New Farming project

Farm Advice
#1

Dear Friends,

Im Chem Engineer working in Dubai. I have about 120 acres in theni, TN. When the land was purchased, it had Cashew trees (10 years old) for about 60 acres (rain fed). Recently, 6 Bore-wells ( sweet water  - EC 0.6) , electricity, fencing etc. has been completed. It is a deep (50 feet) sandy loam red soil with pH of 6.2 to 6.5.

For the remaining 60 acres, I plan to cultivate high value crops ( suitable for our condition) with intensive cultivation. We have a team of 5 people full time working and living in the farm. Guest house facilities are available. Cow sheds are getting ready in another 1 month to house 4-5 desi cows for organic farming. I have planted Drumstick - 2000 plants.

I am contemplating Custard Apple, Pomegranate  as other crops. About 25 acres is ready for cultivation. I seek your help in the following:

1a. Custard Apple - Marketing aspects (or) some contact details (if known) to assess the feasibility to do it from TN. 1b. Contact details for getting the best varieties (& seedlings) 1c. If mixed varieties are planted ( i.e. Balanagar, Arka Sahan, Athyomia Balanagar etc.) what is the impact? Or is it better to go for single variety. 1d. Best cultivation practices for Custard apple

2a. Pomegranate: I am considering Baugva variety. Is it OK or any other variety to be considered?
2b. Where can I get good T.C seedlings? 2c. Best Cultivation practices for the same. 2d. General perception is that Pomegranate is difficult crop to take care due to demanding attention, care & pest attacks.  Is it advisable for large scale farming or suitable for small farmers involved directly hands on?

  1. Any alternative crops / plants - suggestions to maximize the overall economics of the operation considering my location, limited farming experience, good investment capabilities, good availability of labors ( about 50 people are working daily for collection of cashew fruits for the past 2 months).

I would appreciate guidance from Mr. Rao or any experienced persons in this forum…

Regards,

Venkatesan

#2

Dear Sri venkatesan Sir, I have sent a reply to your message in detail about the Pomegranates , Bhagwa and Wondeful varieties and also regarding Arka Sahan variety custard Aple, released by iihr,bengaluru , with details. Whenever you have any requirement pl inform in the forum so that we will try to give you the possible advise ( Known ).I also request you to send the above message to our forum , so that it may be useful for any others also. thanking you sir,  g.p.rao, farmer.

#3

Dear Sri Rao sir, thanks for posting your reply here. I have received only your contact number through my personal e-mail and did not receive any detailed mail on Pomegranates / Custard apple varieties so far. Could you please post the same in this forum so that all of us benefit from your experience?

Best Regards,

Venkatesan

#4

Hi Venkatesan,
    I am sharing couple of links at youtube .

youtube.com/watch?v=lPfwjgi2Hz8
We know him personally and my brother planning to visit this farm in Pusad district of maharashtra in next few weeks .
These pomgranates are export quality .
Phone nos are provided in the video (They speak preferable Marathi / Hindi ) .

Another link :
youtube.com/watch?v=95YH5kLBziU
Bhagva is planted in 24 acres and he earnd alsmot 1 crore from it . This farmer is also from Sangali district of maharashtra .
Do let me know if anybody need a transcript, will translate it to English and post it if needed .
Word of caution : They were not able to control “Telya” disease [oily stains on the fruits - Bacterial Blight ] so they have to destroy infected fruits and then only it was under control.

Hope it helps .
Thanks & regards,
Prashant

#5

Hello sir,
Happy to know about your interest in farming, although you have clearly mentioned you area of interest, I just would like to know whether you are interested in Polyhouse/Greenhouse cultivation.
If so pls mail me to prasanthsterling@gmail.com… so that i can provide you more details.

Thanking you
PRASANTH V

#6

[quote="svenky"]
Dear Sri Rao sir, thanks for posting your reply here. I have received only your contact number through my personal e-mail and did not receive any detailed mail on Pomegranates / Custard apple varieties so far. Could you please post the same in this forum so that all of us benefit from your experience?

Best Regards,

Venkatesan
[/quote]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Dear Sri Venkatesan sir, as far as ARKA SAHAN,a custard Aple variety released by iihr, Hasargatta, Bengaluru ( as informed earler by Sri Sir ).It is one of the best variety in custard Aple in the world. It is a high yielding variety. It can give very big size fruits of size 600 gms to 1 kg above even.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          This variety is having one problem ie; it can not be polinated on its own  ( not even 2% ), even though good polinators exists. Hence we have to plant 10 % country variety custard aple plants along with Arka Sahan plants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Once they come to maturity,after 2 years, Arka Sahan starts flowering and we have to polinate them with Desi/country variety pollen. It is not at all a big problem and we can do it with ease successfully with our labour, and it can be informed by me or you can contact the other growing farmers, when required.                                                                                                                                                              The best country/desi variety custard aple is BALANAGAR ,which is released and sold by govt nursery,Sangareddy,near hyderabad ( 35 kms ). This also gives bigger size fruits weighing more than 600 gms and also a best yielder and we can consider this variety to plant in Arka Sahan plantation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The planting distance is, row to row 15 ft and, plant to plant also 15 ft and per acre we can plant 180 Arka Sahan plants and 20 Balanagar variety custard Aple plants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        As regards to market,it is good at Metro,Namdhari fresh, Reliance fresh etc, Bengaluru and will have good markets in cities like Mumbai,Delhi,Chennai etc as the fruits are very tasty, looks good,sweet,and very sweet with a keeping quality of 7 to 8 days.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Farmer, g.p.rao.

#7

I salute you, Sri.G.P.Rao Sir.

Dear members,
Sri.G.P. Rao Sir, has collected the contact of scientist who developed Arka Sahan(custard apple) and found out his residence, had detailed discussion (two sessions) and came up with above findings.

