(RMOM JULY 17) Dragon fruit is on its way in Bangladesh
Uploaded on Jul 17, 2010 / 1406 views / 1928 impressions / 9 comments
Description
Thailand’s pitaya fruit is known as dragon fruit worldwide. Central
Africa was the first producer of this fruit but it’s now majorly
grown in Asia. Dragon fruit is more known as a fruit from Thailand.
Hridoye Mati O Manush covered a report on fruits during its
overseas trip to Vietnam. But, in that episode, this fruit wasn’t
much emphasized.
In Vietnam, star apple, rambutan, durian and dragon fruits are
very important fruits
in the food menu. Vietnamese people have named this fruit, ‘Thang
Loy’. Since the 13th century, dragon fruit is being cultivated in
Vietnam.
Commercial farming of this fruit started back in 1999 in Malaysia.
It was first commercially introduced in Sitiawan, Johor Bahru and
Kuala Pilah regions of Malaysia.
China is also moving ahead with this fruit. The fruit is known
as ‘Hu? lóng gu?’ in China, which means ‘Fire dragon fruit’. It
looks like this fruit is on fire, if you look at it from a bit
distance. That’s why perhaps the Chinese have kept this name for
the fruit. In Asia’s different regions, dragon fruit has expanded
in just two or three decades.
Scientists have found the nutrient qualities in this fruit.
Specially, it works really well in
controlling high blood pressure, diabetes, and can cut extra fat.
Asian people are very fond of dragon fruit, because, not only it’s
juicy and tasty, but the fruit is really useful for humans.
Agricultural entrepreneur, Rumpa Chakrabarty has started her
10-acre orchard of 16000 dragon fruits in Ashulia's Marichkata
village. She's the first-ever dragon fruit farmer in Bangladesh and
so is her orchard.