Hello All;
I am a rookie… a total blank slate. Kind request to be patient with my questions, they may sound
stupid to many… but I have come here for some real help. Please bear with me.
I am from Mumbai and work in Pune. My family had bought a land in 150km radius from where we stay. My
family did some basic farming initially after we had bought the land. A lot of expense was borne in
getting the farm barb wired. Initially my dad had done lot of cultivation of Lady fingures, Brinjals,
Cucumbers, Tur Dal and rice… due to lot of intrusion of cattle/humans, the fencing has almost worn
off completely keep open access to most cattles around.
Adding factors like degrading health of my parents, reducing funds and other unforeseen circumstances
the land was not actively used and was given to some villagers for their cultivation against a very
nominal fee for using the land.
I have put my foot down to make the most of the land and ensure its viability.
Apart from lack of funds, here are set of hurdles I see;
- Fencing!-> No matter what I plan, immediate next question is fencing and securing the cultivation!
Farm/Land has river/streams from 2 sides which goes dry after Jan/Feb
- Work & Farm mixture → I have just started working couple of years back and cant give up my job
since it would stall the incomming funds completely
- Eye on the farm → Currently we have kept a local villager on the land who HYPOTHETICALLY keeps an
eye on the land… Inevitably this ends up in he using the land for his own benefits(which we wont mind
if we are also benefitted in some way)
Solution: I think it would be better to keep a couple on monthly wages to look after the farm and do
the daily activities there. This would consume a part of income that I earn of my job.
-
Cultivation →
- There are around 50 mango trees, which started yeilding mangoes last year.
- Last Monsoon we also planted a lot of drumsticks, around 30-40 have held ground.
I understand this is not enough… having a presence and maintaining things is necessary at the same time.
We were planning to cultivate more drumsticks and crops like Ginger.
Needed some guidance on next steps. I hope all you experts here can helpme get on track. Area of land is approx 20 acres including almost 50% rice field and 50% rough land.
Thanks for being patient.
Regards & Best Wishes.