The dragon fruit derives its name from its leathery skin that contains some spikes hence resembling the mythical dragon, but don’t let the tough look fool you, the fruit has a very juicy and succulent insides, though quite new to the Kenyan market, the dragon fruit has brought some lucky farmers huge returns, with a kilogram of these strange looking fruit fetching between Ksh 800 and Ksh 1,000.
With more Kenyans taking their health and nutrition serious these days. The local demand for dragon fruits has rapidly increased and these has seen large supermarkets and groceries begin to stock these fruit. There are lots of health benefits attributed to the dragon fruit. In addition to their nutritional value the dragon fruits taste very sweet as compared to other exotic fruits available in the Kenyan market.
Dragon fruit farming in Kenya is a relatively new venture, the early adopters and more experienced farmers have formed a growing online community that enables the exchange in knowledge, discussing best practices and also arranging visits to each other’s farms and exchange different varieties of the fruit. Noticing these unique characters and a promising business opportunity, many entrepreneurs and farmers are looking towards Dragon fruit farming.
As Denettols enterprise we work with farmers by providing them with the dragon fruit seedlings and cuttings as well as providing valuable information on how to grow this unique fruit successfully. You can order your dragon fruit seedling here
Quick Facts about growing the dragon fruit in Kenya.
- You can successfully grow the dragon fruit from grafted seedlings or cuttings and seeds. With grafting/cutting being the most sensible and preferred method.
- Dragon fruit prefers warm climatic conditions that do not have water logging as these plant requires moderately moist soil. You can increase the amount of water during flowering and fruit-bearing stages using the drip irrigation method.
- Dragon fruits can easily be grown in pots or home gardens.
- Just like any other fruit plants, the dragon fruit plants require nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
- Dragon fruit plants can be grown best up to the temperatures ranging from 15°C – 30°C.
How do you go about dragon fruit farming in Kenya?
Seeds or grafted seedlings?
In order to cultivate dragon fruits, it is better to go for grafted seedlings and transplanting rather than sowing as seed since this method is time consuming (seeds can take upto 3 years) and labor intensive process which could easily go wrong and doesn’t guarantee a superior produce. The length of the cutting or grafted seedling should be 20 cm and it should be grafted from the mother plant and left in the shade for 5-7 days before being planted in the field
While being planted the spacing between the dragon fruit plants depends on whether the support used is vertical or horizontal. In vertical support, the distance between the plants should be 2-3 meter while in horizontal support the distance is reduced to almost 50 cm and allows for intensive farming.
The vertical support should be approximately 1 meter to 1.20 meter high while the horizontal support should be ideally 1.40 to 1.60 meter.
Land & farming area
An acre of land can easily accommodate around 2000 plants of which every 4 plants or transplanted cutting for every T structure. The cost of one dragon fruit seedling is around Ksh 1,000 per plant. Moreover, the duration of highly productive dragon fruits is about 5 to 7 years. Therefore if you are leasing land you might want to take this into consideration.
Climate for Dragon Fruit
One of the advantages of these crops is that it can grow in areas of Kenya with extreme temperature and the poorest of soils, but is best suited for the tropical climate with an annual rainfall of 40-60 cm best suited for growth. Temperature ranging from 20°C- 30°C is considered best for the crop to grow.
Soil Requirement for Dragon Fruit
Dragon Fruit can be grown on almost any soils type, however Sandy soils that have good irrigation are generally preferred. The PH of the soil should range from 5.5 to 6.5 for a good crop.
Irrigation
Since the plant requires less water irrigation is recommended once a week and drip irrigation should be used for better efficiency. Whilst the plant is drought resistant it needs regular watering to grow and yield at its peak potential. For A Kenyan farmer specializing in farming the dragon fruit reports that he waters his fruits once or twice a week, though watering frequency is dictated by weather. He also sprays his plants with organic foliar rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to enhance growth and encourage flowering and fruiting.
Prune to stimulate flowering
Prune back your dragon fruit regularly, removing overlapping growth to maximize light penetration. If pruning established plantings, where buds and immature fruit are present, favor these and remove surplus unproductive stems; particularly those low on the plant.
Harvesting of Dragon Fruit
The fruit requires 27-30 days to fully grow. The fruit should be picked as soon it is fully grown as even a delay of 4-5 days can cause it to rot. The expected yield per hectare can vary from 10 to 30 hectares depending on the conditions and techniques used. The techniques of picking it are twisting it in a clockwise direction and plucking it.