Ricardo Martins (left) with a local Brazilian producer.

Ricardo Martins, an agronomist at Epagri says: “We estimate around 3,000 ha of dragon fruit in Brazil, with production that is more concentrated in Southern Brazil. A small slice of production is being exported mostly to Canada. The season starts in December and ends in May. The production was 30% higher than last year in southern Brazil at around 3, 000 tons.”

Epagri is a state sponsored company that is part of the Agricultural Research and Rural Extension Company of Southern Brazil. Martins is a specialist in Dragon Fruit Farming responsible for supervising and providing technical assistance to dragon fruit farmers in southern Brazil assisting more than 150 orchards in the region. His field of work is sustainable agriculture, tropical soil management, biological control and ecological/organic farming.

Ricardo Martins (middle) with local Brazilian producers.

The commercial cultivation of pitaya in Santa Catarina began in 2010 with the Feltrin family, from Turvo/SC. The main objective was to replace tobacco growing areas and diversify the activities of the small rural property, adding income and quality of life to the farmer says Martins.

“Our production is well organized in cooperatives, where we destine most of the production for local consumption, as a challenge we have the organization of the small producer, the search for export markets and the popularization of the fruit in the country, since it is still an exotic fruit. More than 500 families are working in the activity. Most of them are small famers with commercial sales in the domestic market. The orchards in southern Brazil are managed under a sustainable model with the use of pinto peanut (arachis pintoi) as permanent soil cover. We use various strategies of ecological farming such as organic fertilization, the use of trichoderma, biological control of pests and diseases and with minimal use of pesticides” explains Martins.

They also work on developing new dragon fruit varieties suitable for local conditions says Martins. “The company has developed new varieties, which do not require labour for pollination. This includes mostly white flesh and red skin varieties. Perhaps we can sell these new varieties to other countries, but at the moment it is only available in Brazil. We also have a good collaboration with Embrapa – The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation – for the development of new varieties of dragon fruit,” says Martins.

Ricardo Martins (left) with a local Brazilian producer.

Epagri released a book last year on the cultivation of dragon fruit, which contains the main technical information about the crop. “We have disseminated technical materials for the production of pitaya orchards. Our work is focused on family farmers in the state of Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil. We have collaborative research and extension partnerships with other South American countries. In Brazil and South America it is still a new crop, with the exception of Ecuador, which is the greatest producer and exporter of dragon fruit from South America where they have been cultivating dragon fruit for such a long time,” states Martins.

While they continue to teach and work on improving the small producers cultivation of dragon fruit, Martins believes they will grow to eventually reach many more export markets over the next five years. “We plan to expand the production in southern Brazil with more than 500 ha in the following years. For the country the production is also expected to be greater in the next few years, for more than 5,000 ha for sure,” says a hopeful Martins.

For more information:
Ricardo Martins
Epagri
Tel: +55 48 9626 2974
Email: rsmartins00@yahoo.com.br
www.epagri.sc.gov.br