Dragon fruit producers in East Java using greenhouse farming to met high demand

As the biggest producing-region of dragon fruit in Indonesia, Banyuwangi regency in the East Java province holds a pivotal role in supplying dragon fruits not only to the domestic markets but also to overseas markets such as China and Hong Kong. The region accounts for around 70% of the national production output.

To cope with currently high demand, the local farmers in the area are expected to produce the dragon fruit on a monthly basis. As an effort to meet this target, aside from traditional usage of open-space plantation land, the farmers in this region have been using greenhouse plantation method which has been equipped with artificial ultraviolet lighting to help the dragon fruit trees with photosynthesis so that the trees can bear flower and fruits all year long. Although the production output from this method is not as big as the one from the traditional plantation method, the production output from this greenhouse method has been able to supply the demand from the buyers outside of the regular harvest season.