Hi Ray
Woh…You have done so much research on this, great. U have provided details regarding crops, but how about trees growing along with crops, have any ideas [Can you explain which trees grows fast and give high profit]. still am waiting for this, can you focus on this.
Thanks
Hi Ray,
Thats a lot of information. Thanks for sharing it.
Sure I think many have got convinced about 1L/1A. But somewhere else some body is generating 10 L / Acre. My hats off to him.
In our pursuit of 1L / Acre, once in a while it some thing like this bumper of 5 to 10 L lands on our lap, we can relax for so many years. 
Regards
Murali
Mr. Murali, Mr. Batevani,
Trees cultivation can be done 1. if farmer does not have much time to daily look after his farm. 2. if farmer wants to grow trees as fence/boundary and use it as additional income once every 8-10 years 3. if farmer is doing intensive cultivation on multi-tier basis and trees occupy the highest tier. 4. if farmer is practising dairy/cattle/goat/sheep farming and has land suitable for growing pasture.
Trees can be used as feedtsock for biomass based energy industries. But viability of such industry is good only if one can get the land reasonably cheap. There is an american company called Clenergen that has taken thousands of acres in tamil nadu and growing melia dubia, bamboo, marjestica, paulownia, etc for energy industry. They are using polypoidisation to increase the yield of bamboo to 60 tonnes per acre per year. Their website is clenergen.com
Export of biomass in biomass pelletised form is now growing between south america and europe since european union has mandated renewable energy norms. I think brazil, colombia, etc are exporting wood chip pellets in sail powered (?) ships to europe so that the whole process is carbon-neutral.
However biomass industries not doing well in India following the Jatropha oil fiasco. Therefore most people growing trees grow them for timber sale.
In many states people grow casuarina for biomass or sale as straight poles or for sale to paper industries. You can cultivate casuarina upto 5,000 trees per acre and harvest in about 4-5 years. Normally it should grow at a rate of 25-35 tonnes per acre per year with rain fed irrigation. So in 4 years you will get about 100-140 tonnes. In tamil Nadu, TN Newsprint and Sesahayee Paper Mills are I think currently offering about Rs 2500 per tonne net to farmer. So if you cultivate say 2000 trees per acre with proper irrigation, you shud be able to acheive 40 tonnes per acre per yaer. This will give you 160 tonnes at end of 4 th year and a return of 4 lacs per acre after 4 years. This is best case situation. Advantage in this system is that once planting is done, all that needs to be done is security so that nobody cuts your trees off in the night and one person to ensure water for every tree once a fortnight. The paper mills take care of harvesting and transport if you have prior agreemnt with them. If you dont want to sell to paper mills, you can sell as poles for pandals, shamianas, houses, etc. The traders for this type will offer you 3000-4000 rs per tonne depending on season.
Timber can be of two types - plywood and hardwood. Tress like melia dubia, marjestica, silver oak, etc are suitable for harvesting plywood. Many coffee, tea, cardamon estates plant silver oak, etc for shade purposes such that every 8-10 years when these trees are harvested they yiled an additional income apart from the plantation crop. (One person I know with about 20 acres coffee estate gets couple crores every five or six year from cutting half his silver trees) These trees can be cut in about 6-8 years time after planting when their DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) is atleast 9 inches or more, best 12 inches or more. Bole (straight length) should be at 30 ft or minimum 10 ft. Cubic foot rates of such wood is abuot rs 400-650/cb ft. If dbh is 12 inches and bole is 30 ft, then cubic foot is (pi x r2 x h), i.e. 22/7 x .5 x .5 x 30 = 23.5 cft approx, for which at rs 400/cft, you shud get 9,400 per tree. However, in actual practice, buyer, normally a saw mill owner, will reduce 1 inch from both sides for bark and thus u will get only 6,500 per tree. From this he will also deduct licence fees, cutting and transportation cjarges of rs 500-1500 per tree and you will be left with about 5,000 rs per tree. (Saw mill owner will then make about 200-500% profit depending on sawn sizes and demand from various cities) In this type of cultivation, one can grow a minimum of 300 trees per acre upto even 800 trees per acre. However lesser trees you grow the bigger will be dbh of each tree. Melia dubia is being promoted now in big way. University people will tell you that it can be harvested in 4 years. But always discount university field trials because they are always controlled by scientists monitoring things closely, but farmers have to grow in the field and leave a lot of things to God’s mercy.
