HAPPY TO SEE YOUR PASSION ON AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES.
YOUR ARE AT YOUR RIGHT STEP IN BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE.

This idea of becoming a farmer (referring to agricultural activities) can be big question mark in many of the young minds, the truth is we are already part of the agricultural chain right from the day we were born into this world, we are yet to realize our bond with farming. The food we intake is cultivated right in an agricultural field, the money we spend on food and grocery indirectly encourages a farmer to grow more of their produce. 

My father would say me “FOOD IS ONLY TO EAT, NOT TO WASTE“, it had various meanings in various stages of my life. As a passionate farmer, one would definitely now how hard it is to grow a single granule of rice. 
Farming is not only working muddy on the fields but also to keep them motivated with what they do… 

Anyone can definitely become a farmer (referring to agricultural activities alone in this article) . Following steps would gradually increase your love towards growing plants and increase your knowledge in agricultural activities. 

STAGE 1: 

Start with growing one plant in your workspace. Take care of it in all aspects with a personal touch, right from its day to day needs-watering. There are no sophisticated pattern of watering plants grown in pots. Supply few glasses of water everyday to keep the plant alive, supply some growth suppliments to them, enhances yielding of the plants.

Follow this routine and wait for the yield.

Few days later there would be a bud, starting to grow in the plant, at that moment of accomplishment of the goal by giving meaning life to a plant. Then your first step of a brighter future has started.

Regular growth suppliments are required for the plants to grow in a closed environment, i.e., pots or grow-bags. Failing which the plants may grow healthy but yield will be minimal.

STAGE 2:

If you have a small open space with soil in home, or a open terrace which can be explored for gardening operations you are good to start your second phase of the goal. I divide this stage into 2 types, 1. Open-space Gardening; 2. Terrace Gardening. Both have to be approached in different ways.

Type 1 : Open-space Gardening

Before starting to plant anything in the space you have start with few questions,

What your regular needs are? What is the space that can be occupied for planting? How water source can be managed? What type soil is present in your space? Availability of adequate sunlight? 

Once you start think answers to these questions you are really halfway through the second stage. These are some guide through to have a thought process before planning to grow plants in your open-space:

1. Find the right needs of your regular requirement, anxious to grow every plant is what everyone does, but believe you need to really constrain your needs at the beginning.  
2. Each plant requires certain space around their stem to grow healthy, generally long term plants require at least 2 feet distance between other plants to grow their roots wide and deep to yield more. 
3. Have a descent estimate of availability of water during summer times, few plants consumes large quantity of water and others consumes minimally.
4. Mostly soil type is required to be known for growing certain varieties of plants, they require enriched soil types to grow healthy, and requires enrichment of soil with nutrients before planting. 
5. Sunlight is required for every plant that’s not really a option, but the amount of sunlight they require varies. Some can be grown even in indoors, some will only grow in direct sunlight. 

After the results of working out in various thought process, I would recommend one to start with some long time plants, this help you have to start in planning the other factors. Planting a long term plant like coconut (if you have a wider area), banana (really occupies larger space when it starts multiplying), flower plants(that’s a good start), other plants like guava, lemon, custard apple, curry leaves, moringa (one of the best options) and many more that you really love to grow. Honestly there are infinite suggestions but one needs to chose the correct need. These plants quite take a long duration to start yielding. Planting them at the beginning would help to organize others well. Watering these plants can be weekly basis and can sustain for longer days if there is a drought. 

Next halfway is the plantation of short term crops like leafy plants that starts to yield right from day 10.  This helps you to regularly consume healthy food that grows right in your home. 

This is one part of open-space Gardening and other option is having a front elevation landscaping, there are many nursery crops that are meant for beautifying your front space and there are good landscapers who help you guide through. 

You can contact me in person to know more about beautifying the elevated space that bring a pleasant landscape in your home. 

In either ways the love for growing plants has to increase that’s the goal. 

