in Indian market or glut production in the
importing countries (Fig. 8). Presently more than 20,000 MT of dragon fruits
are being imported annually into India from Vietnam, Thailand and China.

13
Table 6. Country-wise import to India during 2015–2016.

Country Quantity (Metric tonnes) % Share

Vietnam 22,932.2 99.74
Thailand 55.9 0.24
China 2.09 0.009
Switzerland 0.56 0.0024
US 0.48 0.0020
Indonesia 0.033 0.0001

% share in import (2015–16)

December January
November 6% 10%
16% February
7%

October March
19% 9%

April
September 11%
4%
August
July June May
8%
5% 2% 3%

Fig. 8. Import of fresh dragon fruit (% share) in India during 2015–2016.

India is nowhere in the list of global exporter of dragon fruit. However,

considering present expansion of dragon fruit cultivation, India has great scope
in a near future for large-scale export to meet global market demand
particularly market at viz., North America, Europe, Asia–Pacific, South
America, and the Middle East and Africa etc. Hence, India has to promote
dragon fruit farming in the form of large clusters in barren/dry land areas,
which can ensure quality supply in bulk quantity. All other infrastructure for
post-harvest management can be created if there is clustered approach for
cultivation. To begin with dragon fruit clusters, it can be developed in drought
prone and hilly areas of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu and North eastern states. India has to initiate similar
steps as adopted by the Vietnam for successful dragon fruit cultivation and for
exports imports after fulfilling own demand.

14
4. Potential areas for dragon fruit cultivation in India
4.1. Degraded lands and rainfed areas
The challenge of providing food security to ever–increasing Indian population is
most difficult task though not impossible. This must be addressed in the context
of changing consumption patterns, climate change inducible abiotic and biotic
stresses and degradation of the limited land and water resources. There is an
urgent need for enlarging area under arable lands, by the approach of
reclamation of degraded land for sustainable intensification of agriculture, in
which crop yields can be augmented without penalising the environments and
area under forests. As per estimates of ICAR–NBSS & LUP, about 120.8 million
ha (Mha) land constituting 36.5% of total geographical area are degraded in
India (Maji et al., 2010) through different water, wind, physical and chemical
agents. The extent of area under water and wind erosion is 82.6 Mha, and 12.4
Mha respectively. Chemical degradation comprises salinity/alkalinisation (6.7
Mha) and acidification (17.6 Mha). Other categories include mining, industrial
waste and waterlogging, occupying 1.07 Mha (Fig. 9). The details of land
degradation by various physical, chemical and biological factors is given in
degradation map of India generated using LISS–III data (ISRO) of 2015–16
(Fig. 10).
90
82.6
Degraded land area (million ha)

80

70

60

50

40

30

20 17.9
12.4
10 6.7
1.1
0
Water erosion Wind erosion Salinity and Soil acidity Other problem
alkality

Fig. 9. Statistics of degraded and wastelands of India. Source: Maji et al. (2010)

Climate change aggravate the stresses viz., mineral content, drought, acidity,
sodicity, waterlogging that continue to deteriorate the soils, and drastically
reduce the crop productivity of these degraded land regions. In addition,
unfavourable climatic factors like erratic rainfall, high evaporation and severe
droughts contribute to the increasing water scarcity in 58% (80 Mha) of net
shown rain-fed areas. Projections indicate that by 2050, agricultural sector
would require additional 45% water whereas its share is expected to decline by
10% with increasing demand for water resources from all sectors. Hence,

15
rainfed agriculture is featured by significant year–to–year fluctuations in
production, market volatilities, distress of primary producers and end–
consumers.

Open forest/
Acidity

Fig. 10. Degraded land of India (Source: ISRO, 2015–16).

There is limited scope for bringing more area under cultivation with speeding
urbanizations. Adequacy of irrigation water is also a challenge. These
constraints will continue for the coming years, and the challenging task is to
increase agricultural output of all these degraded and rainfed areas with limited
resources without compromising sustainability of the agro-ecosystems.
Therefore, technologies interventions are need to be developed for enhancing
agricultural output and mitigate abiotic stresses with best compatible cropping
patterns and soil and water conservation techniques, yet the large yield gaps
exists. Under this situation, exploration of potential and beneficial exotic crops
and their introduction to present crop genetic resource base seems to be an
easiest way and could be a key for addressing number of issues faced by Indian
agriculture particularly in the near future. Dragon fruit can be one such

16
potential crop that can be cultivated in large parts of the rainfed and degraded
land of country considering its various benefits as discussed in section 1.

4.2. Dragon fruit–a viable option for degraded/ rainfed

land in India
Being a fruit of cactus family, dragon fruit has potential to grow in various
agro–climatic regions of northern, southern, western, eastern, central and
north–eastern India, and is tolerant to extreme weather conditions, except for
water logging, often faced by degraded lands (Fig. 10). Positive side is that its
cultivation has already been started in tropical and subtropical regions in
almost 20 states of India including Andaman and Nicobar Island. Thus, it
provides plenty of opportunities to take up cultivation in diversified climate and
soils of India and could be viable options to extend its cultivation to abiotic
stressed regions and waste lands, coastal soils, soils having shallow depth, soils
with high gravel content, low water retention capacity and low fertility status
owing to multitude of stress handling plant characteristics.

With respect to total geographical area, the five major states of Rajasthan
(20.0 Mha), Uttar Pradesh (14.4 Mha), Madhya Pradesh (14.09 Mha),
Maharashtra (9.73 Mha) and Karnataka (8.1 Mha) have the highest area of
lands under degradation, accounting to 55% (out of India’s total 120.4 Mha
degraded land) while all the other states including Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana each have less than 4% of degraded lands (Maji et al., 2010). Most of
parts of these states falls under rainfed and drought prone regimes. Being a
moderately drought tolerant, the water requirement of dragon fruit is as low as
120 to 150 mm, hence provision of micro irrigation and rainwater harvesting
could be viable options for dragon fruit farming in these areas. Whereas, it is
necessary to protect the crop from extreme temperature particularly during
summer season to avoid problem of sun burn in these regions.

As stated earlier, dragon fruit can be grown in wide range of soils but it
should be well drained. However, the loamy soil, rich in organic matter is good
for its commercial cultivation. It is very shallow rooted crop; mostly the roots
confined up to 40 cm, therefore, depth of soil may not be problem for the
cultivation. Taking advantage of this trait, cultivation of dragon fruit can be
extended to shallow soils particularly in hilly areas. It prefers slightly acidic soil
of pH 5.5–6.5 for its optimum growth. Thus, an area around 5.0, 5.7 and 7.1
Mha falling under exclusively acid soils (pH ≤5.5), acidic soils under erosion
and open forest can be used for rigorous cultivation of dragon fruit. More than
50.9% of the total 17.9 Mha acidic soils falls in North–eastern region of India
endowed with rich diversity of agro–climatic conditions which could provide
enough scope for enhancing dragon fruit cultivation. Thus, it may be a potential
fruit for this region also, particularly for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura states. Further, its cultivation can be extended
to acidic soils of the Kerala (13.5%), Chhattisgarh (13.1%), Jharkhand (4.1%),
Tamil Nadu (2.4%) and other states of country.