Hardwood timber requires a minimum of 15 years to yield good quality hardwood. If anybody tells you that teak will grow in 10 or 20 years dont beleive it. Teak takes atleast 30 years for good quality. Best hardwood to grow now is mahogany, which can be grow at the rate of 300-450 trees per acre or 150 trees per acre if planted on border. Many rubber estates plant mahogany at borders of every two acres to act as wind protection for rubber trees. apart from rubber income, every 15 years these growers get bumper yield from mahogany. Mahogany takes about 15 years to mature. Currently price is about 800-1200 rs/cft. But I am not sure. You can get say about 25-50 cft of good hardwood per tree after 15 years. Mahogany in many states can only be sold thru forest auctions. When your mahogany is ready you have to cut it under forest supervision and turn it over to forest dept who will auction it and give you net proceeds. I understand this is done to keep a tally of total mahogany trade so that 100+ year old mahogany trees in forests are not illegaly cut down. So take care to register with forest dept when you plant mahogany, teak, neem, acacia, gmelina, albizzia, etc.
Dont do rosewood or sandalwood. Though much higher in value, rosewood takes about 60-100 years to give good quality and sandalwood also takes 40-60 years and is difficult to protect with all bandits and forest officials around.
Mr. Batevani, you should ask your local KVK which trees ae best suited for your farm climate.
Normally when planting density is around 300-500 trees per acre ( assuming double row planting ) then you can benefit from large interspaces which can be cultivated for other crops. I think most value would be added if you plant forage crops like cowpea, millets, alfalfa, etc which add nitrogen to soil and also provide foder for cattle. Cattle and goats can be raised free range in this system, provided you can ensure that they dont eat the tree leaves. You can make shifting cattle pounds for this purpose or weigh their heads down with a hobble or tie their neck and front feet loosely. Thus you will earn from trees and also from cattle/goat rearing.
Instead of forage crops, you can also do other crops like fruit trees, herbs, bananas, etc, but ensure that they are shade-tolerant. A good thing will be to grow turmeric. Turmeric is shade tolerant, had good market value and can be stored for a longer period than most other crops without losing value.
But main criteria for deciding what to grow as intercrop is 1. how much time can you spare and 2. availability of labour.
All seasonal vegetables, root crops, cereals, etc are intensive cultivation things and your level of acreage depends on the effort you can put in. If you have 25 acres then it is easier to plant trees on all 25 acres and do inter-cropping on say only 5 acres. Of course, if you have sufficient labour, then intercrop on all the acreage.
Another aspect you might like to think about to reduce efforts is a form of permaculture. Some crops like say jasmine, moringa, etc activities like free-range poultry give continuos yield after they start yielding. You dont have to keep planting and replanting. This will save you a lot of mandays and you will be assured of some income every day.
Most of the above info is from my relative along with some infomation from some known people who are doing plantation crops in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Thank you.
NB. Mr. Batevani, Please visit website of M/s savera farms of Mr. Johrin and agromania.blogspot of Mr. Vishnu Sankar
Hi Ray
Thank you so Much for your detailed information. Pls keep posting and one more thanks for those who helped.
regards
Naveen
Thank you Very Mr.Ray for the excellent sumersization of all the information.
Based on your knowledge which are the top 3-5 trees that we should consider in terms of net returns per year using rain fed farm forestry.
Ideally 8-13 years of growing them.
