ELP Shade-Net Nursery Unit: Business Plan and Production Record for Pro-Tray Tomato, Chilli and Brinjal Seedlings

This bundle documents a student-run vegetable seedling nursery set up as an Experiential Learning Programme (ELP) module in Semester 8 of the B.Sc (Hons) Agriculture programme. A team of five runs a 500 m² shade-net nursery unit on the college farm for one season and sells healthy, uniform pro-tray seedlings of tomato, chilli and brinjal to farmers of nearby villages, a farmer producer organisation (FPO) and kitchen-garden buyers.

The project treats the nursery as a real small business. Before sowing, the team writes a business plan — market survey of 30 vegetable growers, product mix, capacity, fixed and variable costs, pricing, break-even volume and marketing channels. During the season, the team keeps a production record for every sowing batch: seed lot, variety/hybrid, date, trays sown, media, germination percentage, seedling height, leaf number and root plug quality at dispatch, losses and reasons. A stock register, sales ledger and cash book track every tray from sowing to sale.

At the end the team compares plan with actuals: cost per saleable seedling, gross and net returns, break-even point and benefit–cost ratio, plus customer feedback on seedling establishment in the field. The bundle includes member-wise responsibilities, record formats, formulas, a report chapter plan matched to ELP-421/422, a 12-slide presentation and a viva bank. Replace every figure with your own unit's data.

Abstract

Vegetable growers increasingly prefer pro-tray seedlings over raising their own seedbeds because tray seedlings are uniform, disease-free at transplanting and establish with less gap filling. Most villages, however, depend on a few private nurseries far away. Under the Experiential Learning Programme, our five-member team planned and ran a 500 m² shade-net nursery producing tomato, chilli and brinjal seedlings in 98-cell pro-trays using cocopeat-based media. We prepared a business plan based on a survey of 30 growers, maintained batch-wise production records, sold seedlings to farmers and an FPO, and evaluated the enterprise through cost per seedling, break-even volume and B:C ratio.

Introduction

The ELP modules convert final-year learning into enterprise experience: students plan, produce, market and account for a product under faculty supervision. A vegetable nursery suits ELP because the cycle is short (25–35 days per batch), demand peaks around the main planting seasons, and quality is easy to measure.

Existing situation

• Farmers raise seedlings on raised beds in the open, losing a share to damping-off, heavy rain and uneven growth.
• Private nurseries are 20–40 km away; transport damages seedlings and adds cost.
• Farmers cannot always verify the variety or hybrid they are buying.

Proposed enterprise

• A shade-net unit with insect-proof nursery bay, raised benches and pro-trays.
• Standardised soilless media, seed treatment and fertigation schedule.
• Batch labels with variety, sowing date and seed lot on every tray.
• Pre-booking through a phone/WhatsApp order sheet and direct supply to an FPO.

Feasibility

• Technical: pro-tray nursery technology is well documented by ICAR institutes and state horticulture departments; the college farm provides the structure and water.
• Market: the grower survey indicates demand and price range per seedling before a single tray is sown.
• Financial: the business plan shows the volume needed to cover variable costs and a share of structure depreciation, and the revolving fund covers seed and media.
• Organisational: five members with defined roles — production, plant health, stores, marketing and accounts.

Vegetable growers near the college depend on open-field seedbeds or distant private nurseries. Open seedbeds suffer from damping-off, heavy-rain damage and uneven seedling size, which leads to gap filling and staggered harvests; distant nurseries add transport damage, cost and uncertainty about the variety supplied. There is no nearby, reliable source of labelled, uniform pro-tray seedlings timed to local planting windows.

For ELP students, the parallel challenge is to learn enterprise management by running one: planning demand, controlling production quality, keeping records and ending with honest accounts. This project establishes and operates a shade-net pro-tray nursery unit for tomato, chilli and brinjal, documents every batch in a production record, and evaluates whether the unit is technically and financially viable through cost per seedling, break-even analysis and B:C ratio.

In scope

• One shade-net nursery unit (about 500 m²) on the college farm for one production season (3–4 batches).
• Three crops: tomato, chilli and brinjal; open-pollinated varieties and hybrids bought from licensed dealers.
• Business plan, production records, marketing, accounts and customer feedback.

Out of scope

• Grafted seedlings, micropropagation or fruit-crop nursery stock.
• Construction of new structures (the existing college shade-net house is used; its depreciation is charged in the accounts).
• Formal licensing as a commercial nursery beyond what the college ELP arrangement covers.
• Long-term field yield trials of buyers' crops.

Design

An enterprise-based experiential learning project: plan → produce → market → account → evaluate, run as a real business with a revolving fund, plus a short market survey and a customer feedback survey.

Phase 1 — Market survey and business plan (weeks 1–3)

• Survey 30 vegetable growers from 5 villages (6 each) with a structured schedule: crops, area, planting months, current seedling source, price paid, problems, willingness to buy pro-tray seedlings.
• Fix product mix and batch calendar to match planting windows.
• Prepare the plan: capacity (trays per batch), fixed costs (depreciation of structure, benches, trays), variable costs (seed, media, fertilisers, plant protection, labour, electricity/water, packing, transport), price, break-even volume, marketing channels and risks.

Phase 2 — Production (weeks 3–14)

• Media: cocopeat (washed, low EC) + vermiculite + perlite (3:1:1 by volume); trays disinfected before reuse.
• Seed treatment with a recommended bio-agent such as Trichoderma; one seed per cell, covered lightly.
• Stacked trays under cover until emergence, then moved to benches; water-soluble fertiliser through a fertigation schedule after the first true leaf.
• Hardening by reducing irrigation in the last week.
• Observations per batch: germination % at 7–10 days, seedling height and leaf number at dispatch (10 random plants/tray, 5 trays per batch), root-plug quality score (1–3), losses by cause.

Phase 3 — Marketing and accounts (weeks 5–16)

• Pre-booking register; dispatch challan; sales ledger (buyer code, crop, trays, rate, amount, mode — cash/UPI).
• Cash book reconciled weekly with the faculty in charge.

Phase 4 — Evaluation (weeks 15–16)

• Phone survey of buyers two weeks after transplanting: establishment %, satisfaction.
• Financial analysis and report.

Timeline