Focusing of the markets in the Gulf, India is to expand the cultivation of dragon fruit more than 16-fold. To help this effort, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has authorized the setting up of a Centre of Excellence for dragon fruit cultivation in Bengaluru in Karnataka state. The new Centre of Excellence is to be established by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, an autonomous agency affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
A roadmap is being prepared for increasing dragon fruit cultivation in India from the present area of 3,000 hectares to 50,000 hectares in five years after this effort was brought under the Ministry’s Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.