Please advice,
MadhuKali
Mr Ray,
thanks lot for sharing such a wonder full an detailed insight. it was what looking forward. it is really helpful for a agri enthusiastic who invest in barren land in slow learning pace of agri can surely benefit from your guidance.
once again thanks lot for such detailed insight
rgds
mathew
Hi Parag,
I saw this post of Sep2010 in another site regarding chicken. Surely then the rates quoted by Berber seem plausible. But I am only a farm enthusiast, not a farmer.
agricultureinformation.com/forums/questions-answers/51914-ideas-make-more-money-agriculture.html
make a poultry farm
You can visit nearest poultry farm at your village.take the guidance this is low investment ,early income project for you.
If you have training about poultry ,in maharastra at pune khadaki
one month training programe is there.
Exp:-
Collect the one day chick from hachery
=13 rs/chick
=1000 * 13
=13000
grove to chick for 10 week
=120 gm foor required to each chick
after 10 week weight will reach =1.5 kg
=1.5kg *1000 broiler
=1500 kg
=rate 100/kg
=150000
after deduction of cost you hace got 75000 rs within 2.5 month
Ms. Madhukali,
As I dont know location of your farm, best would be to ask your local KVK. They will give you a range of tree, crops, cereals etc which are suited for your local climate and keeping in mind the diseases prevalent also recommend which cultivar or variety of these species to grow.
As by my information, best market available is for mahogany. Red sanders, rosewood, sandal, etc are more higher income trees but have more maturity period and are subject to more restrcitions than manhogany.
mahogany market is well established in south india with traders and saw mills who speacialise only in mahogany.
From the information given by KVK, make your selection based on following factors:
What is market size for the tree? (in value and nos)
What is maturity period for the tree?
Does the species coppice well?
Is the species co-operative with other inter-cultivation?
Based on above, make your choice.
Big market size will ensure that your long term tree crop will always be saleable and price fluctuations will not be great. A small market size will have greater price variation and this can be disaster for farmers.( This is not a guaranteed formula. See coconut - big market, but low price for farmers). For eg. in Rajasthan, guar gum is becoming a big market and more and more farmers are planting guar seed. But more farmers coming in is not spoiling price since guar gum demand is increasing.
Shorter maturity trees means that over a decade or so, you can have more harvests. This will reduce risk and increase income over the long term. Normally, most trees take about 5-10 years to get established. But trees like subabul,eucalyptus, melia dubia, bamboo and other species planted for paper pulp industry are said to be faster growers ranging from 4-8 years. In north india, poplar is said to be fast grower. University data exists, but actual farm data is not so much available.
Species which coppice well will mean that new planting need not be done and the next crop will mature faster. Melia dbia, teak and many other species coppice well.
Some species like eucalyptus, casuarina, etc do not allow much under-storey growth below them. This is because their fallen leaves shed certain toxins that inhibit the growth of several species. Rubber after some years can grow so dense that they can block out sunlight and not allow any growth under them. But in this case, there are shade-tolerant species than can be grown.
If you have flat land or mildly sloping land, you should plant atleast 6-7 species in various conbinations of double row, interspersed, inter-crop, border, etc so that you have a mix of trees that mature in different periods. Further, shade tolerant species can be identified for your climate to grow under the trees. Fnally, have the ground covered with forage-able species so that cattle/sheep can be raised.
When harvesting trees, use imagination and common sense to reduce or stop damage to neighbouring trees as this is apart from disease, a factor in reduced yield. Plan the location of your species so that adequate space is left in between should you want to do short term crops or other farming or some other use at a later date. Please also ensure some system of irrigation atleast for the driest months as even one-two weeks of drought can kill off 6-7 year old trees and destroy many years of effort.
Thank you.
@Ray - Appreciate the reference to Savera Farms. Yes, we have embarked on a similar path as you described above. I was curious about your reference regarding exporting of wood pellets. Have you had any experience in such exports and have contacts who would be willing to help? Our Melia Dubia plantations are not yet ready but we are planning on local sourcing to start establishing our market channels.
