AGRICULTURE LAND IS THE ONLY ASSET WORTH BUYING
- Madhukar Dama
- May 30
- 6 min read
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INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS REALLY WORTH OWNING?
In a world obsessed with mutual funds, crypto, gold, real estate, and foreign education, few stop to ask:
What can I own that will never betray me?
The answer isn’t new.
It is agricultural land — not as commodity, but as life’s foundation.
Not as an asset to flip, but as a place to live, work, eat, grow, heal, and die with dignity.
This essay is not about returns in rupees.
It is about returns in reality.
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1. LAND GIVES YOU FOOD — EVERY SINGLE DAY
No investment gives you breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Stocks don’t grow tomatoes.
Flats don’t grow garlic.
Jewellery can’t grow rice.
Agricultural land gives you fruits for your children, greens for your gut, roots for healing, grains for strength, and herbs for medicine.
Even a quarter-acre of well-used land can reduce 70% of your food bills.
The rest? You won’t even need, because your body will begin healing.
Food is not just nutrition. It is immunity, joy, and dignity.
You don’t need an MBA to grow brinjal. You need sunlight, compost, and your own two hands.
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2. LAND GIVES YOU WORK — THAT NO ONE CAN FIRE YOU FROM
Millions run like rats in urban job races, unsure if they’ll be replaced by automation or AI.
Agricultural land gives you purpose, movement, and real impact.
You’re not a cog. You’re not dependent on HR.
Your work is yours — shaped by your hands, seen by your eyes, and tasted by your children.
You can wake up early, walk barefoot, check the dew on leaves, observe insects, adjust your soil, and watch a tomato ripen day by day.
This is not retirement. This is return to real work.
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3. LAND GIVES YOU SHELTER — THAT BREATHES WITH YOU
Rent and EMIs choke most urban families.
They pay to sleep in concrete boxes with recycled air, honking horns, and false security.
But a small home on agricultural land breathes through mud walls and open windows.
It stands on debt-free ground.
It cools itself with trees.
It shelters you without locking you in.
Mud homes cost almost nothing if built slowly and with help.
A 300–500 square foot home made of mud, stone, lime, bamboo, or tiles can be built for ₹1–3 lakhs with local support.
No loans. No builder. No maintenance trap.
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4. LAND GIVES YOU HEALTH — WITHOUT A SINGLE PILL
Most urban health issues are diseases of disconnection — from soil, movement, and real food.
Life on land restores the microbiome through natural farming, immunity through soil microbes, sleep through circadian rhythm, emotional health through interaction with animals and plants, and digestion through traditional eating.
You will sleep better under stars than under tube lights.
Your children will stop falling sick.
You will sweat, smile, bend, stretch — all without gym fees.
You will stop searching for “health tips” because your lifestyle will become medicine.
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5. LAND GIVES YOU EDUCATION — THROUGH LIFE ITSELF
You can send your child to the most expensive school.
But unless they know how to grow a brinjal, fix a fence, make fire, or care for a calf — they remain dependent.
On land, children learn math through seed counting, biology through pests and pollination, language through stories and market interactions, science through weather, art through nature, and discipline through natural cycles.
They learn not just to pass exams — but to survive.
And later, to teach.
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6. LAND GIVES YOU COMMUNITY — NOT JUST CONTACTS
In cities, you may not know your neighbour’s name for 10 years.
In a village or outskirts, people appear during harvest, illness, or celebration.
You exchange seeds.
You borrow tools.
You share excess lemons and turmeric.
You feel useful.
You are known.
There’s no app for that.
Community cannot be ordered or installed.
It must be built — and land allows that to happen again.
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7. LAND GIVES YOU INCOME — WITHOUT SELLING YOUR SOUL
Once your basic needs are met through self-reliance, you can offer others what you’ve built:
Organic vegetables. Herbal remedies. Mud home building skills. Workshops. Farm stays. Home education guidance. Composting systems. Learning events. Ancestral food. Cooking classes. Healing retreats.
You can use your previous skills — coding, design, teaching, writing — to run these sustainably.
You can teach people to heal naturally and escape what you escaped.
