Start up farming / Commercial Crops Suggestions

[Ravi Sekhar]

Hi All,

I am Sekhar currently living in USA as Software professional; I developed interest in Agriculture and started following this forum. Certainly I am impressed and motivated with the information on this forum. I want to start with little to explore the practical difficulties in agriculture. As a matter of fact my self or my family has no experience in farming. I believe there is lot of scope for the development in this field.

Recently I bought five acres of land in Srikakulam Dist., of Andhra Pradesh and wanted to start growing vegetables. I thought it would be good to take experts opinion on this, please forward your suggestions or any other alternates to start with in these 5 acres.

Right now I am going to use one of family member to look into this. I may need some sort of expert advices on time to time or consultancy type support.

Also let me know if I need to present more information about this land.

Regards
Sekhar

[rgiridhar]

It will be helpful if you can describe:

1. The topography of your farm land, and soil type
2. Water sources and the availability of water
3. Results of any soil and water analysis that you have got done
4. The weather of the place where you have land

Only with this information can someone give you any practical and useful advice.

[sampadafarms]

Dear Mr. Shekhar,

Seasons Greetings!

Most of the people, especially professionals like u r entering into agriculture. This is very much appreciatable. But this is with passion not with planing. At the end of the day, people will regret and blame the agriculture for their misdeads. Please be aware of the following about the agriculture.

1. Extent of 5 acres land is not feasible for a profitable agri venture. It should be a minimum of 25 acres
2. For absent landlords like u, annuals crops are not recommended. Go for perennials.
3. Marketing of end produce is again a task.
4. What is your vision? Only agriculture with annual crops is not profitatble. For profits it should be linked with processing.
5. If u put very good efforts, and every thing goes well, you may get a net profit of Rs.10-15 thousands per acre/annum
6. Agriculture is more Common Sense than Science
7. Do something solid. If u r doing the agriculture just to show u and the world that u r something in agriculture with out expecting o k. OR it is for investment purpose also it is OK. OR as a agri entreprenur u want to do something, you have to refine the entire process.

Any how, we wish u good luck in ur efforts. Go for perennial crops like mango, cashew, pomgrenate, fig etc., for time being. Identify the suitable crop for the Agro Climatic conditions of your farm land. Authentic Information abot the crops is available. This is for your info. I am not discouraging u. Agriculture is a profitable venture and profession, if it is handled properly. Do it with AWARENESS. If u don't know what u r doing, then don't do any thing.

We are Hyderabad based SENIOR agri consultants working since 1991. To know more about us visit Sampada Farms & Consultants We extend all types of comprehensive services for the cultivation. All of our services are chargeble.

Regards.

Raghu Ram

[Ravi Sekhar]

Thanks Raghu Ram,

I appreciate your comments, certainly I will try to understand every line of your comment, point 7 of your comments makes much sense.

I will contact your firm if I need further assistance.

[tkkreddy]

Dear friends.
I am a student of MBA (specialized in oil and gas), In regard to a project on bio-fuels it happened that I enter this site. I am offcourse basically from a farming community, and usually am impressed at the discussions. I am placed in HPCL as asst.manager thorugh campus just a month ago, Will be joining in july, So I am free in the month of june. If I didn't got this job surely i would have choosed the farming as career,(what I feel is farming is a brighter investment). But I am sure as my dad stated it is not as easy as it appers as there is a lot of risks involved ( He says every farmer is a entrepuener- as he procure, process, produce and refine and pack and then sell the output). But still I want to venture into this and learn those risks and take the rewards with experience. As I am still yet to join my job I am not having any good savings. However i can mobilize up 3 to 5 lacs as my initial investment and willing to buy agricultural land around vizag. I know that the prices had rocketed but i am looking at cheap lands with reasonable infrastructure. I am sure my proposed investment is very less but still I am just starting, Once I join my job I will be able to invest continuously. In this regard I request few other entrepuener (or its better to state farmprenuers )to join hands so that we can start a joint contract farming, which is better than having a pices of land here and there. the benefits are huge with big pieces of land believe me. I know how to mitigate the risks, I may not be good at farming but I am sure I am good at business, I can get the work done - I know where to give , how to give , when to give nad what to give :) May look like I am baosting too much, but this is the only way i can state my credentials here.In case of buying a big land peice jointly we can hire a caretaker on- full time basis for the farm and weekly visits will do the job.
I propose the land to be near vizag or vizianagaram.
Intrested investors please contact me with your proposed investment, it is appreciated even if the amount is small, becoz I know its the starting.

[tkkreddy]

Dear friends.
I am a student of MBA (specialized in oil and gas), In regard to a project on bio-fuels it happened that I enter this site. I am offcourse basically from a farming community, and usually am impressed at the discussions. I am placed in HPCL as asst.manager thorugh campus just a month ago, Will be joining in july, So I am free in the month of june. If I didn't got this job surely i would have choosed the farming as career,(what I feel is farming is a brighter investment). But I am sure as my dad stated it is not as easy as it appers as there is a lot of risks involved ( He says every farmer is a entrepuener- as he procure, process, produce and refine and pack and then sell the output). But still I want to venture into this and learn those risks and take the rewards with experience. As I am still yet to join my job I am not having any good savings. However i can mobilize up 3 to 5 lacs as my initial investment and willing to buy agricultural land around vizag. I know that the prices had rocketed but i am looking at cheap lands with reasonable infrastructure. I am sure my proposed investment is very less but still I am just starting, Once I join my job I will be able to invest continuously. In this regard I request few other entrepuener (or its better to state farmprenuers )to join hands so that we can start a joint contract farming, which is better than having a pices of land here and there. the benefits are huge with big pieces of land believe me. I know how to mitigate the risks, I may not be good at farming but I am sure I am good at business, I can get the work done - I know where to give , how to give , when to give nad what to give :) May look like I am baosting too much, but this is the only way i can state my credentials here.In case of buying a big land peice jointly we can hire a caretaker on- full time basis for the farm and weekly visits will do the job.
I propose the land to be near vizag or vizianagaram.
Intrested investors please contact me with your proposed investment, it is appreciated even if the amount is small, becoz I know its the starting.