Dragon fruit is tolerant to moderately saline soils. Hence, its cultivation

can also be extended to over 3.85 Mha saline soils particularly having problem

17
of moderate to slight salinity. Thus, dragon fruit can be grown in saline areas of
the major states of Gujarat (1.5 Mha), West Bengal (0.4 Mha), Maharashtra
(0.16 Mha), Odisha (0.13 Mha) and Rajasthan (0.11 Mha). There is limited
chances of cultivation of dragon fruit in high saline/sodic soils since cacti will
not tolerate sodic or waterlogged conditions. However, effort can be made to
bring the 3.7 Mha low lying and sodic soils areas of country contributing Uttar
Pradesh (1.32 Mha), Gujarat (0.54 Mha) Maharashtra (0.42 Mha), Tamil Nadu
(0.35 Mha), Andhra Pradesh (0.19 Mha), Rajasthan (0.18 Mha) and Haryana
(0.18 Mha) with help of advanced cultivation technologies and varietal
development.

Dragon fruit cultivation can also be extended in non-conventional agro–

ecological occurred in some parts of degraded lands with the aid of protective
agriculture technologies. Dragon fruit has enormous potential in protected
cultivation also owing to its short stature, response to pruning, potential to
provide quick returns on investment etc. Dragon fruit under protected
cultivation could open new avenues of income generation and agricultural
entrepreneurship development to meet out the goals of self–reliant India in low
and high temperature, frost and erratic rainfall areas. Throughout–year supply
of dragon fruit which fetches premium price in the markets can also be ensured
through protected agriculture technologies. Further, because of ease of
cultivation and management, production of dragon fruit can also be extended to
smallholder or marginal cultivators, entrepreneurs of small medium and large
scale plantations through development of high density or ultra–high density
orchards and also in backyards, on terraces or as garden fruits. In conclusion,
all these clues indicate the there is a great possibility to extend its cultivation in
wider parts of the country.

5. Constraints in dragon fruit cultivation

Although dragon fruit is a fast growing, perennial vine like cacti that widely
thrives in tropical diverse agro–ecologies because of its tolerance to drought,
heat, poor soils and cold, it can be damaged by several environmental factors,
improper cultivation and management practices. Hence, even in the most ideal
conditions, issues related with dragon fruit may still plague the gardener.
Therefore, in this section an attempt is made to enlist some of major constraints
in dragon fruit cultivation based on the feedback of scientists, consultants and
growers from India. The information on these constraints is certainly useful for
addressing researchable and policy issues for successful cultivation of dragon
fruit in the future.

5.1. Nursery and varietal improvement related problems

• Lack of awareness and expertise about preferred nursery practices
related to dragon fruit among the nursery owners and farmers
particularly in degraded land and rainfed regions.
• Apart from easier propagation through stem cutting, inferior quality of
sapling materials supplied by the private nursery owners mostly from
nearby cities.

18
 • High cost and non–availability of quality sapling materials. The stem
sapling materials can be available in three different forms viz., fresh
cut, rooted sapling without soil bags and rooted sapling with soil bags
for easer transportation and cost reduction depending on distance, soil
types and climatic conditions (Fig. 11).
• Lack of nursery standards and choice of sapling of different varieties
particularly for diversifying dragon fruit in drought prone /degraded
areas. Presently saplings of one or two varieties i.e. red skin–white
flesh and red skin–red flesh are available with nursery owners. Hence,
preference should be given to prepare saplings of other varieties in
nearby dragon orchards of villages.
• Lack of sapling material of high yielding varieties suitable for
processing, value addition and marketing purpose.
• Identification and development of new varieties for overcoming
problem of irregular flowering & pollination.

a b c

Fig. 11. Dragon fruit stem sapling material (a) fresh cut (b) rooted cut and (c)
rooted sapling with soil bags.

5.2. Orchard establishment and training system

• Lack of awareness among the growers about ideal plantation practices
and seasons for initial establishment of orchards. Sometimes, it may
leads to complete damage of dragon fruit saplings if planted during
offseason or prior to extreme weather conditions. The growers must be
well aware about site selected for orchard viz., soil types, slope,
drainage, runoff and water logging pattern.
• High initial investment of orchard establishment (INR 6.5–7.5
lakhs/ha) is the biggest constraint of dragon fruit cultivation at
marginal and small farmers levels. It includes cost of sapling
materials, installation of drip irrigation and trellis system (concrete
pole, iron/concrete ring, continuous pyramid, ‘T’ stands and iron wires
and ladder etc.). This cost can be reduced to some extent by using
locally available trellis materials depending on its durability (Fig. 12).
• Standardisation and selection of regional specific trellis designs,
planting geometry and trellis materials is highly essential for
improving yield performance, easy harvesting and achieving high load

19
 bearing capacity in diversified agro–climatic regions (Arivalagan et al.,
2019). It is not possible to change the poles in between once after
orchard establishment because of the growth and entangled branches
of dragon fruit plant. Hence, concreate poles are usually preferred due
to its durability.
• Scarcity of trellis materials to meet farmers demands.
• Lack of skilled/trend manpower for establishing the orchards.

a b c

Fig. 12. Different trellis systems namely (a) concrete pole and rings (b) ‘T’
stand and iron wires (c) wooden ladder for dragon fruit establishment.

5.3. Lack of standard protocols of cultivation practices for

diversified agro-climatic regions
An immediate action on developing standard protocol/packages of cultivation
practices is obligatory for profitable dragon fruit farming and entrepreneurship
in diversified agro–climatic regions. Accordingly some of key cultivation
practices viz., water, nutrient, weed, canopy, insect and disease management as
suggested below need to be standardised. The issue related to canopy
management discussed separately along with disposal of canopy residues.

5.3.1. Water and nutrient management

• Necessity of regional specific optimisation of irrigation practices/
fertigation schedules depending upon soil and climatic conditions.
About 2–4 litres of water weekly twice per plant is sufficient during
the summer/dry days. However, water requirement may increase or
decrease depending upon soil, climate and plant health.
• Development of standard irrigation methods seems to be prerequisite
for improving fruit yield, quality and water productivity of degraded
and rainfed areas. Installation of drip system could be main practice in
orchards of dryland areas. Thus, possibility of finalizing the location of
drip lines on surface, middle and top of the poles need to be explored
since plant has also a kind of entangled stem roots sometimes floating
in air (Fig. 13). Most of the times, roots of dragon fruit spread over top
of the soil surface and it might dry up easily resulting in adverse effect
on the fruit growth and production. In these situations, sprinkling
with water pump mounted behind the mini–tractor could be

20
 immediate solution to overcome the problem. In low land water
logged areas, planting beds need to be raised as furrow and ditch
system. The aim of furrow is to increase the soil layer for root systems
above to protect the plants from waterlogging. Further, to avoid
problems of flood water occurred during rainy season, there is need of
constructing soil barrier around orchard (Saradhuldhat et al., 2018).

