growing banana in all 10 acres is putting all eggs in one basket
you will realize income only after 12 months
in this model you are harvesting 4 crops in 12 months at an average so 8 crops or yields in 24 months
and banana will not give you yield in 8-10 months (this is the best scenario you are working with and these are promises made by a lot of agri consultants and tissue culture sapling vendors etc) remember this example for beginner farmer …banana g9 safely assume a year for seed to seed or sapling to fruit if call it that
how you structure is your choice based on different factors, as i said this is just an example to show sanjay how yearly income can work or be calculated at a rough level as we always look at CTC/year 
. the important thing conveys some important information for people like us (non agri background) which is not to go by just data available, risks, methodologies or approaches that can be followed, diversity, sustainability etc and most of all…5+5 is never 10 in this business
as i said earlier you need to rotate your crops, unless you are planning to take the second and third ratoon of banana (which does not yield very good apparently but depends on your location, soil etc) your yield for year two will be lower as you are planting banana again and the crop profile is just leeching the same nutrients from the soil again (oh yes lot of juices available in the market to boost the yield but you will need to say bye bye to your land very soon and your cost of cultivation will shoot)…80000 per acre in banana is possible using pure organic though …keep this in mind…BUT the rotation /cycling funda will always apply organic or non-organic
(most farmers (2-30 acres owners) that i have actually met do not go for ratoons citing yield issues )
for start up farmers…first yield kaisa hoyega maloom nahi…forget r1 r2…bottom line is…risk exposure…once you get a hang of things i believe your land will actually talk to you…and you will be able to predict the behaviour, yield of your crops with greater certainity …arising out of experience and adjusting your inputs / technologies etc (5 years alteast to reach this level from salaried professional to professional farmer)
revised milk calculation (earlier had errors)
2 acres = 10 cows * 12 lt/d/c = 120 lt/d = 120 * 300 = 36000 lts of milk = 6,48,000 GROSS …net income is 60% to 70% i.e. around 4 lakhs (since non high yielding cows so less concentrate and more nutritious home grown fodder, existing farm labour can contribute to taking care of these 10 cows)
jersey cow cross breed …lactation days 300, dry days 90 (jersey cross will have a cycle of 390 days or less depending on what indian cross it is e.g. Jersey H, Jersy G or Jersey R)
for a small dairy of 10 cows (Jersey cross medium yielding) this is a low cost dairy option for small farm (in case of large farm the working and the entire strategy changes)…use the numbers below as guidelines and no absolute recommendations
you will procure 10 at one go…minimum batch size is recommened to be 10
days in a year = 365
milking days = 30010 = 3000
dry days = 65 (yearly calculation) = 6510 = 650
3000 * 12 (avg. medium yield animals) = 36000 liters * 18 = 6,48,000
a minimum of 50% profit of this gross can be made since this is a low cost family operation i.e. 3,20,000
avg yield 12 ltrs …convert this to 4% Fat corrected milk = 14 ltrs
avg DMI for 14 ltr FCM per day = 10.09 kgs…lets say 10 kgs (this is average as number will change based on week of lactation)
if you work out the protein and energy requirement to sustain 14 lts FCM per day, it does not go above 1-2 kg per day if you are using good quality forage
35 kg green fodder (home grown germanecious, cereal, leguminous mix) @20% DM = 7 kg
1 kg dry fodder (purchased) @85% DM = .5 kg
around 4 kg concentrate feed (purchased) @75% DM = 3 kg
total 10.5 kg DMI served with avg 16%-19% CP
gf @.25/kg = 8.75
df @1/kg = 1
conc @12/kg = 48
total feed cost approx 58 rs per day / lactating cow = approx 26.9% of revenue
12*18= 216
total feed cost = 58
feed cost % = 58/216 * 100 = 26.9 i.e 27%
lets add a generous 23% as (labour, non feed i.e. medical, mineral mix, probiotic, vaccination, dry cow feed, heifer and calves overhead) trust me 23% is too much non feed percentage for 10 cows
so you are left with around 50% profit, remove another 5% as non believer allowance…so 45% …therefore i stand corrected, nte income around 3 lacs in a year
now your are using 2 acres for this i.e. 1.5 lacs / acre / year (more than you get from cultivation)
i know it is not as simple as i have made it to be…but the calculations are real …the strategy is scaled down for this homestead plan
(the cost can be also be lower by optimizing, feed strategy etc)
speaking of opportunity cost, i have heard a lot of this word…how exactly do you arrive at OC when it comes to agriculture, its like comparing apples to oranges so not sure how i would personally work this out
so total income is
banana = 400000 (11-12 months)
veg 1 = 120000 (6-9 months)
veg 2 = 100000 (6-9 months)
veg 3 = 100000 (6-9 months)
milk = 300000 (DAILY INCOME)
total around 80k to 1 lakhs per acre, SPREAD around throughout the year…and not waiting till end of year to get some money
in this sample model, cost of cultivation will also be less as integrated farm provides lot of natural inputs e.g. 7 adults and 3 young animals can apparently produce approximately 19 tons of vermicompost per year, which should be more or less enough for your bananas, veggies etc. cost of vermicompost if procured from outside works out to 4-7 rupees a kg i believe…vermicompost better than compost or fym as nutrients more readily available to plants etc
some additional thoughts
bumper yield can also be a pure risk
e.g. lets assume sanjay purchases 100 acres of land and the gods favour him
it is fair to assume he is not going to try extreme diversity in such a huge acerage e.g. 5 acres per crop as it can drive people insane…alteast me (this example can apply even in case of diversity)
he cultivates maize on 50 acres as its a maize growing area (you would ideally place your money on success crops in the near region / vicinity/ district if you are developing large acerage)
and in 180 days …lo super bumper yield ! (gods favour sanjay i.e. season favourable, rainfall super, temperature great, pollinators hard at work generally a great year weather and climate wise)
however, what holds true for sanjay also holds true for other cultivators of maize in that geographic zone …and suddenly you have a maize surplus…what could be sold for 10 rs/kg last year can get only 4-7 this year due to surplus arising out of bumper crop
now options
- get rate that does not cover your cost (lick your wounds and move on)
- get rate that barely covers your cost
- get rate that gives you a 10% margin
- 15% margin
again not sure if yield of all 50 acres going to be sold at same time to same purchaser at same price
- store to sell later when market recovers (storage cost, storage risk, market price risk)
cheers
brijesh
Or should I not count on even this ?