Mr Farmer:

Depends on what you mean by "profitable". Make RM1 profit also technically considered profitable lei... heheh...

But let's just say you're looking at RM3,000 monthly income generation. Assuming your monthly cost is about RM2,500 (for 1 harvester and 1 collector, plus quarterly weeding and fertilizer application), then you would need at least 3.5 hectares (about 9 acres). This is being conservative lar. If don't need to do much weeding, and can get better price for fertilizer, then maybe need lesser lor. Also, this is based on just 25 tons FFB a year; if your yield get 30 tons or more, that all considered bonus already lor.

But like Mr. Wong said, oil palm is lazyman's crop. Don't really need much care, and will still give acceptable yield.

Lol, good for Mr Wong. As he has more than 10 years' planting experience, he can term it as lazy man's crop. For newbie like me, am just starting to learn planting tapioca and sweet potatoes

Michael, for the above that is to generate an income of 3K. What if you cost in initial investment like land cost, developmental (land preparation & planting) and transportation (higher over East Malaysia as access road is not as good), then what sort of acreage should we be looking at?

This post has been edited by MrFarmer: Mar 2 2012, 10:23 PM

well, the 100k Ha cap is not really a problem as u can setup a holding company to hold several companies that can have 100k ha each... actually no1 now lump more than 20kha per company... risk management

yeaps.. money is good... and easy if u r good at buying land..

just buy cheap land next to big plantations and use the roads/facilities they build if it is on state land... kekeke

My mother's close friend purchased 200 acres of land at Kalimantan for oil palm plantation purpose in 2007. After slightly more than one year, someone else came to claim that he owns the land. So this guy had someone verified the certificate with land office, only to find out that it is a forged copy. He lost close to RM1.5mil total. He still claimed he's pretty lucky, because he purchased only 200 acres to try to learn the palm oil trade.

---

Added on March 3, 2012, 7:32 pmAnyway, let me introduce myself.

I was introduced to this thread by Michael J.

I own 20 acres of land at Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan. To make the whole story short, it was a durian plantation back then, abandoned for about 10 years, most of the trees are dead. Thinking if I should venture into palm oil. Should I plant palm on that piece of land? Or should I sell it, and purchase cheaper land elsewhere. The land at Lenggeng is worth 80-100k per acre.

Michael J. happened to suggest aquaculture. So I'm doing my best to investigate and/or do my research on this matter.

Let's put it this way. This land was previously owned by my mother, but she gave me the full rights to do whatever I want with the land now.

A little bit of background about myself. I'm 29 years old. US Graduate with B.Engr Computer Engineering, worked for IBM at Rochester MN for 5 years, and received my part-time MBA from University of Minnesota. Came back to Malaysia in November 2010. Since then, I've started 2 of my own businesses, one which is a franchise restaurant outlet, and another recycling (pyrolisis) plant.

Now what I'm trying to do with the land. I'm thinking of "PASSIVE" income, where I don't have to get myself involved, as much as any traditional hands-on businesses. I just simply don't have the time to oversee the day-to-day operations for long term basis. I don't mind spending 3-6 months making sure my business goes on smoothly, but I can't be spending years on it day-to-day as I hope to venture into some other businesses.

So, I'm trying to figure what I should be doing with the land? Please recommend.

Thanks!

Sincerely,
Wilson

This post has been edited by ytkwong: Mar 3 2012, 07:32 PM

Hi Bro,

i am also at lenggeng & mantin.

which part of lenggeng is your land ?
can i visit your place ?

thanks

ParaOptical

that's one of the big headache in buying land in indonesia.. a lot of con case... make sure you do you legal due diligence before buying the land.. and this is where my expertise comes in offering freelance services for this kind of work.. kakaka

Welcome to the club ytkwong.

Just thinking out loud, assuming that the land is agriculture land, maybe can convert it to commercial/industrial or residential?
In the mean time, either set up a simple agriculture program with the least capital investment of a JV with a partner to manage the farm/plantation.

My personal opinion is that a land costing 80~100k per acre, does not justify to do agriculture as the ROI is not sufficient to cover it (?). I guess looking into capital gain (Land) is more feasible.

Let's share some ideas?

Mr Farmer:

Land cost really depends on where you are located. Some land may be really cheap in Sabah or Sarawak, but the access roads and other logistics will literally kill you. More pricey land often has better access roads. I know Sabah Development Corporation is planning on clearing up massive tracks of land around the Ranau region, apparently they are also building access roads to the area. Maybe you could check with them on the Ranau area, or anywhere else they are currently targeting?

Exclusing land cost, according to some of the larger plantations in Sabah and Sarawak, their cost of development is something like RM18,000 + RM10,000 + RM10,000 for the first three years of land preparation and development, including planting cost, creating access roads etc. I can't name those companies, but they are really big, listed companies.

And as far as I can tell you, since Sabah and Sarawak don't have unions for plantations like we do here (I believe there are some push for this though), companies there are not "forced" to pay the wages in accordance to the MAPA-NUPW agreements. However, I believe the government-instilled minimum wage policy will also include plantation companies in Sabah and Sarawak. And on top of that, transportation costs is a lot more higher, and mills are far between, so I would say your minimum acreage should be at least double that in Peninsular. According to the same companies above, it normally takes them to begin earning clean profits after the 12th year of planting, compared to the 8 years in Peninsular (do bear in mind, this includes the cost of buying over the land).

