Is agriculture really a viable business?

[gus123]

With growing land and input costs, shortage of labor (even though we have such a large population!) is agriculture really a viable/sustainable business?
Can revenues/profits be compared to other industry like real estate or IT? or for that matter manufacturing?

How can Agriculture as an Industry evolve and sustain without govt. intervention? Not sure when the British ruled us they gave any subsidy to our farmers? And after 60 odd years of independence if our farmers and farming practices have become any efficient than what they were before independence and if yes by what percentage?

What would be the optimum land size for a farmer to be able to earn on an average Rs.1,00,000/month (which would be the equivalent to the salary of a software engineer of 5-6 years experience)?

 

[atulkalaskar]

Every business needs investment, knowledge based processes and business logic to succeed. In my working with using hydroponic technology 2 acres of color capsicum farm should give you about 20+ lakh in pure profits. If you happen to produce Strawberry you can earn that much in an acre.

Problem with today's agro industry is it's motto "Lowest investment, minimum costs and whatever may be the yield", you should change it to "Maximum consistent yield at appropriate cost". That alone will ensure the prosperity to farmers.

 

[hemants55]

It is all about management of risk. risk in production, marketing,distribution etc.. while IT and manufacturing sector manages it well because of organised nature and offcourse investment to manage that risk. also IT and manufacturing sector are doing value addition to raw material.

Agriculture majorly still is done by unskilled to semiskilled persons with investment made not for primarily profit making but to sustain ones livelihood.

Needs professional management and equivalent investment with little bit of integration of food processing (as a value addition). than only it will be fair to compare profitability of IT and Manufacturing.

 

[shabhava]

about agriculture

Yes lot of labour problem in agriculture. But agriculture is profitable only IF :
1. You know and are capable of doing the work IF your dont get labour.
2. Find suitable agri products (study the market), research and cultivate them as and when required.
3.You have sufficient background in agriculture, extra money in your SB account.
SURELY agriculture is the best. Far from busy city pollution. This is my personal experience. I am an agriculturist having Areca, Pepper, Coconut , Plantains Plantation in 10 acres land in karnataka.

 

[gus123]

One more question
Are not most of our MPs and MLAs large agriculture land owners?

 

[shabhava]

yes... I think almost all MP's and MLA's are big agricuture land owners...But they are not bothered about that.. Its only the small & medium farmers struggling...

 

[gus123]

Mr.Shankar:
In short what you are saying is, do farming only if you have other sources of income/revenue for Sustenance?
So a software Engineer gets a job for a livelyhood or as an alternative?
This is exactly what I am trying to figure out, why an 'Indian farmer' cannot do farming as a sustainable livelyhood? Maybe the defination of "farmer" in our country is wrong? We call people cultivating even 1 acre of land as farmers, instead of calling them as freelancers like they do in IT and other services?
Maybe a "farmer" should be redefined as one who cultivates not less than 100 acres of Land and produces no less than 2 crops a year in that land?
Maybe Govt. and financial institutions should support only these kind of medium scale to large scale farmers to improve efficiancy?

 

[shabhava]

you are right.. Govt should support farmers. but they are not interested in it.farmers cant even repay the loans also...Mainly the person who is interested in farming SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT AND SHOULD BE ABLE TO WORK HIMSELF since labour problem exists.

 

[gus123]

Why should Agriculture be so manpower intensive can it not be automated? or at least most part of?

 

[shabhava]

YES.. now automated systems are coming.. eg: in our place machines have come to peel the arecanut. but some works are to be done manually only...even if machineries are there, 1 or 2 person having the knowledge should be there....

 

[sandoz2009]

Dear All
There is nothing as better as Agriculture is.
As some of the readers mentioned, there are some good high yielding crops, which give sacks of money.
Watering and fertilising can be done automaticaly. Which saves water and also labour.
But plants need the presence of Humanbeings for it to grow well....u wont see this any books, but u can observe it around you.
If somebody has good land and is interested can contact me

 

[shabhava]

Mr.Sandoz2009, Can u pls mail me the details to my mail here.??

 

[swamyalok]

Agriculture and softwere

Hello freind
ONE building down in america,the softwere companys started closeing down,they started cuting the jobs,they did cost cuting,i maintain softwere companys cafetariea and garden,i keep indoor plants in the softwere companys, i know its not easy in softwere ,even today i have to send requst letter to get the payment,i know my freind who took seddtives and killed himself in softwere.....i know,you know that softwere people are haveing BP,hypertension,even early heartattacks.please lets not compare ,agriculture is good if you love it.do you need political support in love,have passion,my brother works in Intel in america,my sister has her own softwere company in bangalore,am a farmer in sathnoor near kanakapura,i love my job,its like a baby or beloved, i do not need political support for my loved ones[agricluture]
sometimes the baby cries then i can not compare my baby with other child...
please do not depend on netas ,they know how to loot the country, ,they do not want to help farmers ,they talk,and they talk shit which can not be used as mannur to plants.
am physically handicaped person,i have 1.50 ac land i grow indoor plants ,and rose,i get daily income of rs 1000 from rose and 1000rs from indoor plants daily,i play music and listen to music,i take off to long drive in car any time of the week, i spend lot of time with my family,i have given employment to under poverty people who have a clour tv in there house know,i have a labrodor dog with me i go for a long walk with head phones ,i have an apple i pod,i have a apple system in my house ,and i welcome you any time ,i need not applay for leave becose am the boss and am a small happy indian farmer .
s a alok