If you want to ease the transition, continue online or part-time work from your mud home.
Use early mornings and evenings to garden.
Many are now running fully online freelance businesses from off-grid land.
They spend less, eat better, and sell nothing fake.
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8. LAND GIVES YOU SECURITY — THAT BANKS CAN’T PROMISE
When cities flood, your slope-fed land drains itself.
When inflation soars, your coconut trees still fruit.
When layoffs begin, your chicken coop still clucks.
When a virus spreads, your neem leaves still boil.
When power cuts come, you still have light from the sky.
You are not fully dependent on any single fragile system.
The land protects those who protect it.
No mutual fund or FD can do that.
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9. LAND GIVES YOU DEATH WITH DIGNITY — AND A LIVING LEGACY
Would you rather die in a hospital with strangers, or on your own land, under the same neem tree you planted 20 years ago?
Your grave doesn’t need marble.
Your legacy can be a mango grove.
You can give your children knowledge, not tuition.
You can give them a skill, not stress.
You can give them memory, not confusion.
You can give them a real place — not an idea.
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10. LAND IS WHERE YOU RETURN TO BE HUMAN AGAIN
In cities, you become roles: employee, tenant, consumer, commuter.
On land, you become whole: builder, grower, healer, artist, teacher, parent.
Land doesn’t ask for your resume.
It waits for your instincts.
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BUT HOW MUCH DOES LAND COST? WHAT CAN I AFFORD?
This is where clarity is vital.
You don’t need 10 acres.
Even 1/4 acre or half acre is enough to become largely food self-sufficient.
On the outskirts of most Indian cities, you can buy dry agricultural land for ₹3–5 lakhs per acre.
In more remote parts, it may cost ₹1–2 lakh per acre.
In high-demand areas, up to ₹10–12 lakhs.
You can:
Lease land instead of buying
Buy a single acre with 2–3 friends/families and divide usage
Start with a 10-year lease and convert to ownership later
Approach elderly landowners who no longer farm — they may lease for free if you maintain it
Land is not expensive. Our priorities are.
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WHAT ABOUT LEGAL ISSUES?
Most states in India now allow even non-farmers to buy agricultural land with simple affidavits.
Avoid converting it to residential to keep it tax-free and regulation-light.
Do not build massive concrete structures.
Build small, temporary, natural homes — they don’t attract scrutiny.
Use local support to understand documents, village maps, water rights, and access routes.
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HOW TO BEGIN: THE FIRST YEAR PLAN
The first year is for:
Observing the land
Building a basic natural home
Starting a small compost-based garden
Digging or using existing well
Collecting seeds from organic farmers
Learning from neighbours
Raising a few hens or goats
Cooking what you grow
Documenting your learning
Healing your body
That’s it.
No rush.
No commercial plan.
Just reconnection.
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YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A FULL-TIME FARMER
You can:
Grow only what you eat
Buy other things from nearby natural farms
Do online part-time work
Teach your children from home
Conduct seasonal workshops
Host other families who want to learn
Build eco-huts and rent to sincere seekers
Share your journey through books or films
You don’t have to run a farm business.
You just have to reclaim your life.
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IF IT FEELS TOO BIG — START SMALL
Try:
Renting or borrowing 1/4 acre to grow food for a year
Converting your terrace into a natural garden
Moving to outskirts on weekends and learning
Spending time on others’ farms to gain confidence
Starting a shared farm community with 2–3 families
Joining land-based co-living or learning programs
Nature does not demand that you change everything overnight.
She just asks that you return with sincerity.
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CONCLUSION: THIS IS NOT A DREAM. THIS IS A WAY BACK TO LIFE.
This is not rural romanticism.
This is not rejecting science.
This is rebuilding sanity.
Agricultural land gives you:
Food
Shelter
Health
Purpose
Security
Dignity
Education
Income
Connection
Freedom
There is no other place that gives you all ten — every day.
So, buy a piece. Lease it. Share it. Sit on it. Sow on it. Sleep on it. Heal on it.
Because everything else you own will one day need repair, recharge, or renewal.
But land — if you care for it — will care for you till your last breath.
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