---

Added on March 4, 2012, 2:53 amytkwong:

Welcome, and thanks for dropping by. Do feel free to browse around and post questions on topics relevant to agriculture and aquaculture. We will get back to you ASAP.

alaskanbunny + ytkwong:

Yes, I know what you mean. Con jobs are aplenty, so companies or individuals really need to do due dillegence before going forwards. Though things might have already changed, in Indonesia, the local laws tend to be more important that the central government laws, it seems. The company I used to work for had thought the central government laws were the only laws to follow when we initially began investing in Indonesia, until we met the local governor who "informed" the company that is many (or rather most) cases, the central government has no control over what the local authority enforces, if you get what I mean. Things like land area, titles etc. may fall under the central government's jurisdiction, but they often work under the advice from the local authorities.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 4 2012, 02:53 AM

Hello alaskanbunny,

May I ask how much per arces? I have RM 50K at hand.

Thank you

This post has been edited by insearching: Mar 5 2012, 10:45 PM

any information abt shrimp or prawn raising?

Hi People....

The March Issue of The Agri & Aqua Culturing Newsletter is out

http://www.mediafire.com/?4s2wr3avtbbb7l3

hi, long time no c...just wondering, apart from slow growth level, y dun ppl here rear turkeys commercially? they're actually healthier than chicken, right?

Maybe chinyen can rear some turkeys then let's us know the result?

right now i am rearing my own supply of chicken...and it is much tastier...

self planted vege & fruit trees....definitely a healthier way of living

Maybe marketability?

for thanksgiving and Christmas....if not mistaken

Did some comparison on the market some time ago last year (Sabah). Chicken vs Duck. I think Chicken wins in terms of market share. I'm sure (here) the market for Chicken is much bigger. Turkey, it didn't cross my mind at that moment.

chinyen, want to share your information on Turkey?

Just visited Desa Cattle Farm.

MrFarmer:

You are absolutely right. And chicken is not just big in Malaysia, but Asia Pacific as a whole:

Country Broiler production (birds per week) Broiler production (birds per year)
Bangladesh 7 million 364 million
China 104 million 5,408 million
India 38.5 million 2,002 million
Indonesia 30 million 1,560 million
Japan 12 million 624 million
South Korea 9.6 million 499.2 million
Australia 11.5 million 598 million
New Zealand
& Pacific Islands 11.5 million 598 million
Pakistan 1.8 million 93.6 million
Thailand 16.4 million 852.8 million
Malaysia 10.3 million 535.6 million
TOTAL 252.6 million 13,135.2 million


On a separate note, how the hell does one publish tables on the forum???

---

Added on March 8, 2012, 11:10 amAnyway, putting aside the frustration of not being able to publish any tables on the forum, my thoughts is the same as Para.

A whole chicken may cost RM15-RM20 a bird (or a kg), whereas a whole turkey would likely cost RM50-RM60 easily. Pricing and product placement in this case already a big disadvantage, even though turkey may be less fatty than chicken. However, I also feel that it is this "more healthy taste" of turkey that turns people off; turkey is a really tasteless bird, not to mention difficult to cook. Without the sauce, the bird pretty much tastes like cardboard. Furthermore, one not only has to have the right cooking equipments, but also need to know how to properly cook the bird, or else some parts will be cooked, but other parts overcooked and dry.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 8 2012, 11:10 AM

Michael J, where do you think i can get reliable broiler chicken supplier ??? maybe those "CHOY YUEN" or "KONG NECK" or "KAMPUNG" breed ???

very frustrated with the supplier here in Semenyih...cause always mix the male until mostly i reared those male chickens = very less meat compared to female....

Side note : turkey is very difficult to cook properly as per Michael J. you cook wrongly then your RM 50-60 is up in smokes ala Smoked Turkey...and market wise its chicken definitely

if you plan to rear for festival then can give it a try...

Para:

Erm... From my experiments, roosters (male chicken) grow faster and yield more meat than hens (female chicken). Roosters also have less fat to body mass. You may like to read this article from University of Guelph:
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and...?service=mobile

You could try getting from Leong Hup, as they are supplier for Cobb Vantress in Malaysia. But theirs are mostly broiler chicken lar. If you want Holland Reds or kampung chickens, there is this one shop selling joss sticks and such which doubles as a shop selling chicken feed and chicks. They have a consistent supply, as I believe the owner also owns a chicken farm. When you come into Sepang town, look for this new building contruction on your right. It is nearby that area, you won't miss it.

---

Added on March 8, 2012, 12:25 pmps: The main reasons why male chicks are usually culled is not because they are unwanted, but rather because of the utility of the birds. Chicken varieties meant for egg production do not have very good muscle building, but are able to produce a lot of eggs. Varieties like broilers are bred to be superb muscle builders, so you will notice that within a few weeks, they are all ready for the the market.

If you want a dual purpose bird, try looking for Holland Red/Giants. They are really huge birds, and superb egg layers. My first generation Holland Giants weighed in an average of 3kg per bird for the males, and slightly less for the females. The hens laid nearly 1 egg per bird each day throughout their reproductive lifetime. Size of eggs weren't AAA, but they still managed to get into the A-grade classification. My subsequent generations were bred for egg laying ability and meat quality (rather than weight), so the average weights were a little lower, about 2.5kg per bird.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 8 2012, 12:27 PM