I am currently residing in United states and looking to move back to India early next year .
I have no experience in agri neither do my family or anyone in my family tree , I have been thinking about starting agriculture but I haven been able to materialize it . I seek a lot of advice from experts in this forum .
First and foremost , Is it a right idea to start up agriculture @ this time when everybody are moving away from it ?
Is Coimbatore(mostly western Tamilnadu) a right choice of place provided the lack or rainfall and water scarcity they are witnessing ?
What are the things I will have to consider before buying an agricultural land and best forum/site where I can agricultural land sales ?
Does the government provide subsidies/loans for buying land/seeds/sapliing or fertilizer ? how do I reach them ?
I too was in the same boat up until March this year. Quit my S/W job and moved back to take up farming on a full-time basis.
My first and foremost advice for you before buying land is to ensure that you have local support (from outside as well as inside the family). Mr. Rajan Mathew/Savera farms and few others have posted their experience on buying land in TN/Karnataka. You may want to go thru the threads. BEWARE of brokers if you are interacting with them for the first time. I would prefer going thru someone who you or your close family members/friends know of. As well catch hold of a good lawyer who deals with agricultural property.
Once you identify the land and after verification of documents, you should consult someone who can guide you on identifying the ground water level in the farm and neighborhood, if there isn’t already any water source. There are also lots of water conserving techniques available in this forum as well as on the net.
Drip/Sprinkler usage can reduce use of water to a great extend. There are subsidies available from Center/State for the same.
Talking to local KVK helps. There are trainings that you can plan to attend. As well, plan to visit few farms. Talking to local farmers who use good agricultural practices is inspiring in itself.
In my opinion, agriculture, if done with little foresight and some smart planning can give you decent level of money. Again it is a “job” where you learn from your mistakes and improve upon. Pl. go thru some of the threads where members have visited well versed farmers.
Last but not the least, have sufficient funds to survive till you start seeing positive cash flow from the farm.
with NRI status you may not be able to purchase agri land in India.
At present scenario highly priced land investment may not workable for farming.
Do a little farming in 1 acere at your own just like court yard farming.
else buy an already established cocount orchid or some other cash crops where little maintaince required and you can learn the art of farming along with that,
i would suggest do not jump in to any thing till 5-6months you spend continues time in India. when we see from US or outside India through discussions, forums, visions every thing would seems to be glory and achievable. However our urgaban life knowingly or unknowingly taken away sevral natural things from our life and habits, so better to spend 5-6months as a local person in your village before jump in to any thing. now you are looked, persued, prejudice as an NRI you need to shred to middle class local guy and get along with the social nitty kitty. else you will be just an NRI pumping money every where. In my land sourcing process I used to wear local dotty and roam in bikes and walkings in rural and spend time in lcoal tea shops, cigret shops…etc and local farms instead of roam in SUV its helps lots.
Hi Mathew a realistic advice . Even whenever I go to my land which is taken care by my father I never go by car, prefer two wheeler , wear ordinary clothes, be one of the working peopels then only they treat you as a serious guy .
Else you are treated as person interested only in farm house . When you try to approach them for various services including labour you get pretty high quotes with unacceptable arguments .
Most important, be prepared to stay and take care of the farm by yourself. Other wise you will be disappointed. Groom your farm like bringing up a child with careful monitoring at every level. Coimbatore is a good location for farming as, weather is nice for many verities of vegetables and most of your produce can be sold in Kerala.
If you are prepared to work hard, please commence with a small acreage on lease. If comfortable, go ahead and buy whatever size of land you need and immerse in to farming. It is really satisfying when you want to retire yourself after many years of stressful career.
Though you can get soft loan for farming, I don’t think you can get loan to buy farm land.
As commended earlier too - Kudos Biju & Mathew … down to earth approach
Frank , I’m sure you are well acclimatized to the Indian way of getting things done before you venture into especially Agriculture.As mentioned earlier too - both Land and Labour have become dearer.
I recommend you to take time and research well into a very good Location in or around Coimbatore. The whole Key is - Location , Location , Location, Anybody who invests in land will advise you so too - it all boils down to the location of your property. Go only for a fenced property or make arrangements to get the seller to fence the property before you buy it - even though you pay for the property on the basis of areas in documents you could end up in heartache when you physically survey it later if precautions are not taken.
You will not get any loans to buy agricultural lands. you need to budget for the land , Taxes , Water & Electricity connections , Farm equipments and most importantly - LABOUR … the most unpredictable commodity.
As much as possible train yourself to run a tractor on a farm and you will most certainly enjoy the benefits of mechanizing your farm and controlling crops.You need to be on the Farm as much as possible and dirty your hands with farmwork. its rewarding and worth the effort / toil and sweat!
I am based in Ernakulam - but travel often by road through Coimbatore to Bangalore. Over the past few years I have noticed much growth in and around Coimbatore ( I’ve been through the stretch over 40 years now)
All the Best - Coimbatore is an ideal location to Invest in and you will definitely reap benefits in future.
Pl. go thru some of the threads where members have visited well versed farmers.