I am relatively new in farming as well as to this group.
After serving for 10 years in IT industry i have reached a point in my life to take a big step to move myself to farming.
Being a naturalist it was my passion from childhood days, even though my experience in farming is limited small scale vegetable farming in and around my house.
I am planning to buy 10 acre of land in Tirunelveli which is 100 KM from my place trivandrum. I need help from a professional is doing a feasibility study, soil test, ideation & implementation. Is there any organization or freelancer who can provide these services?.
Can some one guide me.
Once you purchase the land, doing a soil test is no big deal as Agri department has mobile test centers which gives a detailed report as well as suggest suitable crops.
Having identified the crops, you need to decide the crops you intend to grow considering market dynamics, resource availability and technology you are willing to adapt to.
Its a long process that needs careful scrutiny at every stage, hence chart out the milestones and take one step at a time. Seeking clarity at each step makes life easier.
So your immediate thought process should be more of purchasing the land right now.
IMO one should not depend on single point of consultancy as the risk associated is high.
Instead, jog down critical areas that require consultants and choose the best or the right one based on his/her core competencies and get the job done.
Having said that it should be obvious that the cost of consultancy would depend on for what job one is being hired.
It could sometimes be a free open advice or a paid consultancy.
Congratulations on your courageous decision! Hopefully you have identified / acquired the land which is no mean task itself…Do get good legal support in the process so that the transaction is clean and legal.
Once that is done, the easy part is out of the way. Coming from a corporate (industrial) background, you are no doubt concerned about getting a ‘proper’ project down on paper, with lots of numbers etc. I would like to caution you friend - this is the first pitfall for people like us trying to make the big transition. We are trained to think in money terms, view all problems in money equivalent and then obviously throw in hard earned money to ‘solve’ those problems. I know lots and lots of people, apart from myself , who ‘thought with their wallets’ and ended up spending lots of money.
I do not know whether you are reading up on the subject, but there is a lot of good literature which will help shape your perspective.
The first and most important question (as always) is ‘WHY’ - why are you getting into farming? What is your objective, purpose etc.? Is it simply a change of occupation? Is it a change of lifestyle? Is it a change in life’s direction itself? How deep is your passion and commitment? Would you have the patience to work hard, take risks, learn, fail and still wait for say 5-7 years before you see any kind of results? Or do you have a ‘definite time frame’ in mind for ‘getting return on investment’? The answers to such questions will perhaps decide WHAT, HOW, WHEN, WHO etc. etc.
Hi, You have taken a step in the right direction. I am a farmer having 20 acres of land in Tirunelveli. I am from Bangalore but now stationed full time here in Tirunelveli. We have coconuts, lemon,teak, tamarind and sandalwood. We also cultivate tapioca, banana and other vegetables and flowers on the farm. There are other big and small farms cultivating Amla, banana, vegetables etc etc successfully. So I would suggest that you visit a few of our farms, discuss your plans and ideas so that mistakes can be avoided. Because each mistake will be expensive for a beginner and moreover a dampner to your spirit. You can contact me on synokevin2008@gmail.com
Coming from a corporate (industrial) background, you are no doubt concerned about getting a ‘proper’ project down on paper, with lots of numbers etc. I would like to caution you friend - this is the first pitfall for people like us trying to make the big transition. We are trained to think in money terms, view all problems in money equivalent and then obviously throw in hard earned money to ‘solve’ those problems. I know lots and lots of people, apart from myself 
, who ‘thought with their wallets’ and ended up spending lots of money.