Another wanna be farmer: Decision Taken - Want to go rural!

[cyborg]

@agri_exec

Sanjay,

At the risk of sounding a bit harsh here, here are my thoughts…

A lot of good suggestions(and my mediocre ones) have been made on this thread about various things. The question to ask is… Have you made any progress with the suggestions you have received?? This thread will go from 4 pages to 8 pages and you will realize that you are just where you started. There is absolutely no (repeat) no point trying to access labor costs/land leveling costs/costs of land etc etc UNLESS you have squared in on a piece of land to buy. Period.

There are many variables, permutations & combination s blah blah with respect to agriculture and you will, more than often simply be awestruck about the various possibilities and outcomes. You simply cannot discuss every pro and con here with out knowing where you will own land.

My take is…

Each piece of land has its advantages and disadvantages. Just thinking “I’m open to buying land anywhere in India” and then spending time building a business plan does not help. You have already decided to go rural so that’s your first step. Second step, decide where you want to buy land. State/district/taluk etc etc. Scout for land based on your budget. If you are lucky you may find a nice one. Once you have identified (repeat identified) the land, I will assure you that you will be in a much better position. You will know what the land costs, You will know how far you are from the market, You will know soil/water and climatic conditions, labor availability, you will know what to grow etc etc. Once you know all these things, you can work out the economics and build a business plan around the land you have identified. Makes sense? So lets do whats most important first, Otherwise, we are all increasing our carbon footprints here.

My story…(so far)

Just like you, I went about doing a lot of research online and talking to lots of people about the pros and cons without even having a piece of land. Six months down the line when i looked back, I had not not taken a single step forward. Eventually, I knew what I had to do. I asked myself where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. When i had the answer, i identified two districts in the state of karnataka and began to search for land. I identified 4 pieces of land that fit into my budget. I put 3 on hold and I am now focusing my energy on a single piece of land and working out the economics for it. If it doesn’t make sense then I will pick the next piece of land and study it. so on and so forth till I get what satisfies me in all respects. With a piece of land in hand, I know exactly what it needs from me.

My honest and a very friendly suggestion would be to first ask yourself some very basic questions. Find answers for it and go full steam ahead to live your dream.

Rgds

Yes, agri_exec, you are right. Although I am a newbie, personally I feel you cannot pre-plan and draw case studies without actually knowing where and what kind of land you will own and cultivate. It’s like counting your chickens before they hatch. When planning about bananas, do you know if the climate and soil will support the crop or what if monkey menace exists in that area? If it was so easy to earn a lakh per acre, why will a farmer sell his land in the first place? If you really want everything to go as per plan then go for green house farming near your city. Or grow exotic flowers/vegetables in polyhouses where the vagaries of nature can be controlled to some extent. Open land farming is susceptible to various factors most of them are uncontrollable and require lot of monitoring, hard work and time. Finally even if we get a bumper crop, we are not sure what price it will fetch in the market. And then you have to fight with diseases/virus/root rot/nematodes/soil deficiencies etc.
The best bet would be to go for timber trees over a gestation period of 7-8 years. After this you will become a crorepati and you need not even sell your land as you will have got back your initial investment several times over. I am not discouraging farming but only against inexperienced city investors expecting unrealistic guaranteed returns every year without considering the various risk factors and uncertainties in this field. Another factor is life-style. If you live far away from the city in rural area for a long time, you will lose touch with your friends and relatives and money will have no meaning then. Sorry, but this is my personal opinion/perception. Buy land but as a long term investment only.
Regds,
-JP