I have been working nearly for 25 years. In couple of years I will be 50. My father was a teacher in a primary school and we have agri land. Now he is 80 and retired. He was doing farming in the early hours and working as a teacher in primary school.
Now I thought of going back to farm. The problem is I have two school going children and they plan to study engineering/medicine in two years time.
I have some life time saving and little cash part of my retrenchment package. I have monthly mortgage loan to pay for my house.
So I need to carefully plan.
At this age I am finding bit difficult to get job. So Planning to start a farm.
Land 1- 6 Acres
My family have about 6 Acres of dry land (Free electricity in well. but well do not have water dried up) I may need to put bore well. The dryland is located in Tirunelveli District near Radhapuram. Near to my land there is a lake which also dried . I think if I put bore well I may get some water.
The climate of Tirunelveli is generally hot and humid. The average temperature during summer (March to June) ranges from 28 °C to 41 °C (106 °F), and 23 °C to 35 °C during the rest of the year. The average annual rainfall is 680 millimetres (27 in). Maximum precipitation occurs during the northeast monsoon (October–December).
Land II, 2 Acres
My family also have 2 acres of Agri land. This contains coconut the yield is poor as my father was unable to maintain and take care. Now hardly get 300 coconuts every two months. I am willing to completely change coconut to something else. This land is located in Kanyakumari district which is about 40 KM from my other land. Typical weather is 23 °C to 31 °C in (Oct-Dec) and 30 °C to 38 °C ((mar-june)
I am willing to invest up to 10 Lakhs cash and 10 lakhs loan and wait at least 1 year. I will be able to sustain one year with my savings.
My question is
Given my bank loan for my house my children expenses for studies, parents medical expenses and agri loan etc I need at least rupees 1.5 to 2 lakhs income every month.
Is it possible to generate with my investment and full time involvement.
What should I do? where should I start? What crops are suitable?
Is organic vegetable good option?
any possibility to export? What formalities?
some of the options to evaluate, Goat farming, Mushroom farming and green house/polyhouse vegetable or flower farming.
Can you please share your experience and advise so that I can take informed decision. I appreciate your help.
With the profile that you have, I feel it is too big a risk for a new comer. My advice would be to stay away from full time dependency on farming at this stage, pursue a job or a known business while starting work on the farm and researching. There is bound to be a few years of learning curve whichever way you enter farming and you don’t want to get frustrated while burning up your lifetime savings.
Given that there is a mandatory monthly need, I would “invest” in safe and secured place rather than agriculture. I would also take suggestion from a genuine financial planner before identifying the money that can be spared for agriculture. I do not know any asset which in just one year with an investment of 20 lakhs can get a return of 12-18lakhs per year.
Having said that, there are several threads in this forum that talk about 1L per acre per year. Please go through them. Again farming at this point of time can only be started in small scale in already available land (and already available other resources) keeping expenses to minimum.
I too take Chandra and Gunda’s side. This is like swimming against the current, the moment you stop your hands you will go back(even behind where you started)
No loan at any cost, because this will not allow you to make a smallest mistake. and man learns a “perfect lesson” by making mistakes. The lessons you learnt will be costly lessons if you avail a loan.
mushroom farming needs little space,little investment, and a fair amount of training. see below video retired soldier started a post retirement job. Check if this can suit you.
I would again suggest this would be risk as farming in India still not matured. There are many trained farmers in market still they struggle a lot when things are in adverse condition. Yes you can take up farming but as suggested it will take you sometime to get accustomed. High income farming is specialized work and you get the idea on the go. Have one more income source apart from farming and by the time you mature yourself in farming cease other income source and give full time to farming.
Try to get some franchise/business in which your family member also can contribute. This will have steady income flow. If it is business and your family members helping in it, you can take up time to devote yourself in farming procedure.
agree with most of the above comments.
for starting up with farming; i would suggest to begin with your existing coconut farm on 2 acres.
read natural farming as practiced by bhaskar save. try to revitalize the land with live+dry+silt mulching, appropriate intercropping and changing the irrigation pattern accordingly. just changing the irrigation can give you the required push to take other steps further. when you are comfortable with this farm, go ahead and start up with the bigger farm.
i dont think any practicing farmer will be able to help you in concrete way unless they have seen the farm and they are present there.
will be looking forward to other comment …
Just gather practical knowledge on Integrated farming,sustainable permaculture farming,biodynamic farming,poly culture,hydroponics,soil management, start the things with dedication,u will succeed , best of luck
Hi
Dont lose heart with all the replies that you have got. Of course you can earn 18 to 24 lakhs per annum with the investment that you have. I will do my best to guide you. Dont worry there is no charge. I am from Bangalore and I have 30 acre of land in Tirunelveli on which I am doing different type of agricultural activities. First and foremost getting a good water source is the base for your startup. So first get a borewell done. If you get water on your six acre of land you are half way towards your goal. If not still dont lose hope. There are other ways to reach your goal. you can contact me on synokevin2008@gmail.com or 09677835564.
Hi, the question is not whether someone can earn 18-24 lakh. It is more about whether a newbie who is around 50 with specified financial responsibilities should attempt it with his lifetime savings.
As Sri said, please post your ideas here and if they work, millions of farmers will be benefited. Thanks.
