Enter the Dragon

By Stephen T. Barreiro

Once hard hit by the liberalization of garlic imports, agriculture in Ilocos Norte is experiencing a renaissance with the increasing demand for the dragon fruit, a variety of fruit bearing cactus with distinctive agronomic properties particularly suited for Ilocos Norte’s warm dry climate and predominantly sandy loam soil.

Relative ease of propagation, minimal crop maintenance, short turnaround time between planting and harvesting (1-2 years) as compared to other common fruit bearing trees or plants; multiple harvests (8-10 harvests) and high yields (10-30 kilos per harvest) for single healthy plant in a year all combine to make the dragon fruit a highly viable commercial crop. To top it all, a healthy plant with proper care lives and produces fruit for 20-30 years.

When first introduced in Ilocos Norte in 2006, the dragon fruit was looked upon with curiosity and considered as merely an exotic plant. Increasing consumer awareness however has led to the acceptance and consumption of the dragon fruit as a staple fruit. Increasing consumer acceptance and demand has led to the constant availability of dragon fruit in markets and stores. It is now common to see dragon fruit beside such traditional consumer fruit staples as bananas, mangoes, and imported fruits as apples and grapes.

The success of Refmad farms, one of the pioneers in dragon fruit cultivation in Ilocos Norte has spurred many farmers as well as other public and private entities such as cooperatives, schools, and barangays to adopt dragon fruit cultivation in the province.

Refmad farms initially began dragon fruit production in 2005 as a backyard venture. According to Refmad farms founder and owner, Editha Dacuycuy, she initially thought of producing dragon fruit after reading up on its purported health benefits, for her family’s consumption. Consumer awareness of this new, delicious fruit gradually spread first through word of mouth from neighbors and friends.

In 2008, Refmad farms planted an initial hectare to accommodate increasing consumer demand. The success of the farm attracted attention from both governmental and private agencies and institutions such as the Department of Agriculture and Mariano Marcos State University, both of which initiated partnerships with the farm with the aim of enhancing production efficiency and quality. One initiative is in both agencies imparting technical support to enable Refmad farms dragon fruit production to be certified as organic; a must for acceptance in the higher end of the consumer market.

According to Refmad farms manager Mimie Dacuycuy (the daughter of founder Editha), a hectare can accommodate 2,000-2,500 cacti. Production costs for a hectare come up to P1.8 million for 2000 plants as an initial outlay or an average of P900 per single fruit producing cactus plant with an expected return of investment (ROI) in three years given current market prices ranging from P80-130 per kilo.  Propagation with cuttings which reduces the expense of purchasing planting materials, reduces costs per hectare to P1.6 million or an average of P800 per plant.

The initial outlay is used to build posts which support the growing dragon fruit plant and purchase planting materials. After startup, care of the plant is not labor intensive nor does it require intensive training or work experience. Once planted, maintenance is minimal consisting mostly of monitoring for excessive water, pest infestation or blight. Harvesting is simple; I, a city born, bred and raised guy with no previous farming experience was given a three-minute lecture and armed with a pair of hand cutters, I harvested 11 kilos in 15 minutes.

Refmad farms success has spurred cultivation and production of the fruit in all towns and cities of Ilocos Norte. The fruits preference for easily drained sandy loam soil has also enabled hundreds of hectares of erstwhile unproductive land deemed unsuitable for viable agricultural production of such typical water intensive crops as rice, to become usable and profitable from the production of dragon fruit. Further Ilocos Norte’s dry and mainly sunny climate is highly conducive to the propagation of the dragon fruit plant. According to Mimie Dacuycuy, Ilocos Norte is the country’s leading producer of the red variety, locally called “saniata”, and has become known as the “Dragon fruit (red variety) capital of the Philippines”.

Current trends in consumer preferences towards a healthier lifestyle augur well for increasing consumer demand and for the prospects of dragon fruit production. Though, other provinces in the Philippines have also adopted dragon fruit cultivation in particular, Cavite (white variety) and Davao (yellow and white varieties), Ilocos Norte farmers as one of the pioneers have sought further improvements and refinements to  crop production to ensure its hold and even expansion from its current market share.

Through such agencies as the Department of Agriculture and Mariano Marcos State University, not only is the basic technical knowledge of how to propagate dragon fruit made readily available to the public; also, such innovations as how to produce 100% organically grown certified fruit and the materials needed such as organic plant and herb derived pesticides are also made available to growers.

According to Refmad farms’ Mimie Dacuycuy, such innovation has enabled them to maintain the relatively high prices for their produce (P100-130 per kilo) by demand of their products in the high end market niche particularly for Metro Manila. Further, these high quality fruits are expected to be competitive in the emerging export markets.

The rapidly burgeoning dragon fruit industry has also spawned derivative products such as processed foods like dragon fruit flavored ice cream and yogurt. Further, other products such as vinegar and wine derived from dragon fruit have been recently introduced thus providing ever- increasing opportunities for growers.

The Dragon has always been a symbol of prosperity in the Orient. Like Its namesake, the dragon fruit has the potential indeed to propel the agricultural industry in Ilocos Norte to new heights of prosperity.