Mayookha Farms: Betting on Red Sandalwood as the Next Farmland Asset

Vijayawada-based Mayookha Farms & Projects LLP has spent the past two years building a case that farmland investment doesn't have to mean a plain parcel of land and a wait for appreciation. It has taken the managed farmland model and paired it with land ownership, professionally run plantations and long-term agricultural income. Since its establishment in 2024, the company has developed twelve properties, mostly built around a single, unusual crop: Red Sandalwood. 

The premise is straightforward. Mayookha buys and develops agricultural land, plants it with red sandalwood alongside intercrops and manages the plantation on the investor's behalf. They manage  irrigation, fencing, upkeep and other chores, in exchange for a share of the eventual harvest proceeds. It's agroforestry packaged as an asset class, aimed at buyers who want land ownership without the operational burden of farming it themselves.

The Vinukonda Project

Mayookha's flagship development, Mayookha Gardens-II, spans 47 acres in Vinukonda, Palnadu district, an emerging location the company believes stands to benefit from planned infrastructure projects, including the proposed Amaravati capital region expansion and the Donakonda Industrial Corridor.

Investment options start at ₹5 lakh for 5 guntas and extend up to ₹36 lakh for one acre. The project offers a professionally managed farmland model, with Mayookha overseeing plantation development, drip irrigation, CCTV surveillance, boundary fencing and four years of maintenance, allowing investors to own agricultural land without the day-to-day responsibilities of managing it.

Its distinguishing feature is the Red Sandalwood profit-sharing model. Upon harvest, net proceeds are distributed in a 60:40 ratio, with 60% allocated to investors and 40% retained by the company. By linking its earnings to plantation performance, Mayookha positions itself as a long-term partner rather than simply a land seller.

Founder and Positioning

The company is led by founder and CEO Nagarjuna Reddy, who positions Mayookha as an agroforestry enterprise focused on combining ecological restoration with long-term wealth creation. Rather than marketing farmland purely as a real estate asset, the company emphasises professionally managed plantations, transparent documentation and a hands-free ownership experience right from site visits and legal formalities to plantation management and ongoing maintenance.

Like most timber-based agroforestry investments, however, the model requires patience. Red sandalwood typically takes 12 to 15 years to reach harvestable maturity, making it a long-duration investment rather than a short-term appreciation play. The investment is structured around a 12-year registered lease, aligning the ownership model with the plantation's expected cultivation cycle.

The Bigger Ambition

Mayookha's stated long-term goal is to scale to 2,500 acres under cultivation, positioning itself as a large-scale sandalwood grower rather than a boutique developer. Whether that scale is achievable depends heavily on land acquisition pace and continued investor appetite for a crop-based model that's still relatively niche in India's farmland investment space.

For now, the company's pitch rests on three things: a differentiated crop with real commercial value if grown right, a profit-sharing structure that reads better than most competitors', and a documentation process built to reassure buyers who've heard the horror stories about farmland titles gone wrong. Whether that combination holds up will show in how the next few Mayookha Gardens phases perform and how transparently the company reports on them once the first harvests actually come in.