After looking land at Indore, Nashik, Igatpuri, Vaitarna, Talegaon, Pali, Karjat and many more places for almost 8 months I am thinking of starting my final search for land at Dahanu, Maharashtra. Its a town north 125 kms to Mumbai and is almost on the Maharashtra Gujarat border.
Positive side of zero-ing on this town is…
Amazing connectivity by road and rail. Dahanu is now the last local station of the western (suburban) rail route of Mumbai. I can hop back to Mumbai whenever my family needs me. It will be max 3 hour journey. Also transporting produce to Mumbai markets would be easy from here.
I have few known people staying in Dahanu. I can count on them, from the entire process of finding and buying land, along with documentation. Also i can count on them for any support i would need at farm, from labour to selling of produce, everything.
There are few people i met who are from mumbai and now settled there. They are all natural/organic farmers. I can always take guidance from them as I am a complete ZERO in the knowledge of farming. It will even help me have some social life there.
As these city based people said that local people in Dahanu and around villages are friendly and warm and accept city people very easily. So it will be an added advantage from settling point of view.
Negative side of planning to settle and start farm in Dahanu…
I always wanted to stay away from the sea. Wanted to buy some land on the higher Indian plateau as i have always known that the dry air is much better for our health (as compared to the humid and salty air near the coast). But i am born and brought up in Mumbai. So have always been staying near the sea.
As with the coastal climate and the humid and salty air farming wont give great results, specially for vegetables. There is good amount of agri business going in Dahanu with fruits like Sapota (chickoo), Coconut, Kesar and Badam variety of Mangoes and in some parts even Litchi.
Hence these are the points which I have to decide on that should i go in for Dahanu as my destination for my life ahead or consider some other place.
All your expert feedback would be appreciated.
The most I want to thank Sir Rcdixit ji. He has been replying to my endless and trouble giving questions continuously. May God give him all the happiness and good health for all the good work that he is doing.
An excerpt of msg to Prash dt 23/10/2014
Dear Prashant
The saline effect on crops is never good except on coconut/cashew/kewada etc.The soil laden with salt can barely produce good quality vegetables.Papaya is a tropical plant and may be successful but soil will need lot of manure mixing to counteract the effect of saline soil.Watermelon can be grown in barren saline laden lands.However you can contact local KVK who will be in a correct position to give you detailed comments on cultivation in the area.
All the best
rcdixit
After looking for land in Dahanu-Gholvad-Bordi areas I have found these problems
There is a very heavy load shedding in these areas. Very difficult to run water pumps or even fan and light in these areas
The farms which have high value crop like Papnas, mango etc are subject to regular stealing. The season is limited and the crop is of good value, hence they are stolen by local tribals around the farm. Nearby farm guys said that how much ever u try to stop this practice people will steal.
Land is not that cheap to buy. Earnings from chikoo farming will never get you the investment back. (As such wont any other fruit)
These are few problems I am looking ahead to encounter.
Consider Solar Electric Fencing to prevent stealing, consider multiple crops instead of mono crop, consider biogas that generates gas and electricity from 4/5 cows dung…
My 2 paisa thoughts - I am also new, but am making a document of what I will do, in the coming year.
I have influence from Bhaskar Save & Palekar - natural farming and zero budget natural farming, this is the key
I also have a 10 acre plot in Maharashtra
Currently overseas - want to badly be a farmer and enjoy nature and all its wonders
Good to know u are also in the same boat. Drop me a mail when u are in India, we will try to catch up.
Regarding electric fencing i dont know if it proves fatal for kids if they touch by mistake.
Multicrop wont be possble initially because there are ready farms and sunlight doesnt reach the the soil. But will have to study what crops would grow in shade, etc.
I dont know how much power can be generated by using bio gas. Need to get into technical details including my power consumption.
Solar Electric fencing is not dangerous to people and or animals, its perfectly safe
research on Bhaskar Save and Palekar, I am sure, you will see the right direction - farming is eventually on experimenting, something that we can try out, in two different areas and share
my personal email is mikelib62@gmail.com and am reachable on mobile/whatsapp on +971 55 49 63 174
save both, sure, we will be in touch and please provide me your contact details
As i had earlier posted, the place is finally going to be Dahanu-Gholvad-Bordi area for me to buy a farm. And it will be a farm with chikoo plantations. Also there will be coconut trees in it.
If u experts can help me i would like to know if there is anything that can be grown in between these chikoo trees? There will be barely any sunlight reaching the ground so something which does not need sunlight to grow can be planted. Thankfully there is enough water to plant the trees and the farm.
Will wait for valuable suggestions from all of u.
Regards
Prashant
Why will the sunlight not reach the ground? Is it because you plan to plant fruit trees in a High Density pattern?
Even if you are, it will take a few years for the trees to establish and grow to the point where they block sunlight. In the interim gain experience by planting regular crops suitable to the area while planning suitable crops in the future.
Thanks for the reply
The plantation in which ever land i saw is at least 15 years old. In 5 years Sapota (chikoo) trees grow good height and by the 10th year they are fully grown and hence there wont be any sunlight reaching the ground. Trees amd branches are thick and lush.