There was a question "If we plant Balnagar veriety and Arka Sahan, do they get cross pollinated"
Answer is cross pollination is mandatory.

Thank you for your efforts to bringing out valuable information.

#8

[quote="sri2012"]
I salute you, Sri.G.P.Rao Sir.

Dear members,
Sri.G.P. Rao Sir, has collected the contact of scientist who developed Arka Sahan(custard apple) and found out his residence, had detailed discussion (two sessions) and came up with above findings.

There was a question "If we plant Balnagar veriety and Arka Sahan, do they get cross pollinated"
Answer is cross pollination is mandatory.

Thank you for your efforts to bringing out valuable information.
[/quote]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Dear Sri Sir, thank you very much for your encouragement. One way you are encouraging us to come out with our experiences and observations in farming. The way you are motivating all of us is very much appreciative .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Dear Sri Venkatesan sir,As asked by you , about pomegarnates,  the best variety as on date for domestic as well for exports is BHAGWA. It is good for sweetness, good size, good resistive for insecticides to some extent , attractive colour of Shell and Arils , good keeping quality and very good market acceptance both by consumers as weell as traders.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The 2nd best , as of my knowledge is going to be Wonderful. It is doing very well in U.S.A and Israel and recently,4 years back it was planted in Rajasthan.Heard that it is Doing well and plants also are ready for sale.Recently one company in Maharashtra, Shashwat Agriculture Development Centre, pune has declared opening of bookings in Maharashtra,  in early January this year for wonderful variety pomegranates. But results are yet to be seen in India for wonderful variety pomegranates.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              As you asked for availability of TC plants of Bhagwa variety is 1. Jain drip Irrigations,Maharashtra and their agent Sri Srinappa,SLV drips,Tumkur,can be contacted at 09980809501 and sri Reddy of Caddila Pharma,producers of TC Bhagwa pomegranate plants,Kenkere,near Gowribidanur, at 09449678120 for bookings.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Best Practices of pomegranate farming: as advised by agri universities and NRCP,Sholapur,  … planting distance  4.5 mtr x 3 mtr , which can accomodate 740 plants per Hectare.    Row to row north to south, plant to plant east to west.Daily water requirement depends on evoporation losses of the soil and it can be caliculated by pomegranate culture experts and/or professors of this subject. EC of the water should not be beyond 1.2 ds/m and better canal sweet water if available. If soil moisture is very less, it may lead to fruit cracking.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Dr Benegi.v.I of university of Dharwad, Sri Ramdas patil of RB Herbal Agro of  Satna , Dr. Raghuvamsi,professor at Rahuri Vidya peeth,Agri university,Maharashtra, and several others have worked lot on Pomegranate farming practices , its diseases, remedies and good practices along with several other scientists/experts .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Upto my knowledge, all pomegranate varieties reciprocates very well for Organic Mannures, bio-pesticides,Jeevamrutha and Panchagavya. I advise farmers to go for pomegranate farming with close day to day supervision only.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                For any specific clarity on pomegranate farming , you are most welcome  and I will try to get you informed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      g.p.rao  ,  farmer                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

#9

Dear Mr .Rao, Sri, Prashant…

Kindly accept my heartfelt appreciation for your time and efforts to gather information and share it with us. Words can’t express immense gratitude for your efforts. Sorry was on travel, hence could not respond earlier.

Having gone through information so far, I am planning to go for both Pomegranate & Custard apple. I am planning for the 3-5 acres (each) initially on a trial basis and can later expand once results are encouraging.

I have watched several videos of Pomegranate Cultivation. The more I watch pomegranate videos (youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=BQc … =endscreen) , the more I am concerned handling deadly disease. Still would like to try it out on a small scale.

This video (youtube.com/watch?v=xd7MT3K_4NE) is on the “Wonderful” variety Mr. Rao sir has referred. They say it is resistant to Bacterial blight & wilt disease. Also the yield of 40 to 60 tonnes with big fruit size of 1.5 Kg makes it worth considering. Initially will try with Bagwa and simultaneously scout for Wonderful variety, if available for sale.

On the custard apple, is there any such serious disease problems as that of pomegranate?

Mr. Prashanth, really very impressive videos. Could you please provide ENGLISH TRANSCRIPT?

I would like to place the order for custard apple with IIHS, Bangalore.  Mr. Rao sir, do you have the contact the person in IIHS who shared the information? If available, I can approach him to go through the procedure / payment of advance fr booking. Else, will try with the telephone numbers on their website.

Once again, grateful for  for all of you.

Kind Regards,

Venkatesan

#10

Dear Mr.Venkatesh.

I am Radhakrishnan.T.V Presently working as GM-Operation in a company called INI Farms Pvt.Ltd.,(www.inifarms.com)basically we are cultivating Pomegranate in around 2000 acres and exporting.As per my experience you may go for pomegranate , Banana. Actually you can get yield from the end of 2nd year in case of pomegranate.On an average you can get around 6 tonnes from 5th year.If you call me we will discuss in details.

Regards

Radhakrishnan.T.V
8108178704

#11

Does anyone have the contact information of shashwat Agriculture Development Centre in Pune?

Also, are there any concrete results on Wonderful Cultivar from Maharastra like, Days to maturity/harvest, Resistance to diseases like Blight, Telia. Softness of seeds and Market Worthiness vis-a-vis Bhagwa.

I’ve land in Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh. We can take only summer crop. Bhagwa takes over six months to maturity which means battling with diseases during full monsoon and even after.

Hence, keen on early varieties if there are any. Kandhari is hard seeds so not popular. However, it’s early maturity is a boon. So, something like Kandhari with soft seeds.