Md. Masood Rana Tushar, Durgapur Upazila Representative:

Ainal Haque, a dragon farmer of Hariapara village of Durgapur upazila of Rajshahi, has achieved great success in dragon farming. Apart from dragon cultivation, his garden also has a variety of fruit trees including malta, lemon, guava and lychee trees. It has been seen that Ainal Haque has built a red dragon garden on 10 khata land in 2019 with the help of Upazila Agriculture Extension Department. The dragon tree bears fruit in about one and a half to two years. Dragons of different sizes are adorning the trees in the garden. Red green fruits hang from the green thorny branches of the dragon tree. Ainal Haque, a dragon farmer said, I have cultivated dragon fruit on 10 khata land for the last 3 years and sold dragon fruit worth Tk 148,000 last year. Then last year I started dragon cultivation again on 10 khata land. He also said that dragon fruit is being sold in the current market at the rate of Tk 250 per kg. I hope to be able to sell more than 2 lakh rupees of dragon fruit this year. Like me, now many unemployed youths in the region have become very interested in malta farming as well as dragon farming. Upazila Agriculture Officer Razia Sultana said there is great potential for dragon cultivation in Durgapur upazila along with malta cultivation. Farmers in the region can profit ten times more from dragon cultivation than from Malta production. Also farmers are benefiting financially by developing fruit orchards at low cost. If anyone is interested in dragon breeding, we will have full cooperation