Top (near to concrete ring)

Mid (on concrete pole)

Bottom (on soil surface)

Fig. 13. Various locations of lateral for drip system in dragon fruit orchard.

• Need of standardisation of organic, chemical and micro nutrients

management practices/doses being a fruit of low fertile barren land.
Optimisation of primary nutrient (N–P–K) in commercial fertiliser
under well drip irrigated conditions is very essential in resource poor
soils. Orchards in uplands use of organic fertilisers (cow dung, neem
cake and chicken manner) in 1–3 times in a year i.e., about 15–20
kg/application/pole before and after the production season is very
important. Similar nutrients management practices can be
standardised for the drought prone/degraded land areas.

5.3.2. Weed management

• Many of growers in India have reported severe weed problem
particularly during and post rainy seasons in all kind of soils. This can
be controlled through standardising weedicides/herbicides spray
schedules with interval of 10–20 days, intercropping and developing
suitable equipment for intercultural operations using mini–tractors
(Fig. 14a). The intercropping of cereals like wheat, rice, green manuring
and also vegetables crops is possible under irrigated conditions (Fig.
14b). However, flood irrigation must be avoided to reduce the weed
population and also excess soil moisture stress is detrimental for
dragon fruits.

21
 a

Fig. 14. Weed management (a) weedicides spraying and (b) intercropping.

5.3.3. Insect, disease, predators and disorders in dragon fruit

Dragon fruit is comparatively free of pests, diseases and disorders. However,
there should not be any complacency in measures for protection of dragon fruit
orchards.
• Prevalence of insects and pests like ants, nematodes, scale insects,
mealy bugs are common in dragon fruit in India and can be easily
controlled by application of insecticides.
• Reports similar to those documented by researchers (Athipunyakom et
al., 2015; Lin et al., 2016; Masyahit et al., 2009) in other countries, are
appearing in Indian context (Arivalagan et al., 2019) with respect to
occurrence of some fungal and bacterial pathogens origin diseases such

22
 as anthracnose, brown spots, stem rots and stem canker severely affect
yields and quality of dragon fruits (Fig. 15). Excess light makes the plant
vulnerable to diseases like bacterial rot. Further, sun burn and calcium
(Ca) deficiency aggravates the diseases. Hence, timely detection and
necessary precautions are needed at farmers’ end to protect the dragon
fruit crop.

12 A 26 B

41 55

68 89

Fig. 15. Various diseases in dragon fruits (a) Stem canker symptom–stages in
12, 26, 41, 55, 68 and 89 days after inoculation (b) stem anthracnose
and (c) fruit anthracnose.
• The attack of fruit flies viz., Bactrocera dorsalis and Bacrocera correcta
was reported in some of the farmer’s field in India and they cause yield
losses up to 35% (Khanh et al., 2016). It is difficult detect their infection
even after 3–7 days depending upon fruit stages. However, it changes fruit
colour of infected part of fruit particularly at the contact point of skin and
flesh just after infection (Fig. 16a).
• Inappropriate proportion of water and soil nutrients supply and extreme
climatic conditions can cause several diseases and disorders related to
plant and fruits. Disorders related to fruits are manifested through
changes in size, shape, colour and taste etc. (Fig. 17a). In India, about 2–
5% of dragon fruit farmers have reported formation of white mesh
structure inside the fruit body (Fig. 16b). This is a matter of investigation
as it is kind of disorder or disease including factor responsible for
formation in fruit. Hence, there is a need of designing non–destructive
method/instruments for identifying the diseases/disorders inside the
fruits.
• Dragon fruit is susceptible to predators like rat and birds during ripening
stage and they can cause losses up to 5–8%. Plants need netting to prevent
rat and bird damage to fruit (Fig. 17b).

23
 • There is necessity of standardisation, development and implementation of
combined package of integrated pest as well as nutrient management
practices on priority for enhancing the yield and productivity dragon fruit
orchards.
A

Fig. 16. Infected dragon fruit by the (a) flies and (b) white mesh structure.

a b

Fig. 17. Dragon fruit (a) disorder (Kutch–Gujrat) and (b) bird infection.

5.4. Poor/excess flowering, flower and fruit dropping,

yellowing and rotting/dropping owing to excess
rainfall and temperature
The problems related to pollination, flowering and yellowing/rotting of fruits
are common in dragon fruit cultivation but its intensity varies with rainfall and
temperature conditions of particular sub–tropical and tropical regions. It also
occurred in Indian diverse agro-climatic regions particularly during summer
and monsoon seasons and reduced yield losses up to 40% in a particular
harvesting stage. Even some times 70–100% depending upon the frequency,
duration and intensity of the rains occurred during night of flowering. It can be
resolved through adaptation of standard cultivation, nutrient-water
management practices and varietal development programme since dragon fruit
is well adapted to semi–humid climates in organic matter rich soils. In summer

24
season, excess heat combined with water stress is main cause of flower/fruits
drop at the initial stage of fruit production (April–June). Use of shade nets and
optimal irrigation facilities could be the best solution to avoid flower/fruits drop
in summer season. Further, excess rain or moisture during peak fruiting period
(July–October) is another key factor responsible for dropping and rotting of
flowers/fruits. It can be resolved by keeping flowers dry until the fruits have set
and then they can be watered for better fruit establishment and yield
improvement.
Preliminary observations reveal that fruit drop in monsoon season
occurs in five major steps (i) socking and absorption of rain water/moisture in
flower bud (ii) flower dropping (iii) yellowing of flower and fruit remain on
plant (iv) fungi attack and (v) cutting of corolla part by larvae’s of fruit flies (Fig.
18).

The typical problem of excess flowering followed by flower dropping,

yellowing and rotting of fruit was observed during harvesting period of August,
2020 (rainy season) at dragon fruit orchard of ICAR−NIASM (Fig. 19). The
recorded field observations indicates about 40−70% fruits were of tiny size
(36−49 mm dia.) having yellow to pinkish colour, 15−20% small size fruits
(63−68 mm) and remaining 8−10% medium size fruits (79−84 mm) having
light to dark pink colour. The tiny fruit cannot be used for any purpose. While,
small and medium grade fruits can be used for value addition and fresh
consumption, respectively. Flower density management followed by covering of
flower into plastic bags to avoid contact of rain water can be the solution of this
problem.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4 Step 5
Fig. 18. Steps of flower/fruit dropping of monsoon season dragon fruit.

