West Bengal is new to taking up cultivation of this exotic fruit
A consignment of fibre and mineral-rich ‘dragon fruit’, which are sourced from farmers of Gujarat & West Bengal, have been exported for the first time to London, the UK and the Kingdom of Bahrain. In India, dragon fruit is also referred to as Kamalam.
The consignment of exotic fruit exported to London was sourced from farmers of the Kutch region and exported by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) registered packhouse in Bharuch, Gujarat, while the consignment of ‘dragon fruit’ exported to the Kingdom of Bahrain was sourced from the farmers of West Midnapore (West Bengal) and exported by APEDA registered enterprises, Kolkata.
Earlier in June 2021, a consignment of ‘dragon fruit’ that was sourced from the farmers of Tadasar village, Sangli district, Maharashtra was exported to Dubai by APEDA recognised exporter.
There are three main varieties of dragon fruit: white flesh with pink skin, red flesh with pink skin, and white flesh with yellow skin. However, the red and white flesh is typically being relished by the consumers.
At present, dragon fruit is grown mostly in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. West Bengal is new to taking up cultivation of this exotic fruit.
APEDA is making efforts to export it to other European countries to get better price realisation to the farmers of their produce.
