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Camson Biotechnologies plans to tap farm land lying idle by entering into farm management business.
The company will soon form a subsidiary and targets managing at least 1,000 to 1,500 acres in Maharashtra and Karnataka this fiscal.
It will take on board 30 students from various agriculture universities for this venture.
Currently, the company extends advisory services to farmers owning 850 acres as part of its business strategy.
Camson offers a wide range of bio-products including biocides, bio-fertilisers and hybrid seeds. Its hybrid vegetables seeds portfolio includes lady finger, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, sweet corn, baby corn, tomato, brinjal, chilli and sponge gourd.
It also offers hybrid watermelon and musk melon.
Mr Santosh Nair, Chief Executive Officer, said many professionals living abroad and IT executives in Karnataka have 30-50 acres of arable land each and have leased it out for a pittance without knowing its potential.
“We will enter into a joint venture with this kind of professional and take up farming in their field. We will entrust the field to our executives who will decide on entire process from crop selection to farm management,” he said.
The company also offers to find a suitable buyer after a particular crop is grown. The five hybrid water melon varieties – Sonmati, Chandraprabhavati, Hemavati, Netravati and Vedavati – are in big demand in export markets especially in West Asia. About 600 tonnes of watermelon produced from Camson seeds were exported last fiscal and franchises have already bagged orders for 7,000 tonnes this fiscal.
The company is ready to share 50 per cent of the profit if the fixed cost is borne by the partner. Else, it will part with 30 per cent of the profit for just leasing the land. An acre of land requires an annual investment of Rs 30,000-40,000 and could yield a return of Rs 1-1.5 lakh, depending on the crop selection, said Mr Nair.
Camson is also weighing an offer from the Ethiopian government to take over 10,000 acres under farm management. Similar, opportunities in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Turkey are also on the company's way, he said.
Back home, the Kerala Government has invited Camson to make a presentation on the advantage and ways to promote use of hybrid seeds and biocides in the State.
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