25
Possible causes of poor/excess flowering and yellowing/rotting of fruits
• Prior cloudy weather conditions/continuous rainfall/heavy rainfall/poor
soil nutrients management practices could be the main causes for
excess/poor flowering in dragon fruit orchard
• Washing of pollen's, decaying/ spoilage of flowers and small fruits due to
excess water absorption by the fruit
• Excess or less irrigation to plant
• Dragon fruit plant does not get sufficient sunlight
• Nutrient management is issue
• Prefer organic nutrient management
• May be due to disease infestation

17 August 2020

24 August 2020

Fruit (%) 8-10%

40-70% 15-20%

Dm 36 40 45 49
63 68 79 84
(mm)

Fig. 19. Dragon fruit excess flowering followed by yellowing/dropping of fruit.

26
5.5. Stunted growth and sun burning of canopy
Stunted growth and sun burning injuries closely related to heat stress
experienced by the several (80−95%) dragon fruit farmers across India. It
occurred particularly during summer season in Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Southern India (Fig. 20). The symptom appeared during the
month of March and April that witness higher variation in day and night
temperatures in regions crosses above 38ºC (Arivalagan et al., 2019). The
intensity of sun burning on plant leaves and stem varies between 10−50%. Even
complete loss of orchard can happen if sun burn occurs at initial phase just after
transplantation of sapling material owing to high summer temperature in dry
land regions of Marathwada (Maharashtra). To overcome this problem, an
attempt has been made on trial basis for growing dragon fruit under shade net
house and spraying of anti-transpirants to control the sun burn injury on
dragon fruits. Apart from this, some of the progressive growers in Maharashtra
started to grow low
water requiring
crops like drum stick
and custard apple as
filler crop to control
the physiological
injury caused by sun
burn. However,
further research
regarding validating
the findings of all
experiments for
improving yield and
quality is required. Fig. 20. Sun burn injuries on canopy of dragon fruit.

5.6. Reduction in fruit size and yield

This is typical problem experienced by several farmers mostly in old orchards
(after 5–6 years) at least once in two years particularly during 1st and 2nd
harvesting. However, this problem can tackled through good agronomic
practices for nutrients and water management.

5.7. Non uniform fruit size

This is common problem starts from initial to the ends of the fruiting season in
all kinds of dragon fruit orchards. However, its intensity is higher at first and
the last harvesting of dragon fruit. It can be resolved by maintaining
appropriate fruit density and soil moisture–nutrients management practices at
initial stage of fruiting.

5.8. Canopy and residues management in older orchards

5.8.1. Canopy management
• Lack of standards on canopy management practices for Indian
conditions is one of the major concerns of dragon fruit growers.

27
 • Presently, no growers/farmers adopting any kind of canopy
management practices such as training and pruning at least for initial
5 years. However, it is very much essential after 5 years (at present
very few have started to adopt) for facilitating intercultural operation
to obtain higher yields.
• Mostly farmers are not willing to follow standard canopy
management practices since crop of dry land areas and its thorny
leaves which calls for engineering interventions.
• Collapse of poles/wires due to ever increasing heavy loads of canopy
in older orchard is another issue to be addressed through research.

• Better canopy management practices can help to retain the umbrella

shape plant structure for sunlight interception (Fig. 21a).

5.8.2. Canopy residue management

• Most of Indian growers are unaware about the importance of pruned
out canopy residues, as a lignocellulose rich substrate for preparation
of compost (Fig. 21b).
• Composting methods needs to be standardised via microbial
inoculation and engineering interventions. Composted substrate can
be utilised as alternative to organic fertiliser like cow dung and
chicken manure in same orchard.
• Research on rapid decomposing of canopy residues is lacking.

a b

Fig. 21. Canopy (a) pruning of older orchard and (b) residue management.

5.9. Harvesting, cleaning and grading practices

• Fruit harvesting: Generally, fruits are harvested after 30−35 days after
flowering when skin colour changes from green to red for better
firmness, eating and storage quality. In India, harvesting is carried out
manually and accomplished with the help of existing small handheld
tools (sickle, cutter and picker). There is a scope for improvement of
existing tools or development of novel tools/equipment for harvesting of
dragon fruit (Fig. 22a).

28
 • Cleaning, sorting and grading of fruits: At present, these activities are
accomplished manually since prices of fruits are determined by different
grades depending on fruit size, colour and weight (Grade A, B, C).
Therefore, at least common facility of advanced grading should be
available at major markets in dragon fruit producing areas (Fig. 22b).

a b

Fig. 22. Dragon fruit (a) harvesting and (b) automated grading of dragon fruit.

5.10. Post–harvest management practices

India consumes largely fresh dragon fruit than the processed products. Hence,
focus should be on standardising post–harvest management practices for fresh
dragon fruits. Four major physiological disorders namely chilling injury,
mechanical injury, animal injury, and water loss reduces the shelf–life of fresh
dragon fruit drastically if timely care is neglected (Hsu et al., 2018). Diseases of
bacterial (Xanthomonas campestris) and fungal (Dothiorella spp.) origin affect
the storage quality of fresh dragon fruits. Hence, disease management should be
controlled in the fields and during the postharvest handling stage. In addition to
short shelf–life at ambient conditions; variable fruit size & unique taste of
dragon fruit are the key factors to be considered for efficient post–harvest
management practices viz., precooling, vapour heat treatment for diseases
control, controlled atmospheric storage facility, modified atmospheric
packaging (MAP) and use of corrugated boxes for transportation to minimize
the yield losses (Paull et al., 2014). During glut production, different value
added products viz., jam, jelly, cosmetics in addition to edible colours from the
skin and flesh–pulp of dragon fruit can be prepared. Overall, practices that
facilitate maintenance of better quality, higher prices, larger markets, constant
supply can enhance income of farmers; standardised post–harvest management
can effectively address following components of value chain which are often
found weaker at Indian scenario for different vegetables and fruits including
dragon fruit.
• Need to standardise quality and maturity indices based on size, colour and
TSS.
• Lack of ideal pre–cooling, packaging and transportation facilities (Fig. 23).
• Lack of controlled storage facility to prevent the chilling injury, ethylene
production, respiration rate, optimum temperature for enhancing shelf life of
fresh fruits.

29
• Dragon fruits are fly host and can be disinfected through irradiation
treatment.
• Lack of standardised packing materials like HDPE, polypropylene,
polyethylene plastic/corrugated box etc.
• Promotion of small–scale industries to utilise dragon fruit as rich source of
vital nutritional ingredients viz. carotene, calcium, fiber, vitamin B, vitamin
C, and phosphorous. The fruit can be processed into numerous value–added
products particularly during glut production (June–November).
• Lack of round the year supply of dragon fruits for continuous operation of
processing plant.
• Lack of knowledge on value added products for long-term use.
• Poor marketing infrastructure and network.
• Lack of research, market and policy guidelines for post–harvest management
of dragon fruit.

