Can go Yam Char in KL, Cheras.

afternoon have lunch in Cheras can ar ?? i would love to join if possible

No problem Bro.

Hey guys,

My friend and I are interested in venturing into Ag business mainly fruits and vegetables. Couple of questions:

1) We just graduated, in our early 20s. How can we actually get started in Ag nowadays? We have a full-time job. I am in Oil Palm Plantation; he is in Ag chemicals. Should we go full time or part time into Ag? What is the starting capital? We plan to go all Ag soon if our farm is established.
2) We plan to do integration for fruit or vegetables. Intercropping while waiting for main crop. For newbs like us, which is a better choice, fruit or vegetables? Considering we do not have any land and we would most probably start small, approx. 3-4 ac of land.
3) Any of the seniors here are willing to show us your farm and give us some advice? We can drive to your farm for the visit. Or maybe spare us some land not in cultivation for our trial and error.

We're very serious in venturing into Ag. Hopefully I can get some good response from the seniors.

Thank you very much.

Welcome xerophan,
Not a senior, but a willing sharer.
1) Too subjective. You already have some knowledge, but there are plenty more ingredients. Do a proper planning, raising capital, cost study, responsibility allocation, cash projection.....etc. Most importantly exit plan (best / worst scenario). Sit down with your partner start if off and things shall fall into places.
2) I don't think there is "a better choice", (a shit to you may be a gold (fertilizer) to me). I guess most important is what crop you know best, what crop grows best (on your land, working in harmony reduces your cost tremendously), what crops is marketable........ Intercropping is nice, provided you know how. Land can be rented, lease or purchased. 3-4 ac you'll be looking at helpers?
3) You are most welcome to visit / participate if you are near my area. We can learn together.

I'm one of those that feels that Ag need a revamp with new blood (ideas/technology/strategy.....)

So far, we're trying to learn what we can. But I think it's best to visit farms or talk to experienced farmers and learn their management systems. We're willing to travel even if it's not in our vicinity.

Is it hard to get government funding for our Ag business? We will do a proper business plan or any preparations needed.

Mr Farmer,

I saw in your previous posts that you are planting rubber tree as well.
I have a question; it is advisable to collect seed from existing trees, germinate and plant them in new field?

i have spare land and planning to plant rubber trees

Hi Mr Farmer, can I know where is your farm? I'm pretty interested to visit to gain knowledge and exposure of this industry.

Technically yes, but have it grafted. Am trying a simpler way (being a lazy farmer). I just go to "old" plantation after heavy rain, pluck out those young seedlings. no need to germinate. Plant them into poly bags. Learning to graft rubber trees, already have maybe 5. Using these for scion harvesting.

Grow from seeds, needs about 6 ~7 years to mature before you can tap.

Grafted can tap when the diameter is 450 mm (taken at 1 m from the ground), trees already fruiting (about 4 years).

Now rubber prices low wor

Keningau, Sabah. Land beneath the wind.

that's why i'm planning to plant them

in anyways, is it necessary to graft the seedling?
or i just germinate them then transplant them when the time comes?
sorry ahh... my knowledge in rubber is 0%

Are you in Sabah all the time? Will you be coming to Peninsular?

Hi xeroxphan,

welcome to the club

1) how long have the both of you been in the field ?? if just starting i would sincerely suggest to work a few years with them to understand the inner works before planning to venture out

2) seldom ppl do integration of fruits and vegetables. mostly do intercropping between fruits OR vegetables. depending on cash flow then only you can decide on doing fruits or vegetables. i would suggest leasing farms for trial runs

3) most welcome to come out and yum cha and talk

where are the both of you from ???

MrFarmer, monday free to yum cha around 12.00-1.00pm ??? old town midah ?

Heya Mr. Para,

We just recently graduated. We both studied Agronomy. Yea, we plan to work for a few years before entering the ag business entirely. But at the moment, maybe we could do some part-time farming for trial and error and to learn more. My friend have been visiting farms because he's working in the ag chemical field. I am in the oil palm agronomy and research now. But with the high land prices, we couldn't catch up by just saving our money for the capital. Do you know where can we get funding or any other solution?

We're both in KL/PJ area. Would love to meet with you guys. It's always good to do connections.

This post has been edited by xeroxphan: Nov 29 2013, 04:37 PM

Hi

i would suggest you can go to agrobank or DOA since both of you are graduates. they have some loans if not mistaken.
i suggest you lease farms from land owners or contact local DOA

great to meet up

Yes, grafted = hi yield , as seeds are not true to type. Grafted can tap much earlier, faster return. Check for various clone, Fast yeild, high latex.
Clone sapling are much cheaper in Peninsular.

But now rubber price very low. Better recalculate.

Yes, in KL now. Going off on the 3rd Dec. I am spending about 2/3 of my time at Farm.

Sure, am leaving on Tuesday.
See you there. Old Town 12 ~ 13 hrs. Any changes, please phone ya?

the purpose of grafting is to uniform your plant into a desirable characteristic of your choice and eventually yield a better result after years of planting. if you just sow from raw seed, you might end up getting myriad kind of mature rubber tree (oversized/slender trunk, susceptible to diseases, low latex yielding etc). actually there are more pros than cons in getting your plant grafted before planting them into the field. one simple example (grafted VS non-grafted) is you have the option to graft the seedling into the clone that is suitable based on your land geography (say hilly land, choose clone that is wind-resistant to prevent tree from breaking off), and if you just sow the raw seed, you have little control of what it will become. as an extra note, grafting is not an easy process, so if you want to save the hassle just purchase the seedlings from any nursery.