March 6: Commercial farming of dragon fruit has started for the first time in Parbat. Farmer Dilli Prasad Lamichhane of Parbat’s Kusma Municipality-9 has begun the commercial farming of the dragon fruit. 

Farmer Lamichhane has planted 1200 saplings of dragon fruit. Dragon fruit is strange to many people in the district.  “We have 1300 ropani of the land. We are planning to bring 800 more saplings of the dragon fruit by adding 200 pillars. We shall cultivate grass and banana in the rets of the land,” said Lamichhane.

Lamichhane is an office assistant of Katuwachupari Health Post. Along with dragon fruit, he has also been involved in animal husbandry. He sells milk at the headquarters in the morning and keeps himself busy in tending dragon fruit in the day time. 

“Since income from job is not enough to improve financial condition, I have started dragon fruit cultivation,” he added.
Dragon fruit can be cultivated at an altitude of 1500 meters that receives adequate sun. 

Two years after their plantation, dragon plants start bearing fruit. Its fruit weighs from 150 grams to 1 kilogram. Of late, the dragon fruit is being planted in flower pot, rooftop and house yard.