A farmer in Chaugachha upazila of Jashore has made a fortune simultaneously growing dragon and plum fruits on the same land.
Witnessing his overwhelming success, many other farmers of the same neighbourhood are getting inspired to follow suit.
Each plum tree bears many fruits and the main crop dragon also grows well, thus bringing together huge profits for farmers under this multiple cropping method.
Many people are surprised to see two types of crops being cultivated on the same land at the same time and the farmers are also thinking of continuing farming the fruits by using the method.
Official sources said farmers in Chaugachha upazila (sub-district) cultivated dragon on 10 hectares of land and plum on 80 hectares this year.
Farmer Rabiul Mandal, son of late Elahi Mandal of Sultanpur village in Hakimpur union of the upazila, said his family lives on agriculture.
Earlier, he became very much successful in producing paddy and jute and now cultivating these two types of fruits has turned out to be a profit-maker for him.
In continuation of that success, he has cultivated an improved variety of dragon fruit on about two bighas of land beside the Chaugachha main road in the village this year.
Dragon is a long-term crop; it takes a long time for the tree to give fruits, he said. He planted seedlings of a good variety of fruit on the land.
At present, his entire land is full of flowers and fruits.
Assessing the amount of plum fruits that have grown, he thinks he could recover the total production cost, only from the plums, if there is no natural calamity this year.
Farmer Rabiul said, "Dragon farming has received widespread recognition and support in Chaugachha upazila."
Farmers are making profits largely by cultivating the fruit. "Considering the profits, this year I am cultivating dragon on two bighas of land."
"I decided to cultivate plum side by side dragon. It took only two days for me to plant plum seedlings on the designated land; at present, all the trees have fruits," he added.
According to him, fertilisers and pesticides have to be separately applied for the two crops. It creates no problem for either crop.
Chaugachha Upazila Agriculture Officer Raisuddin said dragon and plum have been cultivated on 10 and 80 hectares of land respectively in the upazila.
The agriculture office has been inspiring farmers to do such farming in the upazila, he said.
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