Dear Veterans,
In another 3 months I will be starting work on my farm, my first step towards fulfilling long cherished dream and my first venture in agriculture. I have 3 acres land near Hosur. I’m planning for a mix of horticulture and vegetable crops.
I have zeroed on a model of Sapota, Guava, Custard Apple, Drumstick local, Papaya, Pigeon pea & drumstick Pmk1/2 as per PALEKAR’S model.
In approx 32400 sqft (36’X36’ model) there will be 176 custard apple trees. My question is - Is custard apple in this area will give good produce and will it fetch good demand and returns? Is it possible to substitute it with another fruit?
There are three alternatives in my opinion
Pomogranate
curry leaf
Local banana variety
Generally, veterans have been advising monocrop for Pomogranate due to various diseases it gets.
Banana needs more water compared to other plants chosen in your Sapota model
Curry leaf may be the best suited if harvested for leaves continuously and kept as a shrub
Only about marketing of Custard Apple, [seethaphal fruits], our produce should be of very big, very sweet and should be exclusive to fetch good price in the market.
I can suggest you a variety called Arka Sahana custard Apple,variety released by IIHR, Hassargatta, Bengaluru.Very good keeping quality[ 6 to 7 days], good sweetness, very few seeds, big size fruits [up to 1.2 kgs/per fruit ] etc and market price is around rs 100/ per kg above.
If this variety, if you can attain a weight of around 1 kg per fruit, then only you can make considerable money profit.
Thanks sir for your suggestions.
In case I switch to pomegranate, will it suit climate in Hosur which is more like Bangalore but with less rain.
Can any one throw some light on this.
On a random thought. Can we have different 5 layer models next to each other. ex. start with Mango model followed by coconut model followed by Sapota model etc. what is ur opinion.
Pomegranate: up to technicality, the weather of Hosur, Tamilnadu is not much suitable for pomegranate crop. Colour of the Arils and outer skin will not be attractive.
Here to say, one variety of pomegranate, (variety name unknown to me), is of big size than bhagawa, arils are very sweeter than bhagawa variety, but the price is not even 25% of bhagawa variety.
2. Local variety Banana: it is a good proposal, provided you have enough water sorce, as more water is very essential for banana farming.
3.curry leaf: very good, provided you should have enough labour at reasonable wages. It requires more labour.
With best wishes, g.p.rao, farmer.
Dear Sri. Mangalam, I wanted to check if you went ahead with the 5 layer model. I am setting up my farm near Hosur and planning the same combination of plants that you have mentioned. Would be eager to know the outcome and your experience.
How to prepare an acre of land into troughs and area for plantation?
Where do the drip irrigation pipes go?
What kind of drip is required?
Can anyone please help?