Fig. 23. Post–harvest management practices (grading and packaging) in India.

30
5.11. Marketing and human resource development
Details about marketing channel and prices of dragon fruit is well explained in a
section 3.2.1. However, unstable market prices influenced by seasonal glut
production and import from other countries viz. Vietnam and Thailand are
major challenges to Indian farmers. Further, availability of trained manpower
for cultivation, marketing and post–harvest management of dragon fruit is
another key constraint.

6. Researchable issues in dragon fruit production

The continuously growing demand for dragon fruit due to its several bioactive
and nutraceutical components widened the horizon for research, development
and extension for this potential underutilised crop. Although, dragon fruit is
introduced as super fruit in India; need arises to convert it as a remunerative
crop of degraded land through addressing following major researchable issues.

Genetic improvement:
1. Identification, development and performance evaluation of varieties of
dragon fruit for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance particularly for
degraded lands.

2. Research for better insights into mechanisms of tolerance to drought,

water logging, soil salinity, frost and heat stresses in dragon fruit
through modern physiological, microbial and biotechnological
approaches, methods and traits for screening stress–resistant
genotypes.

Crop production:
1. Region specific research on standardising nursery propagation and
orchard establishment techniques.

2. Research on developing standard cultivation practices for diverse

agro–climatic regions through multi–location field trials.

3. Research on the soil–plant–water relations under stress conditions in

dragon fruit cultivation and their management practices. Focus should
be on developing integrated water, soil–nutrient, weed and canopy
management practices for abiotic stressed degraded land. The major
problems like flower/fruit dropping, pollination and sun burnt can be
addressed through optimising the cultivation practices.

Crop Protection:
1. Development of integrated pest management programme for
addressing concerns on pest and diseases with main focus on
environment friendly control measures.

31
 2. Application of climate resilient engineering interventions viz.,
precision agriculture, shade net, mechanisation and canopy residues
management for minimising impact of abiotic and abiotic stresses in
dragon fruit.

Post–harvest management and marketing:

1. Standardisation of harvesting and post–harvest practices for
minimising post–harvest losses in dragon fruit. Focus should be on
improvement of varieties suitable for processing, value addition and
marketing of dragon fruit.

2. Preparation of database of dragon fruit growers, entrepreneurs and

associated scientists for collaborative research and extension for
popularising the dragon fruit.

3. Research on adopting aggressive marketing strategy and

infrastructure development is essential.

7. Policy issues for promoting dragon fruit in India

1. Need to develop policy framework at national level for popularising
the dragon fruit in diversified agro–ecological regions since crop is
comparatively new in India. There should be strong collaboration
between State Govt. and Central Govt.; public and private funding
institutions to promote dragon fruit not only for economic returns
from degraded/dryland areas but also for medicinal uses.

2. Standardisation of regional specific package of cultivation, harvesting

and post–harvest practices for round the year production of dragon
fruit.

3. Strengthening research & technical support: Joint efforts of scientists,

entrepreneurs, progressive growers and policy makers is highly
essential to popularise dragon fruit in a resource poor dryland areas
and to enhance farmers’ income. The major researchable issues
related to natural resource management technologies, cultural
practices, disease management, improvement of varieties suitable for
processing, processing and value addition and marketing of dragon
fruit must be addressed immediately through research organisation
supported by Govt. of India/State Government/ private and co–
operative bodies.

4. Standardisation of methods for raising develop nursery and trellis

system and licence to only authorised owners for ensuring quality and
availability of both sapling materials and trellis at reasonable prices to
the farmers.

5. Need to develop a database of area under dragon fruit cultivation,

production and productivity of crop, dragon fruit farmers,
entrepreneurs and associated scientists.

32
6. Need to develop training module on package of practices for profitable
dragon fruit farming and entrepreneurship.

7. Need to establish centre of excellence on dragon fruit farming and

entrepreneurship development. Another aim of centre is to
disseminate information, education and communication (IEC)
materials as part of extension activities.

8. Provision of financial support for marginal or small scale farmers for

dragon fruit cultivation in the form of soft loan and subsidy by the
government/cooperative organisations/banks, etc. The financial
support is highly essential since initial capital investment of dragon
fruit cultivation is around INR 6.5–7.5 lakhs per ha.

9. Post-harvest management becoming critical issue to successful

marketing of dragon fruit since it is always influenced by cultural
needs, harvesting stages, inherent product attributes, ambient
environment, transportation and storage needs. Being a perishable
fruits with comparatively low shelf life and mostly fresh consumption,
attention should be given to minimize post–harvest losses. Therefore,
emphasis should be given to standardisation of post–harvest
operations (cleaning, grading and packaging) and development of
post–harvest infrastructure including cold chain for transportation
and storage. During glut production of dragon fruit, small scale
entrepreneurs/growers have to be encouraged for development of new
products, via value adding technologies for generating additional
income.

10. Marketing and prices: At present there is assured market in India

because of limited commercial growers and high demand of fruits. The
market prices ranged from INR 55−250/kg depending on weight
based different grades (A>400 g, B between 200−400 g and C<200 g)
prevailing in market. During offseason prices persisted as high as INR
300−400/kg for Indian dragon fruit. Even huge numbers of health
conscious consumers in cities paying up to INR 500−600/kg for
dragon fruit imported from Vietnam and Thailand. There are report
saying that more than 20,000 MT of dragon fruits are being imported
into India from Vietnam, Thailand and China every year. Apart from it
demand for dragon fruit in rural areas is also increasing, which will
give it a wide market reach. It is predicted that production and area
under dragon fruit will rise drastically; hence marketing strategies
need to be critically examined including fixation of minimal support
price. There is also need of developing marketing infrastructures and
quality standards in view of exploring potential of future export.

11. Import strategies: There is a strong belief among Indian dragon fruit
growers that unrestricted import from countries like Vietnam and
Thailand creates biggest market problem as it coincided with seasonal
glut production from India that ultimately results in drop in prices
and hence loss for farmers. Therefore, there is a need to protect the

33
 interest of Indian farmers’ with stringent quality control on imported
dragon fruit.

12. Agro tourism: As like other countries need to identify the hot spots for
dragon fruit farming in dryland regions viz., Kutch in Gujarat that
having potential to attract steady stream of tourists and nature lovers
for boosting agricultural tourism in these sites.

