How this MBA farmer earns Rs 11 lakh per acre by growing flowers and cucumber in polyhouses

Kolli Madhu wanted to become a cricketer. He became a farmer instead. “I played cricket at the district level but my father was against my pursuing the sport as a career. Both my grandparents were into farming. And, in high school I would work in our cashew nut farm in the summer holidays,” says the 30-year-old farmer-entrepreneur.

After completing a BSc in agriculture from Bapatla Agriculture College in Andhra Pradesh, he did his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad in FABM (Food and Agri-Business Management). That’s where he learnt to think about farming as a business and not just a livelihood option. 

“I learnt how to grow more produce from one acre and earn four to five times more. To benefit the farming community, I wanted to pursue agriculture commercially,” he says.  

Madhu is the founder and CEO of Vijayawada-based M-LAND, a farming venture spread over nine acres in three areas of Andhra Pradesh – Vinukonda (five acres), Nandyala (three acres) and Narsipatnam (one acre). 

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At present, Dutch Rose, Indian cucumber and red chillies (only to sell seedlings) are cultivated by the venture. In one acre, 14 lakh chilli seedlings are grown and sold to farmers. This is the special Guntur spicy red chilli. 

‘In situ’ cultivation

“M-LAND specialises in ‘in situ’ cultivation in polyhouses and using shade nets. In situ cultivation is a technique where favourable temperature, humidity and other parameters are maintained to increase plant growth. The yield in the case of in situ cultivation is five to ten times more than open field cultivation depending on the type of crop and environmental control facilities,” explains Madhu. 

Also, pesticide use can be controlled and chemical residues avoided. Another big benefit of in situ cultivation is that year-round production is possible irrespective of the season, he says.  

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M-LAND uses modern agricultural practices like polyhouses and shade nets to efficiently utilize natural resources and maximize income in collaboration with farmers. 

“The income is at least double using in situ cultivation. Our company clocked revenues of Rs 56 lakhs in 2023-24 from only five acres (over Rs11 lakh per acre). Now we have nine acres. The projected revenue for 2024-25 is Rs 90 lakhs,” says Madhu.

Two techniques

In a polyhouse, a type of greenhouse, a polythene sheet is used to cover crops grown in controlled climatic conditions. It can be used to grow exotic vegetables, flowers and seedlings. A polyhouse protects plants from wind and rain, and retains humidity.  It leads to enhanced crop quality and yields much higher than open-field cultivation.

Shade nets are used to protect crops from excess sunlight and harmful UV rays. This ensures the plants stay healthy and reduces the risk of sun damage. Here too the growing environment is improved. Fixing shade nets is cheaper than building polyhouses. 

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“While cucumber on open land would take 45 days to be ready for harvest, in a shade net the crop is ready within 30 days. In open cultivation, in the same area, you can grow 2000-2500 cucumber plants while in in situ cultivation you can cultivate 8-10,000 plants," Madhu says.

In open cultivation, 5000 rose plants can be grown while in a polyhouse 30,000 plants are cultivated. We use chemical fertiliser as we practise intensive cropping with a large number of plants,” elaborates Madhu. 

Pandemic losses

“M-LAND was set up in 2020 just before Covid struck. The polyhouses were in the middle of construction when a lockdown was declared. I had ordered plants from Tamil Nadu and lost Rs 5 lakh because operations reached a standstill,” says Madhu ruefully.  

Interestingly, the name M-LAND was formed from the first letter of Madhu and his four friends from agricultural college who pooled Rs 20 lakhs as initial capital to set up the venture. His friends are Lakshmi Narayana, Ashok, Narendra Reddy and Dileep Kumar. Madhu says he is active in running the venture at present. 

“We started with Dutch roses. Initial investment is high for in situ cultivation. However, the government has schemes to provide aid to farmers. The National Horticultural Board gave us Rs 18 lakhs. We obtained a bank loan of Rs 22 lakhs,” he says. 

Seedlings at subsidised rates  

M-LAND provides disease-free and good-quality seedlings to farmers at subsidised rates.  The company has contracts with a few companies to sell seedlings to farmers at 35 percent subsidised rates. For the companies, it is a part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activity. The companies have a buyback guarantee arrangement with the farmers. 

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Madhu is based in Vinukonda. In summer, he goes to Visakhapatnam. There are huge markets for flowers and exotic vegetables in Vijayawada, Guntur and Visakhapatnam. Madhu sells the produce – flowers and cucumbers – in the Vijayawada wholesale market. Flowers are also sold in the Visakhapatnam flower market. He goes every week to collect money from the vendors.

“We also supply roses to bouquet shops and for functions. We get a premium price in such cases,” he says. 

After the IIM, Ahmedabad course, Madhu obtained the prestigious Buddha fellowship from The Buddha Institute, founded by IIM, Ahmedabad alumnus and social entrepreneur Ved Arya. The institute also provided mentoring support and financial help after he gave proof of concept. “Whenever I had a problem in any area like supply chain or marketing, an expert would help me find a solution,” says Madhu. 

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Impact on farmers

M-LAND has two models for farmers. In the first, it leases one acre of land from a farmer paying Rs 60,000 annually. Earlier, the income of the farmer was only Rs 45,000 per acre. If the farmer also works on the project (provides labour) he gets Rs 2 lakh more. Each acre requires two people to provide their labour. This way, the venture provides livelihood opportunities for daily wagers in villages.

In the second model, the farmer invests along with the company to construct the polyhouse or set up shade nets. M-Land provides technical and marketing support and for this expertise takes a 25 percent share of the revenue while the farmer gets 75 percent.

In this model, while the farmer gets more income he has to share the risk as well. 

“A third model that we plan to experiment with next year on one acre is where both the farmer and company invest but the cultivation is done by the company, not the farmer. Here there will be a 50-50 share,” says Madhu. 

Future plans

“Apart from trying our Model 3, we plan to try farming turmeric in situ on a quarter acre initially. We plan to grow the spice in grow bags to avoid lead content. In open cultivation, lead has been found in the spice. This is a contentious issue in India. There is a huge potential in growing turmeric in situ. Next year we may try vanilla cultivation. M-LAND has not ventured into other flowers as climatic conditions have not been favourable,” explains Madhu. 

Ventures like ours will encourage people to become micro-entrepreneurs and provide transport facilities, fertilizers and pesticides, packing material and irrigation systems, he asserts.

Right now, online sales are not possible as the size of operations is still small. “If we grow to 20-30 acres we can sell online and even export our produce,” says the dedicated farmer.  

(Aruna Raghuram is a freelance journalist based in Bengaluru. She writes about people, environmental matters, parenting, DEI issues, and social/development enterprises.)

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