Type 2: Terrace Gardening

Terrace Gardening is the most recent trend of growing plants for agricultural hobbyists. It really increases the loving nature of human towards plants. You need to take care of all aspects of plants right from the watering pattern, shade control, soil and nutrients that is required for each plant.  You will look after them as you would do with your child.

The major thought work that needs to be performed before starting a terrace or rooftop Gardening.

1. What are the plants you need, that can fulfill your with regular cooking needs?
2. How many plants you are planning to grow?
3. Type of Pot/Grow-bags that is required for each one of them.
4. What is your usable roof space? And how much of it are you going to install a shade net with? Installing shade nets are necessary to safeguard the plants that require less exposure to the direct sunlight.

Terrace or rooftop Gardening involves in initial cost, that are required for procurement of various resources and installation of shade net , Labour works and much more.

Don’t think you are stepping on a higher segment of investing large amount of your money in building up your garden. It is worth the money when you see the output of the end result in your health as well as the peacefulness you get entering your lovely garden. 

The Terrace Gardening phase of your journey to become passionate farmer, develops your all-round knowledge of plants behavior of different nutrients, watering pattern, required soil conditions and other various pest attacks. These are the major factors you need to know before entering into large scale farming. 

During the course of plants growing, you would require a regular supply of nutrient supplements as there are no other possible option of getting nutrients for them to grow.  

You can contact me in person to get a clear picture of all the costs that you would need to bare installing a rooftop/terrace garden.

STAGE 3:

Welcome to the real phase of farming…

Prerequisites for starting your agricultural activities

1. A wider space to plant the crops.
2. Irrigating source.
3. Man power / if you are ready to work in field you are most welcome.
4. Source of seeds or saplings according to the season or if you choosing any long term crop, need to find the nurseries which produce the best.
5. The market source or buyer, usually can tie-up with any company that require raw materials from farmers directly ( make sure they have a sound financial history, go through references alone who are trustworthy).
6. A lot of planning on crop rotations.

These prerequisites are the major areas one needs to cover before entering into the agricultural practices. There are no particular way once you have a clear understanding of how agricultural activities are performed. There some suggestions that I would prefer for an initial start (for lands that are fertile enough to start immediately).

Suggestion 1:

Start with planning on a long term plants. This would really take a lot of time to grow in field. These plants need to be planted with a planned layout. This helps you with inter-cropping, i.e., planting short term or other long term crop/plant in-between the planted plants. 

Tip: Look for long term crops, that has a market all days in a year. This would ensure you would never go into major loss. 

Suggestion 2:

Start planting major seasonal crops that yields at the time a proper market is available. Also plan to plant the crop in an interval of few days, this would help you supply your goods for a longer period of time and you can see a higher prices quoted for the same product when everyone were supplying.

So you can’t really start direct farming unless you have a fertile land and god’s in favor with all the basic needs (would definitely be happy if you have all the prerequisites). If you don’t have a fertile land, you need to start with maturing the land with a lot of manures, that help them in attaining the maturity to start cultivating. You can definitely do wonders once the soil and water is suitable for cultivation. Make sure to maintain them both in proper fertility.

I would prefer going on with long-term plants, which can sustain any conditions. That would be a wiser start. 

This phase is the most important when you start planning your goal. Sustain the idealism that you are passionate about agricultural activities. In recent times, farming is not seen as a boon. All see the negative side and start discouraging you, these social entities are to be overcome. Be bold you are at the right place in your life.

You can contact me in person for a personalized farm management system to start your agricultural activities.

That’s my guide to become a passionate farmer. Stay enthusiastic, happy farming 🌱

You can always start at any stage, generally starting at a large scale without any experience is a hard way when it comes to agriculture. But it is worth the pain.

This guide is specifically for those who want to do some agricultural activity, but don’t know how to start.

Even when there are various fields of business, the ever lasting industry in any part of the world is agriculture and farmer has every right to change the game of economic growth. 

Agriculture is the future. Start planning to get on track

For your every stage requirements in building the passionate farmer in you, we at HARTITHAKAILASH are always available to assist you explore the farming sector to the fullest