Dear Chandra and Sri
I can understand the concern that all of you have regarding the newcommer. From all the comments that is posted here, what I understand is that most or majority of the participants are scared to do agriculture and agri related activities or are just discouraging others from getting into it because of their previous experiences. This person has had enough of the corporate life and tenssions and what he is looking for is some peace of mind and a stable income.
My way of thinking. Let us break up his annual requirement to four parts. Let us assume he requires 24 lakhs per annum and each quarter he requires 6 lakhs. Now here we will require a mixed farming method to achieve his target. Since he is from South India, let us target products that are required for the Kerala market because majority of the agricultural products and livestock produced in Tamilnadu is consumed in Kerala. Just producing what is required for Kerala alone doesnot solve the problem, marketing it at the right rate to the right source is of utmost importance for this person to be successful. What I mean to say is just avoid all the agents inbetween locally for you to get justifiable rates for the investment, risk and efforts that you take. In my case I target Christmas, Easter, Vishu, Onam, Sabarimala season and Bakrid. Also focus on generating a daily income within 90 days of commencing operations to keep the hope and enthusiasm alive for the newcommer. I have given pointers based on what I do.
Please consider agriculture like a business that requires a plan, experience, investments, marketing, risk and growth period. How many times did you fall when you started to learn cycling? And once you learned to cycle, can you fall off the cycle even if you wanted to, I doubt. This is also the same.
Of course he can invest all his savings and goahead with agriculture but not alone. He needs help and guidance. So hold his hand, help him and make him a success. It is our responsibility and duty.
Thank you Kans and Everyone. I really appreciate your inputs. Kans I salute you. You got it right. Having worked in corporate life and went through twice corporate restructuring and down turns I felt it is time to put my energy in Agri.
I know it is bit risk but no risk no gain. God’s gift we have huge population with good hearts and willingness to care for each other. This gives enough encouragement. If we are successful we can help the entire community. I am really proud of all you. You time, dedication to give inputs suggestion. Great
Good point and my point exactly. You can fall off while learning cycling, but trying to learn cycling on the the highway is not the best way. I am sure you have spent many years to come to a point of confidence of making farming profitable for yourself; and I don’t think you believe some advice from another farmer would have cut short your learning cycle much.
My advice to a 25 year old with no immediate responsibilities would have been different - this is akin to what a financial advisor would say - to take steps aligned to your risk stage in life.
Good intentions there. As you have rightly stated, farming should be treated as a business; and one can’t jump into a business being a complete newcomer and merely expecting a friendly forum member will provide advice all through.
Can you put down a practical business plan with the expected income? Please consider a pessimistic scenario - e.g., no water, labour issues, power problems, limited advice, marketing challenges etc. - so anyone picking up the plan is not taking undue risk. Thanks.
You are the best judge of your situation. We all would have been in situations when we are sold up on an idea and are just looking for someone else to merely endorse the idea to jump ahead. Please make sure you are not falling into that bucket - see, you chose to call out Kans, and everyone else advising you caution is just ‘Everyone’ .
Ensure you have a clear business plan covering production and marketing; duly considering the risks and their mitigation. I need this piece of caution to be in place for anyone else following this thread. All the best!
If you think in a pesimistic view and say no water, labour issues etc etc. Nothing will work in this type of an enviornment. Each business requires certain basic requirements and here in this scenario it is water, fertile soil, labour etc etc. Instead of saying all are against us, find out areas that are in our favour.
That is why I stated in my first reply to the newcommer to identify or make available water first in his land. Then he can be guided step by step. If his land is not yiedling water, then look for land on rent or lease with good water source and fertile soil. I personally know that this s available in plenty in the area where he holds land. If he is dedicated and focused to get things done, he will surely succeed.
Relax guys. Nobody is pessimistic here. It is word of caution. Read my first post below, it is swimming against the current. A smallest mistake will take him even behind where he started.
As Chandra said, this is not a suggestion for an youngster.
If you see my suggestion of an example of retd military person doing mushroom farming wit minimum investment and good returns.
In my opinion all the suggestions are mis interpreted. There is big difference in discouraging and cautioning.
Investing the savings of lifetime for a new business is not adviceable in any area not only in agri.
Let me tell you a small incident I faced during my initial days, I soaked seeds for better germination and sowed. soil did not have enough moisture and it did not rain.
waited for a week and when I probed seeds were roasted, soil had took out all the moisture. thank god it was a trial. Had I broadcasted entire lot I would have lost thousands.
If you start asking such small things with anybody they will take you for a ride.
I know a farmer from North Karnataka who is a retd. agri officer doing 25 acres of horticulture. This year he suffered a great loss due to hailstorm. Did he incurr loss due his lack of experience?
Similarly we are saying that there are 100 reasons to make you fail even inspite of having good knowledge of agriculture.
Very well said… many of us are so used to the safety cocoon that we dont wish to get out of it, but as you said if planned well one can do wonders. Every business has its flips and flops…highs and lows if one can tap the highs… thats it ,… Farmnest itself has tons of ideas and experience to guide freshers and newcomers like me… trust me fulltime farming rocks…
Also i personally feel that its the enthu and will of a person which plays a vital role… As Sri pointed out the challenge is quite tough but certainly not impossible…
Sri as i went reading through the tread I felt everyone was pushing him away from farming… I feel we should invite people to farming rather than scaring them away…
I am sure you are inviting but the thread didnt feel so… Just a thought…