Best regards,
Savera Farms
Mr. Johri,
I came online now just and saw your post. I am sorry, but I have not experience or contacts in this. My relative also not with me now to ask.
However I serfed internet and got these websites and they may have useful info. You may seen it before.
canadianbiomassmagazine.ca/c … Itemid,63/
pellet.org/
pelletcouncil.eu/
laborelec.be/ENG/initiative- … wpb/ (European Initiative Wood Pellet Buyers)
pellets-wood.com/pl-pelletbase.html
pellets-wood.com/india-rs70.html
pellets-wood.com/index.php?page= … 70&cid=329
Sorry,
Thank you.
PS. I very much like to read your website. I would like to do same thing here in my native here, but things different for me. In your melia dubia plantations do not cut down whole tree always, you can use thinnings and wood branches to make wood pellets and only cut tree after more years for timber or when timber price is good. You may get almost 50% quantity of biomass of timber. But these need to be dried and mositure content reduced before making pellets.
Apart from these you may want to contact Clenergen, the company that Ray referred earlier.
Actually there are tens of biomass companies in India that will happily buy pellets - you will have to work with them in advance though to get the pellet size / moisture content according to their spec. For the list of companies look up either MNRE website or TN’s state nodal agency for renewable energy - TEDA.
I guess you must already know all this. I understand that you researched biofuel sector prior to getting into agriculture?
actually we had informed you that by growing one acre of rubber in yielding stage one can earn more than sixty thousand rupees per month per acre gross income and net income after deducting labour costs is twenty five thousand net income per acre per month .contact 9483511617
[quote=narasv]
This is amazing 
Can I have his phone number?
Regards,
Siddramesh Nara 09742201385
[/quote] dear sir, There is money income in agriculture/horticulture/floriculture,like any other industry,only thing is it depends upon how we do.agri means traditional is gone now and it is an industry.
Mr. Ray,
Thank you very much for replying in detail and anwsering to my question. Really appreciate the depth of information. My land is near Kollegal, Chamrajnagar Dist (southern dry zone)
Photo of the the land have been posted in the forum " Start farming on Barren rain fed land"
Going by the knowldge shared seems like you have a good expanse of land and are fruitfull in Agro forestry. As I cannot focus fill time 24/7 on this project am thinking long term trees so i can receover the cost invested on the land over the next 5-10 years.
BTW- I am a male Canadian citizen based in the states transitioning back to india to take up farming as a full time prefession;-)
If you could include a few photo’s of your farm showing the growth of the trees that would be a feast for our eyes.
Cheers and God Bless,
Madhu.
Dear Chandra,
I think it will be better to have other post titling IS IT POSSIBLE TO EARN 1 LKH PER ACRE IN YEAR together for the convenience as both are addressing one and same purpose of earning more from 1 Acre?
Good point Swamy, time for a merge and a little cleanup.
Hi friends
I have been reading various tempting and eye-catching posts by various farmers, consultants, experts, professionals, enthusiasts claiming lucrative PROFITS from various AGRICULTURE RELATED PROJECTS.
I am from Yavatmal District in Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra State known for farmers suicides. I am in search of a REAL PROFITABLE project/crop/business/alternative which could be followed by the farmers from this region. I am repeatedly appealing and have published following appeal but unfortunately got no response till date. Yes some consultants approached asking for fees but I told them that I am ready to provide the infrastructure, you demonstrate your project and share profit.
I am still open to the genuine profit sharing proposals ( even for demo project I will allow the demonstrator to take all the profit himself with a condition to accept my daily monitoring and he should share the data and activity details / record including daily income / expenses etc with me to to keep track and make it available to the interested free of cost).
the original appeal is as follows-
Subject: Opportunity available -Appeal to Enterprising Self Confident Path-finders
Hi
We have 125 Acres of Certified Organic Farmland at village Ghui 16 Kms north-west from Yavatmal a district headquarter in Vidarbha Region in Maharashtra State.
