While most people seek a quiet, peaceful retirement at the age of 61, Pratap Chandra Raul, a native of Odisha, chose a drastically different path. After spending decades guarding the nation's borders and maintaining law and order, he returned to his roots to introduce an exotic fruit that his fellow villagers had never even tasted. Today, his modest 8,500 square feet plot has been transformed into a lush, organic dragon fruit farm, generating an impressive annual income of ₹4 lakh.

From the uniform to the soil
Pratap, a resident of Mukulishi village in Balasore district, Odisha, has always lived a life of service. After completing his matriculation, he joined the Indian Army in 1984. Upon retiring in September 2010, he continued to serve his community by working as a Havildar in the Odisha Police for a decade. He finally took voluntary retirement (VRS) in 2020 with a distinct mission in mind. He wanted to become a farmer and grow something unique that his local community had never experienced before, proving that even a tiny plot of land could be highly profitable if managed with scientific precision.

Learning the ropes online
With absolutely no prior background in agriculture, Pratap spent months researching crops before planting his first sapling. He turned to YouTube, joined farming groups on Facebook, and engaged with veteran farmers online to find a crop that would thrive in his local soil and climate. He eventually settled on dragon fruit. Its resilience in hot, low-water conditions and its long-term viability—yielding fruits for up to 25 years once established—made it the perfect candidate for his micro-farming experiment.

High-density railing and premium varieties
In March 2022, Pratap launched his farm with an initial investment of ₹1.3 lakh. Instead of standard planting, he purchased 1,000 premium saplings from Gujarat, including exotic varieties like Vietnam Red, Thai Jumbo, Moroccan Red, Hybrid Giant Red, Israeli Yellow, Taiwan Pink, and White Dragon Fruit. To maximise space, he ditched the traditional single-pole support method in favour of a high-density railing system. Utilising 70 concrete pillars and 900 feet of GI pipes, this system allowed him to plant more than double the number of saplings compared to conventional layouts. Within six months, the robust vines had scaled the structure beautifully.

The magic of organic farming
Success did not come instantly. His first harvest in March 2023 yielded a measly 50 kg of undersized fruit. Undeterred, Pratap abandoned all chemical fertilisers and formulated his own organic nutrient cocktail using cow dung, cow urine, vegetable scraps, onion peels, topsoil, and vermicompost. The results were miraculous. By 2024, his yield jumped to 200 kg, earning him ₹50,000. In 2025, his production skyrocketed to an astonishing 1,450 kg, bringing in ₹3 lakh. He sells his premium harvest directly to consumers for ₹220 per kg and to wholesalers for ₹200 per kg. He also earns an additional ₹50,000 annually by selling around 2,000 homegrown saplings, alongside cultivating another 22 plants on his rooftop which yield about 20 kg of fruit a year. Always looking ahead, Pratap has also successfully trialled off-season strawberry cultivation to ensure a steady stream of income year-round.