After 2.5 years of searching, 7 acres of land near Sira, Karnataka has finally chosen us as its custodian. My father and I are partners in this venture.
The land has not been used for cultivation for over 20 years. We plan to utilise this to our advantage and follow regenerative and integrated agricultural methods. We intend to grow vegetables in approx 1 acre, develop an orchard in approx 5 acres and grow grains in the rest of the available space.
Our current focus is to get the infrastructure built on the land which includes soil testing, borewell, krishi-honda, fencing, shelter for animals, area for composting, home for farm-help to stay on the land, etc. Subject to the results from the soil evaluation and water we find on the land, we will start to prioritise the building of infrastructure and cultivate the land. The time I have given for us to complete all of the infra setup tasks is approx 4 months. In the meantime, I will continue to research crops and cultivation.
Imminent tasks:
Soil Testing
Borewell point identification
Fencing
Can you please recommend and provide contact for vendors to identify borewell points and dig a borewell in Tumkur/Sira?
Any word of advice or feedback from fellow farmers/experts in this forum will be much appreciated. I will try and provide at least a monthly update to this forum. I have attached the plan and satellite view of the land.
Lovely plan, congratulations! Thanks for sharing. Maybe you could try having a rainwater harvesting pond too, to rejuvenate the water table in the long run.
Note: Am neither a farm owner nor a farmer. Just an enthusiast.
Welcome to FarmNest @addressreshma and wishing you the best in your journey. Looks like you are managing this to plan.
It is a nice choice of words that the land has chosen you, and very true too - the land has existed forever and you get to manage it a bit for a little bit.
Given the size of the land, we have revised our original objectives. I am a gardener but lack the experience of a farmer. I have spent the last few months researching and building up my knowledge on the subject and built an elaborate plan.
The vision is to have a working farm with animals, grow vegetables- fruits and commercial crops.
The objectives will be reviewed a regular intervals. For now, short term objective is to build up practical experience and skills required to manage the farm:
Grow vegetables in beds (using no-till method)
Subject to soil assessment, plant arecanut trees in 1 acre of plot
Start composting
To feed the compost, keep a few hens (cows if must)
Very wise words: land ownership means we are their care takers. BTW, which software did you use for the farm layout planning? In my opinion do plan a bio-gas plant for sustainable power supply and cooking gas supply needs, which also adds up for the composting and manure needs of the farm. It is necessary to have dual power supply sources, that is a must. Also ensure there are 2 sources of water supply.
Hello,
Do look at great models of Natural Farming methodologies including Subhash Palekar Krishi (SPK) to develop your farm.
Those are available on line (Youtube etc) but would strongly suggest you to attend a workshop by Sri Subhash Palekar ji, in person.
Most if not all the things that you may have ‘planned’ to do as a ‘preparation’ may not be necessary at the farm.
There are many great farms in Karnataka followiing those methodologies successfully. Visit those first and interact with the farmers.
@moronx - I have used Canva to visually represent what I eventually want on the farm. Cleaning pit in the plan will eventually become a bio-gas plant. Good idea about 2 sources of power and water.
Sir, I agree. While Youtube has been educational, it does not provide all inputs. I do want to explore SPK and gather more inputs. Are you aware of any training scheduled this year? Is there a forum where these dates are published?
Please check if there is any Geologist scientist or machinery available with University for water point identification for borewell. Regarding Borewell service provider visit nearby field who had done borewell, asked them rates and all expenses and who provided service to them. thus you will get contact of reliable Borewell service provider also because you will be aware of rates the person will not cheat you. Most preferably you can do 7.5 inch bore for better water availability for farm land.
Grow vegetables in beds (using no-till method) [Padmanabhan Ganesan] How much are you going to produce? Is it for your own use or you are going to sell in the market? How far is your target market?. Just try with few plots and increase the size. Usually, vegetables are very labour intensive work. So, plan accodingly.
Subject to soil assessment, plant arecanut trees in 1 acre of plot [Padmanabhan Ganesan] If you can have water source and power connection and fencing, you can do drip irrigation and plan the entire orchard as it will be very less work compared to vegetable garden.
Start composting
To feed the compost, keep a few hens (cows if must) [Padmanabhan Ganesan] Vegetable garden and hens do not work together, you have to keep them in a closed environment so that they don’t eat seeds and young leaves.
If you keep cows, you need grasses and other dry matter for them.If you are cash rich, you can buy the cows immediately or develop the area for cow grazing first and then implement regenerative model.
Finally, best of LUCK!!!
Fencing - If I were a local or had roots in the place, I would without a doubt go with green fence. Animals and birds are welcome I am likely to go with both options.
Large part of the farm will be an orchard. I will reserve 1 acre for vegetables. To start with, I have identified 15 vegetables which I will grow in 20 beds. The yield will be small but is an opportunity for me to learn and fail small. This production is mostly for home consumption.
If I succeed in vegetable farming, I will scale to 100 beds and target 1 quintal production per vegetable ( successive planting). This is again subject to me being able to market the product.
The reason for delaying planting the orchard is me not being confident (yet) with varieties of crop to grow or methodology I want to follow. While ZBNF sounds good, reality is that I lack experience. I want to get comfortable on the land, observe and make decisions.
All this is ofcourse still a plan. I will give updates when execution begins.
Will take a look at the resources you have created. I need all the luck! Thanks.
Haraye Namaha,
My name is C.R.KESAVAN. I am a farmer from Madure Hobli, Doddaballapur. I am into farming since 1980. My experiences during my long journey might be of some use to you. You can contact me 9980405868.
I am at present practicing natural farming. If you are realy interested to keep your cost of development of the virgin land, I may throw some light. This is purely to encourage people to take agriculture.
With Regards
C.R.KESAVAN
Along with ZBNF, there are other models you can try.
I encourage you to go with Trees (Fruits, Flowers, Nuts, Timber etc). There are several successful people who have created models in their own way. You need to do some research. Let the people in the forum know so that they can help you in deciding the model.
Hi madum,
Am Baba From AB CONSTRUCTIONS AND SECURE BOUNDARY WORKS @ AB FENCE
We have done lot of fence works,cattle sheds,Krushi honds ponds, farm stay rooms,and different types works according planning roads,drains etc
My contact =8639769360
9440734385
Plz contact me for any works madum
Our company is near by Sira
Update on the farm set-up. Progress is slow as I live away from the land…
We now have a TC installed inside the property
We had to request another survey to be done before we got the land fenced
Last year when the bunds were built on the land, even with limited rain, water breeched the perimeter and flooded the land. We also realised that our’s is the last land in the village and collects water (and brings fertile soil). We have built a Krishi honda and have provided pathways to direct the water into honda.
We have no bio-mass on the land yet and so have gobbara ready for planting
