When urban city life turns monotonous and draining, city dwellers look for an escape into areas around urban localities, especially farmlands, to connect with nature. While some prefer purchasing countryside houses, the others rent farms as a vacation getaway.
This process has now evolved into business practice, or rather, it has opened up a new field of investment called agro-realty, which is very novel and lucrative. Several developers are now offering farm plots that are equipped with amenities of every sort and can be rented or purchased. Agro-realty, therefore, opens up new avenues that possess the potential to transform the real estate sector in the country. Let us look at the concept, its benefits, and its importance in detail.
What is Agro-Realty?
Real estate is a sphere of ever-changing demands that are, in fact, a result of the trends in the global economy, at large. One of these emerging concepts is that of agro-realty. To put it simply, it is a neo-agricultural practice that treats agricultural land as serving the purpose of both farming as well as a residential place. The developers purchase a land parcel, divide it into sub-plots having demarcated boundaries, and then sell it to investors who want to maximize their returns.
The key feature of this investment model is that the land development is done in a wholesale manner i.e. the project comes equipped with internal access roads, water and electricity supply, activity zones, and other amenities. With basic infrastructural amenities in place, the development process becomes fast and cost-friendly.
Individuals or a group individuals who purchase the land continue with natural or organic farming, develop properties so that they can act as weekend homes, and enjoy the benefits of a home away from home!
What are the Benefits of Agro-Realty?
Whether it is the availability of basic civic amenities or the advanatge of tax exemptions on income earned from and profits made from selling agricultural land parcels, these plots serve as happy retreats where people can go and spend their holidays, or earn a stable income source.
All of this combined, the investment does become a very attractive and pleasing opportunity with a guaranteed return. Some of the advantages that agro-realty berings with it have been elucidated below-
1. Luxury has Turned Affordable
One of the primary concerns associated with different types of real estate investments is the land cost. However, when it comes to agro-realty, the whole agricultural field is divided into smaller plots of land that are bought by multiple investors. This means that all costs from electricity to water supply, social infrastructure and even maintenance are distributed. For this reason, the overall cost becomes a fraction of what purchasing the entire property could cost.
2. Excellent Returns
A host of novel farming techniques are incorporated into this integrated procedure. Some of these include Hydroponics, Vertical Farming and Aquaponics. Not only are these methods environment-friendly, but they also ensure a greater yield. This automatically entails a high return on the investment. In addition, agro-realty promises capital security given that there is a physical plot associated with the investment.
3. Additional Income Source
A farm plot continues to serve as a source of income as long as a person is willing to invest the right expertise, technique, equipment, and high-quality crop seeds alongside managing their sales. Since these land types offer operating and capital returns in the form of rental income and appreciation, it also acts as an excellent source of income for an individual.
4. Non-depreciable Investment
In comparison to multi-story apartments and flats, agricultural land parcels do not depreciate with time. As a result of which, the maintenance costs associated are minimal or nil. Plus, these parcels are not only restricted to natural farming but are also put to multiple purposes such as organic farming.
5. A Return to Nature
Besides being super affordable, agro-realty ensures that there is a balance maintained between living and its deeper relation to nature. If one is looking for a place to spend their mini-vacation, agro realty facilities turn out to be a great option. They are furnished with the best amenities and offer proximity to nature’s tranquility at very low prices. The ability to be able to spend time away from the banal city life in the laps of nature acts as the unique selling point.
Importance of Agro Realty in the Indian Context
For eons and centuries, agricultural land has been a static resource for farming. Its possibility for residential or industrial use was, therefore, very limited. In fact, even dairy farming or managing poultry always required an additional plot of land. So the land in earlier times did not serve as a multi-purpose asset. However, different sectors of the economy cannot be treated as individual entities working for their own benefit. In fact, they must constantly interact with each other so that the demands of one sector can be fulfilled by another thereby establishing a symbiotic relationship in terms of sustenance and the overall growth of the economy. Only then can the Indian economy actually ensure a scenario where supply equals demand.
- The concept of agro-realty holds a great deal of potential in terms of growth considering that the need for agricultural land can never be done away with. Furthermore, the development of agro-realty facilities hardly entails any environmental damage. In fact, they ensure a setting where nature is taken care of, while also fulfilling human needs. On a greater level, it symbolizes an effort on the part of humankind to work in tandem with nature instead of allowing human greed to take over earth’s resources without any concern for the future.
- When it comes to the storage and transportation of farm produce, investors or farmers still rely on government-backed storage facilities. However, due to lack of cold storage infrastructure, skewed distribution, and low private investment, some amount of farm produce does go into waste. The integrated agro-realty method solves the issue of storage, marketing, and selling to a large extent, especially for those investors who want to gain maximum profits from this unique mix of agricultural and residential land.
Since these parcels are built on the city peripherals, the distance to be traveled for the product to reach its destination is less due to proper transportation channels. This ensures minimal wastage, easy transportation, and higher returns.
- By completely doing away with the use of pesticides and insecticides and implementing organic farming, it becomes easier to ensure that any farming practice doesn’t stand against the general health concerns. This prepares India to take up newer and more effective practices as a part of how we work and function. Slowly, these ensure that we move towards a structure that becomes more conducive to accepting and implementing technological advances to keep pace with the rest of the world.
- Apart from the growing need for better agricultural practices, the requirement for farm plots that can be used as vacation homes is also one of the major reasons why agro-realty has developed as a modern trend.
To Summarize
The concept of agro realty has been practised in countries like the USA and the UK for quite a few years now and has definitely emerged as an effective way to increase their income while being at leisure. It is common knowledge that the return on farm investments is usually high and there’s also an added security owing to the fact that there is an existing physical commodity in the form of a piece of land.
Moreover, the pandemic has resulted in an increased consideration for food that is consumed. As a result of the same, a lot many individuals prefer meals cooked from naturally grown crops. This ensures the consumer that anything and everything they’re consuming is free of any chemical compounds. As for this all-new era of natural farming coming up, agro-realty offers a solution and a consequent prospect for its own growth.
