Organic Sandalwood cultivation near Hyderabad by a team of Scientists & Biologists

A group of educated farmers, famous scientists & biologists (Having 40 years of experience in their field) claim to benefit individuals with a multi crore profit project. Their claim is not out of mare imagination but is backed up by facts and figures which can be globally verified too. Kindly spend some time and go through the entire article to decide for yourself. Who knows you might end up being a beneficiary yourself or could guide someone needy. This project is meant for perfect planners who have the maturity of cross checking realities, planning their retirement well and securing their next generation.

For hundreds of years, India and Indians have been long deprived of this precious cash crop called "Sandalwood”. This wild tree yields Crores of rupees however needs least human intervention or care for its growth. India is one among the only six countries which has the favorable soil and climate conditions to grow Sandalwood and was once a huge supplier to the rest of the world. However in the recent past the situation became such that India had to import sandalwood from other countries as the natural resource from the forests had almost come to an extinct.

Finally in the year 2008, with Government of India amending its act and giving permissions to cultivate Sandalwood has opened doors for individuals and co-operate bodies to relish the rich outcome of cultivating this wild crop. Sandalwood’s cultivation is no hidden secret or rocket science however there are 26 species of this tree and one needs to know which one has to be selected for cultivation, in a given type of soil. If prior tests and selections are not done carefully the results can be fatal as the trees would still grow however would not yield the desired results. This tress when grown under organized cultivation with drip irrigation, fetch maximum results.

The Problem

The facts about Sandalwood farming is well known to the Indian farmers, however its farming is still avoided as our farmers need farming lands, equipments and the finance to survive throughout the cultivation period which lasts around 12-15 years. The financial situation of our farmers is not something new to us. Government support has been minimal and providing subsidies is not good enough for this cause. This leaves our farmers helpless and prone to cultivate small alternate crops or further more sell their land and do petty jobs for survival.

On the other hand we have the employee class who can easily afford this small farming expenses however choose to stay away from farming as they have very little or no farming knowledge or still further, do not wish to get into farming. Farmers and employees are two individual groups in the society who have the least idea as to what each other do at their work areas. Farmers lack the ability to communicate the rich outcome in farming to the employee class and depend more on the government aid. Due to this lack of information, employees end up investing in the shares of big brands, Forex, retirement plans, fixed deposits, real-estate investments, insurances and many other sectors rather than choosing to invest in farming. This project maintains transparency to give the employees an opportunity to understand the benefits of farming and to invest in agriculture.

What can be done?

It’s time to look into the facts and analyze the scope of Sandalwood farming and it’s also time for the employees and the farmers to get together creating a win –win situation for both the communities. To bridge the gap between the employees and the farmer a third group of people mainly Scientists, Biologists and Nature lovers have designed this project. A team of Experts like, Dr.H S Anantha Padmanabha who is a famous scientists & biologist of 40 years experience in Indian forestry, specializing in sandalwood cultivation and been so long helping countries like India, Australia, Sri Lanka and many more grow this rich crop. K Muralidhar Reddy (Acharya) Master of Science (environmental science & engineering) University of Maryland College Park, MD, USA, S V L Prasad, Manager Horticulture of the Taj West End (Taj Group Hotels) Bangalore for the past 22 years, and many more have come up to contribute their expertise in cultivating this crop, thus reducing the risk factors and encouraging more and more employees to come forward and join this project.

This team has kept the project easily affordable to most of the communities, thus trying to benefit all. The lands are collectively purchased at competitive prices and then sold to individuals at very nominal cost thus giving the investors the ownership of this farms @ of Rs 250 per Sq yd which includes all expenses like farming equipments, labour wages, saplings, planting expenses, bore wells, overhead tanks, sprinklers, geo coding technology, staff quarters, 7 feet solar fencing, security, non tar roads connecting every plot, common guest house (15 rooms Non a/c), swimming pool and the maintenance cost.

The Proposal

The proposal is to follow Indian traditional farming practice of 50/50 cost and yield sharing agreements, wherein the investor bears the cost and the Farmers, Scientists & Biologists contribute their skills. The cultivation is managed from the stat till the end by the Project owners. The cost is maintained rock bottom by evading costly affairs like marketing, advertising, brokerage etc. Taking the plan further, it’s also planned well to do a collective & organized farming thus reducing the cost further and increasing the ability to afford latest technology and equipments to maximize outcome. This kind of adaptation has overall opened gates for investors from every sectors of Indian society. ¼ acre (1200 Sq yd) of land along with all amenities costs 3 lakhs only. To make it even more affordable easy installments facility as low as Rs 5000 PM has been provided. A humble offer which the farmers guarantee is out of "no initial profit intentions". In fact, though very small, the investors start getting returns right from the fourth year.

100 Gms of Sandalwood costs Rs 900.5 Ml of its oil costs Rs 1,350. Heartwood extracted from Sandalwood trees fetched around Rs 65-70 lakhs per ton (907.18 kilograms) in the last Government auction in Salem (Tamil Nadu). An average Sandalwood tree, when cultivated in organized farming, yields around 25-30 kilograms of Heartwood in 12-15 years of time. In an acre 300 Sandalwood trees are grown thus yielding around 8 tons of heartwood fetching around 4 crore per acre. This gives the farmers a huge reward for their hard work and an excellent return for the investors who trusted in them.

At the end of the Sandalwood harvest this investment can be considered as the ownership of a decent property which in the current job/salary situation and future uncertainties, we would say is "currently affordable", acts as an security for retirement and is an great asset for the next generation. Post 15 years this investment can be seen as a good plan for a farm house as the project will end up with only mango groves (as teak and sandalwood will be sold out) leaving behind a lush green land big enough for construction, with gated community, common guest house, well laid roads connecting each plot giving independent access to the land owner/s and the most important "the likeminded neighbors which means "family privacy”. This would be an ideal plan to get away from this concrete jungle for a comfortable & secured post retirement life.

We invite investors to cross check the realities, foresee the results and invest in this project as we have limited plots and the project has already started.