just before getting into farming...

Greetings friends,

Few years back, group of passionate urbanites who are colleagues working at a very senior level from same company, decided to try their hand in farming and let me unfold their further story in two parts:

Land part: In a bid to get fair deal and good quality of agri land, they did required “research”, defined objectives, Vision, Mission and made couple of Project reports / Concept presentations, Number churning and finalized on location, size of land parcel and size of investment.

Traveled extensively during weekends for around 06 months and finalized a land parcel after weighing /considering few parameters like access or approach road, distance from main highway etc. Also did due diligence / legal vetting and completed the land purchase or registration process. It took nearly 1 year to see the sale deeds and to be proud owners of Agri land.

Sounds good so far…rt?

The cultivation part: After 3+ years, we bumped into each other by chance and they took me to their farmland to find nothing but 50 acres of barren land with barbed wire fence, 01 tube well and very few weeds scantily seen. My immediate observations were:

1.      Very Poor Soils and not conducive even for growing wild grass. Through certain interventions and remedial measures soils could be improved though, but at what cost, effort and time?

2.      Basic parameters of water available from only existing Bore-well water had all the abnormal values (Like TDS, hardness, PH etc.)

3.      Had hired nearby person who was sort of care taker / farm hand and local sourcing executive who is found not be from farming background but had retained him for “goodwill”

4.      Did take advice from qualified personnel, but on Adhoc basis. There was no formal engagement or relation being stitched with one particular agronomist or organization

5.      Crop choice was wrong and made heavy losses in procuring seedlings/saplings. Though it was for 5 out of 50 acres.

6.      Water qnty was insufficient and untimely. Dependent on local Discom power which was given at specific timings with scheduled power cuts. Poor infra like old transformer and cables were adding to power outages for days together. No alternate power source to run bore well .No water storage tank.

7.      No storm water drain plan against flooding or rainwater harvesting /conserving plans.

8.      Owner’s Visits were confined to weekly or fortnightly

9.      No information of previous crops in and around neighborhood , Major crop diseases, future plans of local Gov authorities like Laying new roads /culverts/bridges which could cut-off access to farm land and no idea of alternate access

10.  Zero communication /rapport with neighboring and successful/progressive farmers

11.  Relied heavily on local fertilizer and pesticide dealer for agronomy support

12.  Land was purchased at higher cost than prevailing local market price.

Current status since last one year is: Unable to liquidate the land or continue with active farming by themselves or lease it out for others. Only alternative left is to lease the lands for non agricultural projects like poultry farm or as stock yard for few solar power gen companies.

Fortunately all these investors did experiment with very little portion of their savings and did not put “all eggs in one basket". Were mentally prepared for any outcome and could sustain any losses. Their jobs are intact. Unfortunately, lot of time, effort and money is wasted. These stories serve to motivate few and meanwhile unmotivated many

Having witnessed few similar stories, felt like sharing few experiences anticipating some use to the concerned. At very macro level, for anyone to get into Agriculture or farming, 02 very broad requirements or Components are:

I.    Unseen yet tangible Component ,which may further be classified into following :

1.   Clarity on purpose of getting into agriculture: barring “passion and joy of farming” component, which is anyway default ingredient. Whether to Generate revenue from selling farm produce in short term ( i.e. expecting returns from farm within a year ), Medium term (1-3 years ) or Long term ( 5 -10 years and above) OR to just build Capital asset. OR combination of both. Its known fact that Agri land with active farming serves both the purposes.

2.   Financial appetite: Very coarsely to say, period which one can wait or sustain without expecting any returns on investments. How and when the required funds can be arranged.

II.  Second broad component is Tangible component, further categorized into following:

1.   Land – considering technical factors like Quality of land, topography , quality of Soil , access to farm gate , Quality of approach road …etc. the list is quite lengthy… and Legal /statutory /documentation factors prior to finalizing . If not certain of few parameters, better do farming on leased lands with short or medium term crops /returns. May later purchase lands on certainty of parameters.

2.   Basic Infrastructure: resources like Perimeter fencing, internal roads, water source, Irrigation pumps, farm ponds, electricity, modest civil Infra at Farm like farm hand qrtrs/store room etc. It’s not as easy as prefab homes.

Operational: Materials Like: Irrigation systems, Farm equipment and machinery, Tools and tackles, Agri inputs like Seeds, fertilizers, manures etc. Farm Operations like: Soil and water testing, Land set up / preparation, Sowing, crop care and crop protection management, Weed management, Harvest and post harvest management and practices etc. Agronomy practices in short. Farm produce is not like instant coffee but it’s like growing coffee plants, and making coffee from its beans

3.   Marketing or sales of Farm produce: knowledge or know how of when to sell, whom to sell how to sell at what price etc. Nothing is rocket science, with patience and efforts we can learn it.

4.   BFSI component: banking, finance and insurance. Like availing Gov. Subsidies, waivers, loans, schemes etc. membership at Trade related affiliations like Local FPC /FCO’s if any.

5.   Consulting /hiring of right resources with Knowledge, Skill and competency on above components specially  3rd and 4th component in deciding which crop to grow and how to grow. Including permanent On filed/ on farm laborers, skilled Supervisor for regular agronomy operations, seasonal laborer (required only during specific operations).Engage right resources preferably institutional based or reputed organizations. “Remote agriculture” simply fails, having someone at farm who could be your ears and eyes is the most important or key differentiation in entire scheme of things.

6.   Social capital and Time are two most important investments .Build rapport with progressive and successful farmers. Success in Agri domain is result of right culmination of academic knowledge, Skill and practical wisdom. Academic knowledge may be acquired from books and short term courses or workshops from reputed organizations. Skill comes by practices adopted or followed from Practical wisdom acquired from nearby progressive or successful farmers.

7.      Willingness to fail: well quite consciously if I may say for, Agriculture is also war with uncertainties. 

8.      Do good homework on finances, for agriculture is also said to be profession of hope

9.   Farm Design- well quite literally, akin to building-design, robust farm design is to be in place keeping in view all the above said components

10.  Stop goolgling and start doing. Not to get into too much of “analysis paralysis”. There is a saying - “If you want go yourself and delegate someone if you don’t want”. After all the efforts and plans Crops are grown on the ground and not around it. So try being in the farm as much as possible.

The best fertilizer for a piece of land is the footprints of its owner-Lyndon B. Johnson

Points 1 and 2 may be treated as Capital investment and points 3, 4, and 5 may be treated as operational expense or cost. One can arrive at IRR ratios after Crop variety is finalized and subsidies /loans are incorporated / reconciled in above scheme of things.

On a closing note, let me say that Agriculture will never ever lose its importance, as long as we consume food from plants, unless otherwise food is manufactured like some chemical stuff or product from production line of factories. Though there are challenges and they can be and must be overcome

“You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower