Thanks to the COVID Pandemic which has put a screeching halt to city life, transitioning to work from home and online schooling. This has brought us close to our parents and experience our ancestral living amidst the farm after 2 decades. Yes, since my Engineering graduation, I never got to stay with my parents for more than couple of days at a stretch except maternity leaves.
On a casual conversation, discussion started around cultivating in the 3.5 acres of my dad's barren land.
How did it all started and where it is going now?
Table of Contents
- Borewell
- Tatkal Scheme
- Seedling
- Fencing
- Storage Tank
- Motor & Sensor
- Drip Irrigation
- Plants
- GreenManure
- ROI
- Natural Farming
- Review 1 - 45 days
- Review 46 - 90 days
- Review after 90 days
- My friends
- Thank you
Borewell
Groundwater Survey is the foremost important work for new borewell drilling. We have seek the help of a retired Geologist to check for the bore point and fixed the date June 20th 2022 for borewell.
It all started around 3:00pm in the evening and went up to mid-night. Wow, what an anxiety before we got couple of points water. We got around 1.5 inc of water after going approximately for 800 meters depth.
Tatkal Scheme for farming
We had applied for Tatkal Free Power Connection Scheme which costed 3 lakhs and waited for more than 10 months until they gave the connection.
Though the Tamil Nadu government announced 50000 connections will be given across Tamil Nadu on Tatkal scheme, it took multiple follow-ups to get things in place. Possible the unavailability of manpower delayed the whole process.
Seedling to Sapling
Anticipating the need of 250+ saplings for 3.5 acres of land, mom has collected fully matured coconut from 50 to 60 year old trees and covered 3/4 of the coconut for germination.
Watered periodically until the sapling is grown 3 feet tall.
Actually speaking with all the wait time on getting EB Connection, pipeline layout, drip irrigation, it has actually grown 5 to 6 feet tall too. Fair enough, a supporting stick was all that needed to safe guard the sapling until rooting is established in the new soil.
Fencing
Cow and Goat rearing is common in the area, hence safe guarding was key. Went for 7 feet tall stones with 2 x 2 inc fencing on 2 to 3 feet mud barrier to prevent rain water from the hills.
Also provisioned a pipe from the south east side to drain excess rain water during floods.
Cost of 2 x 2 fence/sq feet = 21.8
Cost of 3 x 3 fence/sq feet = 15.7
Storage Tank
The best way to water 3.5 acres of land from 1.5 inc delivery of water in bore-well is to store the water in a storage tank and use drip irrigation system. My husband and dad choose to construct a ring type underground storage tank of 26 feet diameter with 1.5 lakh litres of water capacity.
When I saw the tank first time with water filled, I fixed my mind that a beautiful pool is ready for my boys :). A Summer Splash is awaiting with chlorine free fresh water all the time!
To prevent the formation or spread of algae, have got 200+ Jalebi Fish (Talipa Fish) from Bhavanisagar Dam and left in the tank.
There were suggestions to cover completely with sheet to prevent algae but wanted to expose water to sun light before watering the plants. A side note to save 2.5 lacs, if I have to put a raised cover so that swimming is not interrupted.
Motor & Sensor
Purchased two motors
- Vertical motor with 7.5 HP to pump water from the borewell to the tank and house hold use.
- Horizontal motor with 5 HP to pump the water from the tank to irrigate land via filtering unit. An alternator was fitted so that at any point in time either borewell or tank motor can be turned ON.
Fitted two sensors to give peace of mind from monitoring water all the time.
To stop the bore motor when the tank is full
To stop the Irrigation motor from the tank when the water level reaches 1 feet above the submersible motor
Drip Irrigation
To water 3.5 acres of land with bore-well water with 1.5 inc water delivery, drip irrigation will be the best, hence choose to go with pipeline setup.
We opted for manual mode to dig 2 x 2 pit for planting coconut, 1.5 feet depth for main pipeline and 1.5 feed depth for lateral pipeline branching to coconut plants.
It took more than a month of effort to have all of this in place. In between, resource crunch with sick leaves and unplanned time offs.
But you know what, fitting the filter unit, pipes, pulling out drip lines all took only 6 man days (3 * 2).
Plants
Coconut
Pit for planting coconut saplings were dug a month before and was let to cool.
With the invocation to almighty and with all the blessings, my mom planted the first sampling on an auspicious day (மேல்நோக்கு நாள்) as per the belief system.
Plantation formula: Place 0.5 kg of Neem cake in the pit, place little fine sand and then the sapling. Fill half of the coconut and place another 0.5 kg of neem cake and mud till 3/4 of the pit is full.
For rest of the plants, have put 0.5 kg Neem cake in each pit, filled in with water on two consecutive days to kind of sterilise the pit from termites and ants. Neem cake is also a great cooling agent.
We have planted 205 Coconut trees and left space for 30+ fruit trees.
Wow, look at the birds happily enjoying presence of water first time in this barren land.
Feb 11th 2022 - What a day from dawn to dusk, I had stayed first time in the field to oversee the plantation. Well, with multi-tasking coconut plantation along with neem cake spreading followed by multi-grain seeds sowing.
Cost
Since its a home grown sampling, we didnt have to pay. Otherwise it would have costed Rs.120/- per native variety of sapling. This would take 5 years to give yield but would stand strong for many decades.
Cost for digging the pit is Rs.70/- per plant.
Plantain
Planted 850 Thenvazhai and 1280 Red Bannana across 3.5 acres.
Actually planted end-to-end one banana stump per 7.5 meters and it looked more of plantain farm than coconut.
With that lesson and suggestion from experienced farmers, planted only 3 lines of plantain between two lines of coconut which would get enough sun light to coconut as well after plantain grows.
Plantation Cost: Rs 4 for stump, Rs 4 for extracting and Rs 4 for planting, which costed around Rs.26000/- for 2130 stumps.
Important Note:
After plantation and watering twice, ensure to stamp around the plantain stump well so that no gap is seen between soil and stump. Failing to do so will lead to replacing more than 30% of stumps after a month or so. See the below picture for how it started growing after stamping around the stump to ensure soil bonds well.
Red Banana Stumps
Plantain Growth
Green Manure
Green Manure is key to natural farming to fix the nitrogen content in the soil. Got the below ingredients in the given proportion to server 100grams per plant. We have planned for 212 coconut sapling and 40 fruit tree saplings.
After coconut is planted and first watering is completed, sprinkle 100 gms of Green Manure seeds and sprinkle some more soil.
Once this reaches the flowing stage, uproot, cut and place that as manure to the plants and spread some soil.
Review 1 - 45 days
I would like stop and look back after 45 days (31st March 2022) from plantation..
Observed termites creeping to coconut plants, hence sprinkled some neem cake around the coconut plant in each pit. Later realised that has cost some plants when it has fallen on the top of the plant.
Best way to prevent termites for young plants is to pour water on the plant so that it washes away the termites
Replaced atleast 30 coconut plants, few had dried due to termite attacks rest for unknown reason.
By now, we have planted few variety of guava, mango, jackfruit, fig, custard apple, pomegranate, amla, Indian jujube, Jumbo Plums, Soursop, lemon, mehandi, Kaffir Lime (Kolumichai), rose apple, orange and my all time favourite jasmine.
Also planted cucumber, ladies finger, chilly, brinjal, onion, ridge guard, bitter guard, snake guard, water melon, maize and some greens.
Most importantly I have lived as a farmer for more than two months now and I have been enjoyed watering the plants daily, witnessing their growth.
Pool is ready with shade to relax!! Waiting for my boys' summer vacation. My mom said that nothing could bring in the happiness to your boys than playing in this water - which is deep enough to be a well and wide enough to be a pool.
Not all are rosy, termites & rabbits are major threat. termites attack the coconut in the coconut sapling, rabbits eat the growing maize or sugar cane leaves. Though fencing done all over, still some holes around, good enough for rabbit to enter and relish the sprouting saplings!
Lots of weed around the plantain and de-weeding costed ~10000/-. Wondering how often this should be repeated before harvest. Thats the price you pay for wanting go with Natural farming.
Realized that 50gms of multi-grain would have been suffice per coconut slapping as opposed to 100gms.
Pool
Vegetable Plants
Vilvam
Vilvam or Stone Apple or Bilva is a sacred plant which started growing from the old root near the fence. Thanks to mom who identified the plant and I started nurturing there after.
Excerpt from Internet: Born from the heart of Goddess Lakshmi, the Vilva tree is ever dear to Mahadeva. So I ask this tree to offer one Vilva leaf to Lord Shiva. Even if one sees the Vilva tree, and touches it, he is surely freed from sin. The most terrible karma is destroyed when a Vilva leaf is offered to Lord Shiva.
Farming is not all about success
A look at farm after 45 days
Note: Partial weed extraction completed
Multi-grain plants around coconut
Review 46 - 90 days
- Ladies Finger, Cluster beans and Greens were yielding well
- Found tiny bitter guards
- The cow-dung manure was spread well for all fruit bearing plants, vegetable plants and onion. Well, the Vilvam couldnt handle the power of cow-dung manure and dried. Luckily after a week one more plant came up from the root. I am happy now.
- Harvested pearl onions
- Cucumber was kind of OK
- Chilly plants were fire fighting until rain came to rescue
- Green bamboo planted on north-east corner is growing very well. Vastu talk from a friend :)
- Removed all the multi-grain plants around the coconut because it was bushy, cant see termite attack on the coconut plants. Ah, now it looks clean
- Finally after 45 days of watering by self, got a care taker and it was raining for whole month where there was no need to water.. :)
- Harvested Maize, fairly ok.
- Almost a month water was stagnant in the storage tank which has attracted Algae :( How to clean is a mystery now..
Review after 90 days
- The cow-dung and goat-dung manure were spread for all plantain plants
Since we are going organic, weeds were more than a feet.. part of plantain were de-weeded with man power and rest 50% through
Now the drip irrigation goes for almost 2 hours. Especially after the manure, more water is required else the plants will become dried.
The total cost in this de-weeding, spreading manure became ~45/- per plantain. Well, the total cost per 5 month old plantain is 115/- Wow!. Still 6 to 7 months to go for harvesting, de-weeding, removing extra plantain saplings, tying the plantain tree so that it withstands the wind, for red banana, you need to wrap the plantain with the banana leaves so that reddish colour is preserved. Not sure how much that would cost. What comes after all is is the profit for the farmer?
- Harvested some caster seed and chilli. A happy feel😊.
My Friends
My Team 5 was geared up for removing the weeds across the field since I choose to go by organic farming.
Team 5, who wanted old nighties to tear n use as skirt. Instead I got new skirts from the place they suggested. They were so happy and one lady was doing circles to show the new skirt. We all took pic together 🥰
A matter of 100/- per head got such a broad smile.
All of us are looking forward next season of de-weeding. And they would come only I am around in Sathyamangalam.
Well, in-equal pay system exists all over.
For men its 600 per day + 100 per day for meals whereas for women its 250 per day + tea and biscuits. Certain physically exhaustive task men are good at but majority of the stuff, these ladies do wonders.
Team5 had an old mobile which was used as fellow companion singing loud and clear all the time. Though several years old, used to store 500+ songs and with one full charge, signs for almost 20 hours. The sound system is so good heard atleast 750 meters radius.
ROI
The best return from this investment is self-contentment
Note: The cost does not include the land price since its a pre-owned land.
Plantain
Plantain can be cultivated for two harvest and after that, only coconut to be left for growing.
Each plantain maintenance cost will be around 150/- till harvest and anything that you get above that is profit which applies to the plants that survives beyond rain, wind, harsh summer and pests, if any.
Ideally the farmers get around ~20/kg where a banana bunch would weigh around 11kg. So the farmer gets 200/- per banana bunch after spending 150/- per plantain tree and waiting over a year.
Coconut
Minimum pay for a care taker per month will be 15000/- per month costing approximately 1.8 lacs per year. Provided you get someone and he / she stays through out the year. Well, we didn't construct a small house for the care taker yet, which is a pre-requisite here.
Total cost of cultivation per coconut plant is 11200/- as per the above table.
Assume the maintenance cost per plant for 5 years is 500/- if you personally water them. If you are watering through care taker spending 15000/- per month, then maintenance cost will be 5000/- beating inflation.
Coconut will yield after 5 years and earnings will be approximately 1000/- per coconut tree in a year.
If I have spent 15200/- per plant for 5 years and start earning 1000/- per coconut tree after 5th year, then will I ever meet my ROI in my lifetime?
Now you know why the farming lands are becoming concrete houses and industries?
உழவன் கணக்குப் பார்த்தால் உலக்கு கூட மிஞ்சாது
which means that if the farmer starts calculating his profit, in the usual business pattern (Cost price + Profit (%) = Sale Price), then even the plow tool will not be left. And thats the plight of small scale farmers.
As a farmer, my father have used his hard earned money from farming to educate me. What I earned, is going back to the soil as a gratitude. Certainly this gives me the self-contentment more than buying a fancy apartment or going on a dream vacation.
Bow to Bharath Matha!
Natural Farming
Well, the concept seems to quite tricky.
To get organic farm certification, you need to register the land with the government with all the pre-req and wait for 3 years to get certified as Organic Farm
Though we claim its a fresh land which was idle for ages and the answer was quite interesting. Only after you admit your child to school, his/her education starts and so is the registration for Organic Farm status too.
Yet to get into this mystery.
Thank you
My heart-felt thanks to family and friends who stood by me, answered my baseless questions patiently during this divine quest.
Well, its just the beginning and miles to go..
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