Is Dragon Fruit a Promising Fruit in Assam: An Economic Feasibility Analysis

Dragon fruit, an herbaceous perennial climbing cactus recently introduced super fruit in the Indian market. The late 1990s saw the introduction of dragon fruit in India (Arivalagan et al., 2019). Farmers from different states like Maharashtra, Karnataka andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Gujarat,the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and many northeastern states have adopted dragon fruit cultivation due to the low maintenance and high profitability. Being a tropical country with a moderate climate all around the year, India is very suitable for dragon fruits as it grows well in tropical climates. Optimumtemperatures for growth are 18-25°C, with good relative humidity levels (Nangare et al., 2020).
       
India’s northeastern area is blessed with a wide variety of crops due to its diversified soil and agro-climatic conditions. It serves as a hub for several underutilized horticulture crops that may not be well known in other regions of the nation. Most of the lands in this region are virgin and undeveloped; therefore, they might be used for the cultivation of various crops that are currently becoming more and more popular.The Northeastern region’s diversified soil and climate allow for the development of dragon fruit. To meet the current and future demand for this amazingfruit, it would be a great opportunity for the growers to start up dragon fruit farming in the North east India. Farmers of this region may benefit from its cultivation because it is an easy income generation crop due to its early and high -yielding ability. Moreover, there is high demand for this fruit, especially in this region due to people’s awareness of a healthy lifestyle. (Thokchom et al., 2019).
       
It is becoming more well-known in India as a wholesome and therapeutic fruit that is consumed because of its high nutritional content and therapeutic benefits. Dragon fruit cultivation has many opportunities and with the right government support, it can benefit the entire nation and provide enormous prosperity to the farmers (Kikon et al., 2021). But yet, it has not achieved commercial cultivation status in India, despite being grown commercially in other nations. Due to the high demand and small number of commercial growers, dragon fruit is anticipated to have a very high marketability in the nation (Karunakaran and Arivalagan, 2019). According to a survey of the literature, this crop has received relatively little attention in India (Perween et al., 2018). With this viewpoint, the present study was conducted to know the profitability of dragon fruit in an Indian state Assam with the objectives of studying the economic feasibility of dragon fruit production and identifying the problems in production and marketing of dragon fruit faced by the farmers.

For the present study, three districts viz., Kamrup (Rural), Udalguri and Dhubri were purposively selected because of the availability of growers. The entire study was conducted based on primary data collected from 2021 through 2022. Since the growers were newly adopting dragon fruit cultivation and scattered in different locations, a stratified purposive snowball sampling design was employed to select respondents. The sample plan was divided into four phases. At first the districts were selected purposively. Secondly the blocks were also purposively selected. After that the villages were selected based on data availability and lastly respondents were selected by snowball method. Since the growers were scattered in different locations within the limited time frame a total number of forty (40) respondents were selected from the selected villages. Primary data for production and marketing of Dragon fruit was collected directly from the farmers in a face-to-face interview method through a pre-tested schedule.
       
Cost and returns were calculated for 15 years for the dragon fruit. To find out the economic feasibility of dragon fruit production, the following discounting measures of project analysis were used.
 
A. Net present value (NPV)

Where,
Bn = Benefit or present (Discounted) value of cash inflow in each year.
Cn = Benefit or present (Discounted) value of cash outflow each year.
n = Number of years.
i = Discount rate.
       
When NPV is greater than 0 i.e. positive, the project is to be accepted.
 
B. Benefit cost (B-C) ratio:

Where,
Bn = Benefit or present (Discounted) value of cash inflow in each year.
Cn = Benefit or present (Discounted) value of cash outflow each year.
n = Number of years.
i = Discount rate.

BCR > 1, then investment in a project is profitable and the project is accepted.
 
C. Internal rate of return (IRR)

The ranking of the constraints faced by the respondents in the production and marketing of dragon fruit is done based on percentage analysis.

Among the sample households, 18.43 percent were males and 12.90 per cent were females in the age group below15years of age while 29.90 per cent and 27.18 per cent were males and females, respectively in the age group of 15-59 years of age. In the age group of 60 years and above, the same accounted for 7.37 per cent and 4.14 per cent, respectively. Out of the total population of 217 members, 121 were males (55.70 per cent) and 96 were females (44.23) per cent. The total land area under Dragon fruit cultivation was 8.71 ha and the average land is 0.24 ha in the study area.
       
Table 1 shows the production and productivity of dragon fruit in the sample area for the 1^st five years of its life period. The study found that the production of Dragon fruit starts from the second year and it increased year by year. The production for total farms was 313.20 quintals in the second year and gradually increased to 416.68 quintals in the fifth year. The production per farm was 8.94 quintals for the second year and became 11.90 quintals inthe fifth year. Productivity was also seen to be increased from 36.00 q/ha to 47.89 q/ha.


       
Per hectare different costs and return from Dragon fruit cultivation have been presented in Table 2.  The most expensive expenses were incurred for labour, seedlings, fertilizer, manure application, plant protection measures, intercultural operation, training, pruning and harvesting. It can be seenfrom the table that the total cost, average gross return and net return per year exhibited a positive trend with the increase in production. The farmers could afford to invest more capitalin the establishment and operational cost of the crop and thus by adopting better management practices created better produce which in turn fetched good returns.


