Economics of production and marketing of dragon fruit in Kerala

Being a highly remunerative crop, there is a fast expansion of area under dragon fruit in Kerala. As dragon fruit is a perennial crop, the orchards under study were classified into three groups based on the age of the plants as the orchards in the establishment phase (0-2 years), yield increasing phase (2-4 years) and yield stabilizing phase (4 years and above. To arrive at the total cost of cultivation, the establishment cost (₹26,98,617) was amortized to ₹2,96,848 per hectare per year. The amortized value was then added to the annual maintenance cost and interest on working capital at seven percent was worked out, finally arriving at a total cost of ₹8,29,393 per hectare. The average yield per year per hectare was around 21 tonnes and the average price received by farmers was ₹174 per kg. The net returns from one hectare was around ₹27,32,768.