8. SWOT Analysis
Strength:
1. Diversified agro–climate condition and strategic geographic location
of India, highly suitable for dragon fruit cultivation and marketing
across the world.
2. The great scope to bring larger available degraded/barren lands
particularly in drought prone and hilly regions of India under dragon
fruit cultivation. The Govt. of India offered several incentives and
grants for the overall development of farmers of these regions
including agriculture.
3. The fruiting starts within 16 to 20 months of plantation, while the
plant life is more than 20 years. The yield per hectare can be achieved
up to 35 MT. The harvesting season is spread over a period of 5 to 6
months during June to November with at least one large lot every
month. There is great potential of off season fruiting via varietal
improvement and other cultural practices. Thus there is assured yield
of at least 80% even if there are some climatic or other disruptions,
making it a source of reliable income for the farmer.
4. Some unique characteristics of dragon fruit viz., simple planting, low
water and nutrients requirement, independent growth and flower
development irrespective to water availability and potential of round
the year fruit production provides opportunity of cultivating the crop
in drought prone and hilly regions of India. Further, relatively
consistent Indian climatic conditions viz., sunlight and day length
throughout years are suitable to accommodate the crop cultivation.
5. The crop has great potential to become popularise among the
sugarcane and grapes growers in dryland areas due to its fast and
stable income and suitability for inter-cropping.
6. Increasing demands of fresh and processed dragon fruits in rural
areas, domestic and global market because exquisite taste, flavour and
shape, and awareness of health benefits among the consumers and its
round the year availability.

7. The great scope for processing and value addition of dragon fruits,
since its ever increasing demands in nutritional and medicinal
products, natural food colorants and additives, and cosmetic
ingredients.

34
Weakness:
1. High initial capital investment challenging for marginal and small-
scaled growers.
2. Lack of standardised nursery, cultivation and harvesting practices
including high yielding varieties of processing causes the crop prone to
pest and disease attacks.
3. Poor research, technical and policy supports for popularising crop in
barren/degraded lands.
4. Dragon fruit is highly vulnerable to rain particularly during flower
pollination and fruiting. The unpredictable weather events hailstorm
and excess rains owing to the global climatic change may affect the
production.
5. Lack of marketing and postharvest handling infrastructure degrading
the fruit quality and affecting its supply chain (harvesting, loading and
transportation) at orchards.

Opportunities:
1. High demand in international markets even China being a big
competitor importing dragon fruit from South Asian countries. These
prospective offer competitive business opportunities for global trade.
2. Some of Indian grower visited to Vietnam and Thailand and have
gained high skill, knowledge and experience in dragon fruit
cultivation.
3. Some Indian states started to subsidy for dragon fruit farming.
4. Pharmaceutical and food companies have an alternative for medicinal
products, natural food colorants and cosmetic ingredients.
5. Well established dragon fruit orchards can be sites for agri–tourism.
6. The dragon fruit sapling material can be sold as ornamental pot
plants.
7. Dragon fruit plants can be used fencing material in rural areas for
protecting rearing animals from predators.

Threats:
1. The lack of awareness about standard cultivation practices among
growers may produce fruits that do not meet the standard quality of
grading, global trade, or customer expectations, etc.

2. Unpredictable heavy rain may create moisture conditions particularly in

black soil may become more conducive for fungi that could bring higher
chance of disease infection and impacting pollination.

3. Need to ensure assured market and supply chain in rural drought prone
areas.

35
 4. Unusual attack ants and birds etc. may reduce the production quantity
and quality of dragon fruit.

9. Conclusion
Production and marketing data of recently introduced tropical dragon fruit crop
is rarely available worldwide. Available evidences suggested the dragon fruit
cultivation is continuously increasing in south Asian tropical countries.
Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia,
USA, Australia and South Africa are the major dragon fruit producing countries.
While, China is biggest consumer of the dragon fruit. Apart from several health
and medicinal benefits; being a hardy crop, it has got potential to grow in
degraded and rainfed areas of India under diversified agro–climatic conditions.
In a recent five year, many progressive growers started commercial production
of dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus and Hylocereus polyrhizus) and fetches
remunerative market prices. Production and marketability of dragon fruit are
expected to rise huge because of high demand and limited commercial
producers. Present market trade indicate that import of this fruit is more than
the production in India. To meet this demand, possibility of round the year
cultivation of dragon fruit including production from degraded and dryland
areas, need be explored without affecting other cultivable land areas allotted for
other crop. Further, for bridging demand and supply gap various constraints
were identified in dragon fruits cultivation viz., high initial investment,
standardisation of nursery and cultivation practices, attack of insect pests and
diseases, sun burnt, yellowing/dropping of flowers and fruits, low yield, short
shelf life of fruits and marketing infrastructure problems. Joint efforts of
scientists, growers, entrepreneurs and consultants to identify the researchable
and policy issues related resource management technologies, improvement of
varieties suitable varieties for processing, and marketing of dragon fruits were
initiated from some government and private research organisations in India.
Effort has started by some of the state agricultural departments, centrally
funded organisations and private/cooperative agencies to promote as
commercial crop for enhancing income of marginal and small scale farmers in
dryland areas. In near future, ample attention should be obligatory for
minimising post–harvest losses through standard post–harvest practices and
successful marketing of fresh dragon fruit.

The SWOT analysis indicates that India has tremendous scope for all
kind of dragon fruit production. There is increasing demand for quality
products at competitive rate in domestic and export market. Though dragon
fruit production depends on increasing and widening domestic market in
future, export market will be equally attractive. To be successful in both
domestic and International market it is essential to produce quality dragon fruit
of organic origin and processed products to avoid pesticide residues and at
competitive rate from underutilised degraded land. It is important to set policy
guidelines and standards for cultivations, post–harvest and marketing of
dragon fruit. It is also equally significant to commercial utilisation of
established orchard sites for agro-tourism, the excess leaves as sapling material
for ornamental pot plants, fruit peels for pharmaceutical uses and canopy
residues left after cultivation for manure and vermicomposting for generating

36
additional income and enriching soil organic matter of degraded land. Overall it
can be concluded that dragon fruit cultivation can become a turning point for
assured income to marginal and small scale farmers and other enterprising
entrepreneurs in draught prone areas.

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https://dragonfruit.net.vn/news/185-world-s-dragon-fruit-suppliers-and-demand.html

https://dragonfruit.net.vn/news/185-world-s-dragon-fruit-suppliers-anddemand.html#:~:text
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uador%20produces%20both%20yellow%20and%20red%20dragon%20fruit.

