Farm Development in Mumbai

Land around Karjat, set inland along the Ulhas river and reachable by its own railway station, is generally tested and developed as a mixed crop or orchard plot, since the terrain and rainfall pattern suit a wider range of crops than a narrow coastal strip does.

Land around Alibag inherits a long-standing local strength in coconut and mango, reflected in a soil and cropping history that goes back further than most inland plots in the belt, which we factor into the crop plan rather than starting from a blank assumption.

Coastal plots and the setback from the shore

Any plot near Alibag or elsewhere on the coast within about 500 metres of the high tide line falls under Coastal Regulation Zone rules, which restrict new construction in that strip, so a farm development plan on such land is scoped around what is permitted before fencing or structures are costed.

Inland plots around Karjat carry no such coastal restriction, so the development plan there is driven mainly by the soil and water test rather than by a regulatory setback.

Testing water on two different kinds of land

A borewell on an inland Karjat plot is tested against a different baseline from a well on land near the Alibag coast, where seawater intrusion into groundwater is a known risk close to the shore, so the water test for a coastal plot specifically checks for salinity that an inland test would not need to prioritise.

Where a coastal test does show salinity, the crop and orchard plan is adjusted toward salt-tolerant species such as coconut, already established across the Alibag belt, rather than toward the wider mixed-crop plan we would recommend for a tested, low-salinity inland plot.