       
From the respondents it was known that dragon fruit attained its full growth period in 5^th year and 5^th year onward the production was almost the same. Karunakaran et al., (2019) also reported that dragon fruit attains full production within three to five years. In the study, from 5^th year onward, the cost and returns were taken as same (as shown in Table 3) without considering the price effect, since the production was the same.


 
Economic feasibility of dragon fruit production
 
For 15 years, the benefit-cost (BC) ratio at 6 per cent discount rate, was 3.49. The NPV was Rs. 8581855. The IRR was worked out to be 87.21 per cent (Table 4). Since NPV was positive and the BC ratio was also greater than 1, dragon fruit production was found to be a profitable venture for the growers.


       
In a similar study, the net present value was found positive (Rs. 2,08,29,478.00), which indicates a worthy investment of the proprietor. Benefit Cost Ratio was also greater than 1 (2.04), which also favored the investment (Kikon et al., 2021).
 
Identification of the constraints faced by the farmer in the production and marketing of dragon fruit
 
Constraints faced by farmers in the production of dragon fruit are shown rank-wise in Table 5. The high Cost of Establishment in the Initial Stage was reported as a constraint by all respondents (100%). A huge amount is required for the establishment of a dragon fruit farm. Since most of the farmers were small-scale and marginal farmers it became risky for them to be taken up and hence very few farmers took up dragon fruit farming. Dragon fruit farming also requires muchlabour because it is a high-maintenance crop. The crop requires proper treatment and operational practices. The requirement of labourwas for many operations like manuring, weeding, pruning and maintenanceregularly. During monsoon season more labourwas required for proper irrigation maintenance and high weed infestation. Planting material was costly compared to the other crops. And in case of any damage the farmer faced loss.Fungal disease was also observed in dragon fruit. Another major blight caused by Aspergillus fumigates was mainly due to poor sanitary practices. Lastly, dragon fruit is highly perishable when ripe. Keeping the fruit for a longer period would damage the fruit which eventually results in economic losses.


       
In Table 6, constraints faced by farmers in marketing dragon fruit were listed rank-wise. The most reported constraint was unawareness about dragon fruit and its nutritional importance by many consumers. People were not aware of the fruit and the health benefits of the fruit. Dragon fruit wasnot commonly consumed by the people in Assam like other fruits. It was recently introduced in India seven to eight years back. Unfamiliarity of the fruit among the people was one of the major constraints of marketing.Due to the high price, the fruit was not preferred by many consumers, which caused problems in marketing the fruit. Again, as per the seasonal demand and availability of the fruit, there was fluctuation in the market prices of the fruit.Due to the size and perishable nature of the fruit, it was difficult to store the fruit which caused another challenge for the marketers. Since the farmers were scattered and their farms were far from the market, the lack of proper road connectivity caused problems in the transportation of the fruit to the markets.


       
Wakchaure (2021)  also reported high cost and non-availability of quality sapling materials, high initial investment of orchard establishment, lack of controlled storage facility, unstable market prices, etc as some major problems of dragon fruit cultivation in India.
               
Though all possible efforts have been made to determine the objectives of the study, certain limitations do remain. In this study, limited area was covered due to constraints of very few farmers are engaged with dragon fruit cultivation. So, generalization of the results has been made on the surveyed area only.The primary data collected for the study were based on the respondents recall memory and experience due to lack of data recording habit of farmers and thus may pertain to errors in recalling. Collected data pertains to agricultural year 2021-22. Therefore, conception can be made for that reference period only. Therefore, this study can be treated as baseline study for economic feasibility of dragon fruit in Assam and further research can be done by extending more area of production. Further more research regarding value addition, marketing prospects of dragon fruit in the state etc are espected.

According to the study, dragon fruit is a crop with high production costs. The net present value was found to be positive, which indicated a worthy investment by the farmer. The benefit-cost ratio and IRR also indicated that Dragon fruit cultivation in Assam is a profitable venture. The fruit has a wide scope in the prospects of its future performance as in its first introduction it performed well. The study revealed that the high cost of establishment in the initial stage, high labour requirement, general unawareness about dragon fruit and their nutritional importance by consumers and low purchasing power of consumers were the major constraints faced by  the farmers in the production and marketing of dragon fruit. Provision of Government subsidy on planting materials and other essential agricultural inputs should be incorporated. Emphasis to be laid on bankable projects and support should be extended to the growers for Dragon fruit growers’ cultivation on a commercial basis. It can be subjected to value-addition by the production of juice, squash and beauty products like face masks, lip balms, etc.

The present study was supported by department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management under college of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat.
 
Disclaimers
 
The views and conclusions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarilyrepresent the views of their affiliated institutions. The authors are responsible for the accuracy andcompleteness of the information provided, but do not accept any liability for any direct or indirect lossesresulting from the use of this content.
 
Informed consent
 
No animal was harmed during the study.

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article. No funding or sponsorship influenced the design of the study, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.