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20emerging%20as,1%2C000%20acres%20in%20the%20State

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39
 Appendix– I
List of dragon fruit varieties available in different countries.
Adunta–4 George's White Malaysian Red S9
Alice Godzilla Manila Red San Ignacio
American Beauty Golden Dragon Maria Rosa Scotts Purple
Apollo Yellow Green Skin Red Flesh Maui Dragon Seoul Kitchen
Armando Green Skin White Mexican Red Shayna
Flesh
Asunta–1 Guatemalan – 2 Mexicana Sin Espinas
Asunta–2 Guatemalan Pink Michelle Sugar Dragon
Asunta–3 Guatemalan Red Moroccan Red Sweet 21
Asunta–5 Guyute Mr. Woo Taiwan Pink
Australian Red H. Stenopterus Natural Mystic Taiwan Red
Ax H. Broxinsis Blue Neon Tex Sweet
Bien Hoa Red S H. Costaricensis Nicraguan Red Thai Dragon
Bien hoa White H. Guatemalensis Nietzel Thai Red
Bilu Halley’s Comet Orejona Thai white S
Black Dragon Hana Paisley Thai yellow
Bloody Mary Harpua Palora Thompson
Bruni Hawaiian Orange Pepino Dulce Townsend Pink
Capistrano Valley Hawaiian Pink Peruvian Orange Tricia
Caribbean Pink Hawaiian Red Peruvian Yellow Trish red
Cebra Houghton Phoenix Red UCLA
Chameleon Hylcereus Ocamponis Physical Graffiti Undatus
Columbian Hylocereus Pineapple Cactus Valdivia Raja
Supreme Peruvianus
Condor Isis Yellow Pink Diamond Variegata
Connie Mayer Jacky Lee Red Pink Flesh Varigated white
Cosmic Charlie Jade Red Flower Pink Panther Varigated yellow
Costarican Sunset S Jade White Flower Purple 8 Venus
Country Roads Jala Purple Haze Vietnam King
Dark Star Jc01 Rainbow Vietnamese Giant
David Bowie Jc02 Red Crystal Vietnamese Red
Delight K–1 Red ES –1 Vietnamese White
Desert King Kathie Van Arum Red giant Vivid Purpurea
Desert Princess Korean White Red Jiana Voodoo Child
Edgar LA Girl Rixford White King
Edgar's Baby La Verne Rosa White Sapphire
El Grullo Lake Atitlan Red Royal Red Yellow Cross 68
Florida Red Sweet Lemonade White Rubra Yellow Dragon
Frankie's Red Lisa Ruby Red Yellow Thai
G2 Makisupa S8 Zamorano

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 Appendix– II
Global market overview of value-added products of dragon fruit.
Table 1. Export and imports status of value added dragon fruit in global market (%
share and value in US$) during 2019.
Country % share Export value Country Import value
(US $), Million (US $), Million
China 14.7 513.69 USA 1412.09
Thailand 8.1 283.15 Japan 309.69
Mexico 7.7 266.51 Netherlands 233.81
United states 6.8 236.31 Canada 203.26
Netherlands 6.7 235.08 China 202.11
South Korea 4.3 151.23 Germany 198.61
Germany 3.7 129.72 France 196.2
France 3.7 128.80 United Kingdom 134.99
Canada 3.6 125.23 South Korea 95.54
Philippines 3.6 124.31 Spain 78.82

Source: https://www.tridge.com/products/canned-dragon-fruit

3000 Export trend

China Thailand Mexico United States
Netherland South Korea Germany France
2500 Canada Philippines
Export Value (US $) Million

2000

1500

1000

500

0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Years

Fig. 1. Global export trend of value added dragon fruits.

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 3500 Import trend
United states Japan
Netherlands Canada
3000
China Germany
Import Vaue (US $) Million

France United Kingdom

2500 South Korea Spain

2000

1500

1000

500

0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Years

Fig. 2. Global export trend of value added dragon fruits.

Important value-added products of dragon fruits in global market

Dry dragon fruits Dry dragon fruit-Chips Free dried powder

Dragon fruit cubes Dragon fruit frozen yogurt Yogurt- Greek style

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 Canned dragon fruit Frozen dragon fruit puree drink Aloe Vera-dragon fruit pulp juice

Pure dragon fruit juice Dragon fruit smoothie Dragon fruit bakery (baguette)

Dragon fruit jelly Dragon fruit flavoured -RTS Dragon fruit energy booster(Vit C)

Dragon fruit jam Dragon fruit cosmetic (face mask) Dragon fruit colorant

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 Appendix– III
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about dragon fruit farming.
Q.1 What is dragon fruit and where it can be grown?

Dragon fruit, Pitaya and Strawberry pear is a cactus vine of the genus
Hylocereus, tolerant to the various abiotic and biotic stresses. It is native of
Central America and commercially cultivated as tropical fruit in south-east
countries. It grows in almost all kind of subtropical and tropical environmental
and soil conditions. It has potential to bring the India’s most degraded land
under cultivation.

Q.2 What are health benefits of consuming dragon fruit?

It is grown for nutraceutical and edible usages as rich source of nutrients and
minerals viz., vitamins, protein, amino acids, fat, carbohydrate, crude fibre,
carotene, phosphorus and iron etc. The dragon fruit regulates digestive
process, prevent colon cancer, diabetes, neutralize toxic substances, reduce
cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and can help against asthma and cough.

Q.3 What are the ideal temperature, rainfall, water requirement and
soil conditions for dragon fruit cultivation?

Dragon fruit is CAM plant with xerophytes’ characters grown in wide range
temperature, rainfall and soils. The regions of 20−30oC temperature,
500−1700 mm rainfall and slightly acidic soils with pH of 5.5−6.5 are
considered as ideal for successful cultivation of dragon fruit. Generally, well
drained murrum soil is prepared for dragon fruit cultivation in India. Dragon
fruit can be also grown in the regions of excess rainfall (1730−2540 mm/year).
The water requirement of dragon fruit is as low as 120 to 150 mm with
micro−irrigation. In irrigated area about 1 inch of water is required weekly to
plants so that soil doesn’t get dry completely. About 2–4 litres of water weekly
twice per plant is sufficient during the summer/dry days.

Q.4 What is life span of the dragon fruit orchard?

Dragon fruit is perennial crop and produce the marketable yield up to 20−30
years depending upon agronomic management practices.

Q.5 What is initial cost of establishing dragon fruit orchard?

The initial cost for establishing dragon fruit is INR 2.5−3 lakhs/acre. The cost
is coverable within 2−2.5 years after plantation of dragon fruit.

Q.6 How to propagate the dragon fruit plant? What is cost of dragon
fruit plant or sapling material?

Dragon fruit plant is propagated through seed and vegetative propagation

methods. The vegetative method i.e. stem cutting (fresh/rooted) is most
common, faster and economical. The mature step segment of 15−30 cm
treated with fungicides is used for plantation. Rooted cutting ready for

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 transplantation in orchard after 30−40 days of nursery rising. The cost of
dragon fruit materials varies between INR 15−40/plant and must be procured
from authentic private/govt. nurseries

Q.7 What are different varieties of dragon fruit available in the market?

Worldwide, more than 150 varieties of dragon fruit are available. However,
four main types of varieties (i) red skin−white flesh (Hylocereus undatus) (ii)
red skin−red flesh (Hylocereus polyrhizus) (ii) red skin−purple flesh
(Hylocereus costaricencis) and (iv) yellow skin−white flesh (Hylocereus
(Selenicerus) megalanthus) are preferred for commercial production in world
market. In India mostly red skin−white flesh (93%) followed by red skin−red
flesh (6.5−7%) are cultivated for market purpose.