70 Acres Piece of this Farmland is located near Shingandoh Irrigation Tank, here 50 acres Clonal Eucalyptus is planted in August 2009 , Electric connection of 7.5+5=12.5 HP connected in December 2011, 3 farm-ponds are dug and water lifting permission from state irrigation department is available.
Another 55 Acres plot adjoining Ghui Percolation Tank in Ghui Village here 40 acres Clonal Eucalyptus is planted in August 2009 still rain fed, 2 farm ponds and 2 bore-wells are dug, 3 electric connections of 5 HP= total 15 HP will be connected by October 2012.
We have all the infrastructure i.e.58 HP H.M.T.5911 Model Tractor with all farm implements, tractor driven water lifting pump, Bullock Carts, Tailor’s, 5000 Sq.Ft.Plot with Water Well for building Residential, Storage and Processing Unit in Ghui Village.
The land is suitable for Dairy / Poultry / Goshala ( Development of Indian Breeds of Cows and Bullocks) / Goat Farm / Imu Farm / Mango - Sweet Lime - Oranges - Lemon - Custard Apple - Berry - Tamarind - Jamun Orchards under Horticulture Development / Lakh (Resin) Production / Eucalyptus - Subabhul - Bamboo Plantation under Agro Forestry Development / Eucalyptus Citriodora - Chandan - Rakta Chandan - Aloevera Plantation under Essential Oil, Herbal and Medicinal Plants Development / Sugarcane Farming with Gud (Jaggary) Production Unit, or even to start a Agro-Eco Tourism Resort etc.
The Cargo Hub with International Airport project is coming up at Butibori near Nagpur which is just 120 kms from Yavatmal. It has opened doors for immense business opportunities for enterprising youth in export field.
Proposals are invited from all interested for Joint Venture / Profit Sharing / Partnership / Stake Holding / Contract Farming etc. Proposals from Persons who are self confident and willing to accept challenges and ready to invest their time (Working Partnership) for share profit / loss but unable to invest are also considered.
If interested please contact 919423089706 / 919404415284/ 917232245567/ 917232288724 or email apjoglekar@yahoo.co.in
Please forward it to the interested people you know, waiting for opportunity/chance to prove themselves-
Thanks and Regards
Anant Joglekar
Managing Member - Orgagro Farms India
C.E.O. - Organic Linkage On-line Multipurpose Organization
anant joglekar
9423089706
The ultimate goal of natural farming is not simply growing crops but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. Masanobu Fukuoka
Dear Berber / Mathew / Udayan Agencies,
I havent seen much discussion on rubber in this forum. But being a Keralite, I know that rubber is a great fortune-maker, if one can wait for the first seven years.
Since the three above are the ones who have discussed rubber, I wish to ask them certain questions on cultivation for my future refernce (If I am ever able to own a rubber estate - even a small one) .
Can anything be cultivated between rubber trees after the initial period? Mathew, who is an actual rubber farmer, in his post above says the dense shade cast is an inhibitor, but I have seen many small rubber farms in Kerala with dense growth of grass/weeds between the heavy shading rubber trees (I dont know whether I have seen cattle between rubber trees chomping away on that grass). Further, Rubber Board allows the cultivation of cocoa and they must be knowing what they are doing. (oisat.org/crops/economic_crops/tea.html).
Can rubber be grown in double rows? This may be done to create inter-space for cultivation of another tree species like in the rubber board example above. Ray in his various posts here has mentioned mahogany and I have also seen mahogany grown in rubber estates (whether as a border crop or inter-space crop - i dont know). A Rubber Board official in Mangalore said he had seen double row planting in some places but did not know whether Rubber Board had endorsed the practice, nor did he know the efficacy of this practice.
