A retired school teacher’s journey to dragon fruit cultivation
Dharamsala, September 2
While most people opt to live their life comfortably after retiring, a chosen few embark on a new journey to set an example and become a source of inspiration for people.
Best for areas dealing with monkey menace
- Dragon fruit cultivation is best suited for areas grappling with monkey menace as simians stay away from dragon fruit plants due to their thorny leaves
- The registered nursery for dragon fruit at Ghar Jarot is the first-of-its-kind in the state, having both saplings and fruit
Among such people is Jeevan Rana, a retired school lecturer, who decided to find fortune in his ancestral fields.
A Pong Dam oustee from Sidhatha, his grandfather Moti Singh, too, was a farmer. The family settled at Ghar Jarot near Nagrota Surian.
Talking to The Tribune, Jeevan said, “It is the result of the hard work of my son Ashish Rana, a civil engineer, and the cooperation of my wife Kunta Rana.”
Jeevan has been deeply involved in natural farming, taking advantage of the various state government schemes in this regard.
He believes that natural farming could save land from getting “poisoned”, and produce good quality yield at low costs. In September 2020, Jeevan visited a dragon fruit farm in Barnala, Punjab, with his son to see how it was being cultivated.
According to him, it was during the Covid pandemic that he, and his son Ashish, decided to adopt farming as a profession. At this time, many in the state had neither heard of the fruit nor tasted it.
The family contacted the state Horticulture Department and started cultivating dragon fruit using natural farming methods, planting 450 saplings of the ‘American Beauty’ variety (considered to be sweetest, reddish in colour) on 6 kanals. In the first year, 30 to 35 pieces were produced as samples. In 2022, the next year, 600 kg dragon fruit generated an income of Rs 1.25 lakh, a great morale booster for the family.
The produce was 1,400 kg in 2023. Looking at the instant success, the Department of Horticulture helped Jeevan install 1,111 pillars, each supporting 4 plants, as a ‘Front Line Demonstration’ plot. Deputy Director (Horticulture Department) Dr Kamalsheel Negi said the cultivation of dragon fruit was being promoted due to the medicinal properties of the fruit.