Q.8 Which is the most suitable season for dragon fruit plantation?
When flowering and fruiting will be started after plantation? What
is fruiting season?

Summer monsoon (June−August) is most preferable season for dragon fruit

plantation. Plant growth is paused in remaining months of the year. Usually
fruiting will start one year after plantation. Sometimes fruiting start within
five months of plantation. Flowers bloom followed by fruiting occurs in
July−October in a 6-8 flushes of market quality fruits. In some cases early
flowering occurs in April month. Dragon fruit bears fruit for five month in
years. It has potential to produce round the year fruits.

Q. 9 What is impact of excess rainfall or excess temperature on

flowering/ fruiting/stem of dragon fruit?

Dragon fruit is comparatively tolerant to water and temperature stress.

However excess rainfall creates problems of flower/fruit dropping/rotting
during rainy season. Excess temperatures causes problem of sun burning in
stem of dragon fruit.

Q.10 Why is training/trellising practiced in dragon fruit orchard? What

are different types of trellis system used in dragon fruit orchard?

Dragon fruit as cactus vine plant, its basic requisite is to provide training to
climb along wooden posts, fences and walls for support. Since plant grow very
fast and its braches start spreading on ground surface as result of it creates
hindrance in healthy flowering and fruiting. To prevent this damage different
trellising system are being practiced for establishing dragon fruit orchard with
common thump rule of allowing main vine stem to trellis and pruning other
lateral stems. It includes four major trellis system viz., single pole with
concrete/iron ring, continuous pyramid stands, ‘T’ stands and wooden ladder.
Amongst, concrete pole of 2 m height (buried in 40 cm in soil) with concrete
ring is most commonly used in India.

Q.11 What should be planting spacing for dragon fruit? How much
quantity of poles and plants required for establishing one acre of
orchard?

Planting spacing mainly depends on variety, slope and types of trellis system
used for establishing orchard. Most recommended spacing of 4.0 m (row) ×
3.0 m (plant) provides better air circulation and reduces chances of disease

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 infection. While, in low fertile areas denser plant population with spacing of
3.0 m × 3.0 m is preferred to compensate the yield reduction. Plantation of
four plants per pole is common recommended practice. About 300 to 400
concrete poles and 1200 to 1600 plants are required for establishing 1 acre
dragon fruit orchard.

Q.12 How much amount of fertiliser required for dragon fruit plant?

The recommended dose of fertiliser application varies with soil type and
location of plantation. In general, 10−15 kg FYM or organic manure and 100 g
SSP/plant is compulsory at the time of plantation of dragon fruit. About 300 g
N, 200 g P and 200 g K is essential per plant each year for the initial two years.
The mature plant should be given 540 g N, 720 g P and 300 g K in four equal
split doses with interval of 3 months.

Q.13 What are the common diseases, pests and predators in dragon fruit
orchard? How they can be controlled?

In general dragon fruit is tolerant to major pests and diseases. Few important
diseases of fungal and bacterial pathogens origins viz., anthracnose, brown
spots and stem rots affect dragon fruit crop. Heavy rainfall and overwatering
or waterlogged conditions predispose the crop for these diseases. Anthracnose
can be prevented by spraying with Chlorothalonil / mancozeb at 2g/L and
curable by spraying with carbendazim at 1g/L. Rotting diseases are vulnerable
to excess sun light and it can be controlled through copper oxychloride (at
0.2%). Fruit are occasionally infected with ants, scale insects, mealy bugs,
slugs, nails, bores, caterpillars, termites, nematodes, fruit flies, bats, rats and
birds. It can be easily managed by some control measures like agronomic and
crop hygiene, chemical control using copper sulphate, fruit bagging, soil
amendment and sterilization.

Q.14 What is expected yield from a dragon fruit orchard?

In general dragon fruit yield varies with varieties, soil and climatic conditions.
Actual commercial yield started after second year onwards of planting. It is
estimated that about 2.5-3 tonnes of dragon fruit (with average fruit weight of
350 g) can be produced from one acre land. With excellent management the
fruit yield can be extended to 7.2 to 8.00 tonnes (350-850 g/fruit) from one
acre land.

Q.15 When and how to harvest dragon fruit?

Most ideal harvesting period for dragon fruit is June−October in India. Usually
outer bright green skin of immature fruit gradually turns into red at the end of
ripening process. Only ripened fruit should be selected for harvesting so that
harvesting can be done twice during week. Fruits are harvested manually using
pruning knives without getting damaged. Then, harvested fruits should be
immediately shifted into shades before packaging or being transferred to
storage room.

Q.16 Is it canopy management is essential dragon fruit? When?

Yes, canopy management is very essential in dragon fruit particularly in older

orchards after 4−5 years onwards

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Q.17 What is market price of dragon fruit?

Dragon fruit prices varied with demand, supply and market grades. The
estimated average price of dragon fruit in the local market is ranged from INR
55−250/kg depending on weight based grades (A> 400 g, B between 200−400
g and C < 200 g). During offseason prices persisted as high as INR
300−450/kg for Indian dragon fruit. The market prices for imported dragon
fruit is INR 500−600/kg in a cities.

Q.18 What is shelf-life of dragon fruit? What are ideal storage conditions
for dragon fruit after harvest?

The shelf life of freshly harvested dragon fruit varies between 3−4 days at
ambient conditions. Fruits shows decrease in weight and shrivelling after 7−8
days of harvest. No extra storage facility required for storage if fruit sold in
local market immediately after harvest. Usually storage condition varies with
variety and climatic conditions. The fruits are generally stored in perforated
bags at 8ºC for 25−30 days. Sometimes storage temperature of 15−20ºC and
relative humidity of 85−90ºC is preferred fresh market delivery. The shelf life
can extended up to 45 days during storage at 7−10ºC with relative humidity of
90-98%. The yellow varieties can be stored up to 28–30 days at 10ºC
temperature.

Q. 19 What kind of packages used for transportation and marketing?

For short term transport into local market, perforated plastic carats of ~20 kg
capacity, commonly designed for other fruits and vegetables are used for
dragon fruit. The corrugated boxes of 10 kg capacity is usually used long term
transportation and marketing. The dragon fruits of different grades (A, B, C)
were packed into corrugated boxes.

Q.20 Can dragon fruit processed into valued added products?

Dragon fruit mostly consumed in fresh from. Pulp of dragon fruit can
processed into various valued added juice, jam, jelly, candy, syrup, and wine
etc. Different pharmaceutical products, colorant and cosmetics can be
prepared from seed and peel of the dragon fruits

Q.21 What are major markets of dragon fruits in India and abroad?

Presently, dragon fruit is popularising in domestic urban and rural markets of

India. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune are major domestic
markets of dragon fruits. Vietnam is biggest producers and exporter dragon
fruit in world market. While China, is biggest importer and consumers of
dragon fruit.

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