A ex-colleague of mine is cultivating about 5 acres rubber somewhere near Trivandrum. I enquired with him about Udayan Agencies claim of 60,000 gross and 25,000 net per acre per month. He said there is profit to be made in rubber, but not as much as what Udayan Agencies says and the net figure is likely to be between 7,000-15,000 per acre per month. This depends on what clones one is using, condition of the estate, how many trees planted, availability of tappers, rain-guards, latex quality, rubber lace, etc. Can Udayan Agencies conditionalise their claim of 60,000 gross and 25,000 net with the usual “subject to” list that normally accompanies such figures for the benefit of all?
Kindly do not take any comments personally. I want to learn about these issues - just in case, I become a rubber planter.
Regards
Shaji
Hello Shaji,
My native is Pathanamthitta, one of the heavy rubber growing areas in Kerala. As I have seen/heard from relatives, earning around 25K/acre is possible with the prevailing market rate.
You can go for pretty much any short/medium duration intercrops in the first 3 years in the rubber plantation. Some of the intercrops grown in our area are tapioca, elephant foot yam, Taro roots etc. They also grow trees like teak, Jack fruit etc on the boundaries. You can also grow all kinds of vegetables. The fertilizer provided to these intercrops will also be shared/used by the young rubber plants. The best is to go for organic manures. You can grow cowpea, velvett beans etc (“thotta payar”) as cover crop for the “cooling effect” and nitrogen fixation. Few years back they would grow cocoa as well. But due to price crash and various deceases, unfortunately it was abandoned.
As Mathew pointed out, once the trees mature (around 7 years), the canopy grows wide and the area under gets shaded. But you can still grow Ginger, turmeric, yams etc. I have never seen Pepper allowed to trail on rubber trees. Wouldn’t that be an hindrance for tapping?
Since Kerala gets around 5-6 months of monsoon, it is important to provide plastic wraps around the tapping area to avoid water getting into the latex. If we do not go for the plastic wraps, you will not be able to ‘tap’ the plants during rainy season which will have a big impact on the revenue.
Another important aspect is the labor. The person should be experienced in “tapping”. i.e only a thin layer of the skin should be removed, otherwise the life of the tree can reduce drastically (unintentional slaughter tapping).
You may also want to take a look at some of the videos in youtube:
youtube.com/watch?v=-yS8K_b2hUk
youtube.com/watch?v=jyZLYpg3lLM
Regards
Biju
Dear All,
As Biju said till 3 years of rubber plantation inter cropping with Banana, vegetables, …etc is possible, Even any border plantation like teak wood or mahagony or coconut should be done within 3 years and must be grown more than the canopy of rubber spreaded by 3 yrs. if you are taking any subsidy from rubber board then there are restrictions of how many other trees can be allowed to remain in one plantation .
Till three years fertiliser put near to trees route and after that one pit made in between every four trees. So intercoping after 3 years practically impossible. Secondly and more importenly, rubber has thousands of small routes which are spread all over place in top portion of soil and any intercultivation or even cow/goat rearing will damage the same and hence no known rubber farmer will ever allow any animals in his farm after 3 years.
See economy of rubber depend mainly on timing of tapping and expertise of person do tapping. best timing is morning 4-6 however at present labour sinario no labour will come at that time. if you can do own tapping that is best and best.
Average tapping per year is 100 days
An average good yield rubber plantation gives 1 kg dried rubber every 10 trees.
and per acre aprx 200 trees can be planted but till time of tapping (7yrs) it would be aprx 165 trees so per acere 15-16 kg per acre yield may expected in well maintained plantation.
average sales price of grade 4 rubber at present market rate is 190 so Rs 2850.00 per day can be expected * 100 days ie 2,85,000.00 less cost of fertiliser…Rs …+ labour cost of tappist aprx rs 25000.00 + cost of acid …+ cost of shades…etc. price of nature rubber is fluctuating 150-200 per kg. above post is just for reference . …and personal experience and openion
rgds
mathew