 

[mpneerkaje]

Dear Alok, can you send your contact details to my mob

--
Regards,
Mahesha

 

[swamyalok]

Agriculture and softwere

Hello freind
ONE building down in america,the softwere companys started closeing down,they started cuting the jobs,they did cost cuting,i maintain softwere companys cafetariea and garden,i keep indoor plants in the softwere companys, i know its not easy in softwere ,even today i have to send requst letter to get the payment,i know my freind who took seddtives and killed himself in softwere.....i know,you know that softwere people are haveing BP,hypertension,even early heartattacks.please lets not compare ,agriculture is good if you love it.do you need political support in love,have passion,my brother works in Intel in america,my sister has her own softwere company in bangalore,am a farmer in sathnoor near kanakapura,i love my job,its like a baby or beloved, i do not need political support for my loved ones[agricluture]
sometimes the baby cries then i can not compare my baby with other child...
please do not depend on netas ,they know how to loot the country, ,they do not want to help farmers ,they talk,and they talk shit which can not be used as mannur to plants.
am physically handicaped person,i have 1.50 ac land i grow indoor plants ,and rose,i get daily income of rs 1000 from rose and 1000rs from indoor plants daily,i play music and listen to music,i take off to long drive in car any time of the week, i spend lot of time with my family,i have given employment to under poverty people who have a clour tv in there house know,i have a labrodor dog with me i go for a long walk with head phones ,i have an apple i pod,i have a apple system in my house ,and i welcome you any time ,i need not applay for leave becose am the boss and am a small happy indian farmer .
s a alok

 

[vmgbrothers]

sir ,
can i get your invitation for a cup of coffee with you,and where is sathnoor near kanakapura

 

[vmgbrothers]

100% agriculture is viable !

Agriculture is 100% viable and purely profitable for the traders and middle man and consumers.
Its not about profit or loss to a farmer its about the passion.
its viable till the sun makes its presence every day morning and sets in evening.
until the clouds opens its mouth and says this my dew drop of rain.
until every human being and living organism have hungry in its stomach.

Practically viable if every one starts natural farming to reduce farm input cost
and get best output.

Better try for "ONE STRAW REVOLUTION"-by Masanobu Fukuoka

"ZERO BUDGET NATURAL FARMING"-Subash Palekar

 

[gunda]

agriculture was never a business in the whole of the history of the world. it cannot be a business. it is life. life cannnot be termed with money or profits of money. life is life. it is the happiness. money or profits will not give happiness in life. pofits/money is a fiction created by the king to fool the subjects. all the subjects are folled enmasse by the present kings.
that is why agriculture is a failure in india soon after independence. in a highly populated country agricuture labour is just not there. this is the jadu of the king.
india is already importing a majority of fruits, vegetables and pulses, oil from other small countries.
it may not be a surprise if the agriculture is declared as a failure . which is already known to everyone.

 

[packair]

Agriculture + Software = The Answer

This has always been a great debate as to why agriculture isn't profitable enough. Sure its profitable for some but what about the others. If everyone starts cultivating strawberries where will it leave the other crops. Don't we need the other crops as well? The prices of commodities are high still a farmer don't get enough to take care of his families needs leave alone pay the loan. Where is all the money going? The answer is simple. Its going in the hands of the middle men. Who forms a team and control the prices. They buy it cheap from the farmers. Fluctuate the prices by forming a cartel. And then sell it to the consumers at a higher price. Why don't we still have a place or a system where the farmers can sell their goods directly to consumers and make some profit off his produce. In my personal opinion software or IT could be the answer to it. An on-line market place where the farmers and consumers or even the big corporates who own shopping malls can come together place their bids and sell and buy their goods at a fair price.

 

[sanjay_arora]

Every business needs investment, knowledge based processes and business logic to succeed. In my working with using hydroponic technology 2 acres of color capsicum farm should give you about 20+ lakh in pure profits. If you happen to produce Strawberry you can earn that much in an acre.

Problem with today's agro industry is it's motto "Lowest investment, minimum costs and whatever may be the yield", you should change it to "Maximum consistent yield at appropriate cost". That alone will ensure the prosperity to farmers.

Atul

A lot of farmers have an acre or two. And the income you indicate is also good. So why don't we have a lot of such peope? Is the investment required too big? What kind of figure is a farmer looking at to earn that 20 lacks from his two acres?

And if he owns his land, does he have no banking support like an industry? I assume you are indicating green house based farming, which has been supported by the govt. quite a lot recently.

Sanjay