NEW DELHI/KOCHI: A growing number offarmers are turning entrepreneurs and earning big bucks from something they offered free to friends and relatives - a healthy and relaxing weekend to unwind in lush green farms, drive a tractor, ride a bullock cart, milk a cow and pluck fresh fruit from orchards.
Farm tourism, once a small niche, is expanding rapidly and getting a big push from the tourism ministry. Tour operators, including some who were farmers to begin with, are aggressively pushing farm tourism in India and abroad. They are attracting tourists from prosperous Punjab to scenic Munnar with packages of Rs 500-10,000 for a day in the lap of nature.
And tourists, particularly foreigners and those from the metros, are lapping it up, helping the niche segment expand nationally, and going far beyond its beginnings in vineyards and old bungalows in coffee plantations.
"There are parents from Mumbai and Pune who want their children to see that milk actually comes from cows and buffaloes and not from factories. For a farmer, it is a daily grind but for a tourist, it is a great experience," said Baramati-based Pandurang Taware, who won the 2012 national tourism award for best responsible tourism project of India.
His venture, Agri Tourism Development Corp, clocked a turnover of Rs 1 crore with a net profit of Rs 25 lakh.
It was in 2005 he realised the huge potential of his ancestral 30-acre farm land. "People thought I was crazy, but I knew that if Indians travel to Florence and Naples to enjoy the farm experience, they will do so in India too," he said.
New Source of Income
Today, he conducts training sessions for bureaucrats from states like Bihar and is involving other farmers in the business. For farmers, it is not only a brand new source of income, but also much easier than planting and harvesting crops. The new income comes without the frustrations of irregular weather, volatile prices and fear of droughts, pests and plant disease.
Rustic experience comes as a complete package. The traveler gets to ride bullock carts and horses, milk cows or goats, sow, plough and harvest, bathe at a tube well, climb trees and pluck fruits. They can watch the making of jaggery or rearing of silkworm and enjoy traditional food and folk arts show.
Harkirat Ahluwalia of Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, who offers farm holidays in luxury tents at 8,000 a day per person, said that people were ready to loosen their purse strings for a quality experience.
He bought the first luxury tent in 2008 and now has nine tents on his 40-acre farm complete with all modern facilities. "There is a growing percentage of repeat tourists who come to visit us. It is enabling us to expand our services - from providing yoga services to cooking classes of Punjabi dishes," said Ahluwalia.
Farm tourism, once a small niche, is expanding rapidly and getting a big push from the tourism ministry. Tour operators, including some who were farmers to begin with, are aggressively pushing farm tourism in India and abroad. They are attracting tourists from prosperous Punjab to scenic Munnar with packages of Rs 500-10,000 for a day in the lap of nature.
And tourists, particularly foreigners and those from the metros, are lapping it up, helping the niche segment expand nationally, and going far beyond its beginnings in vineyards and old bungalows in coffee plantations.
"There are parents from Mumbai and Pune who want their children to see that milk actually comes from cows and buffaloes and not from factories. For a farmer, it is a daily grind but for a tourist, it is a great experience," said Baramati-based Pandurang Taware, who won the 2012 national tourism award for best responsible tourism project of India.
His venture, Agri Tourism Development Corp, clocked a turnover of Rs 1 crore with a net profit of Rs 25 lakh.
It was in 2005 he realised the huge potential of his ancestral 30-acre farm land. "People thought I was crazy, but I knew that if Indians travel to Florence and Naples to enjoy the farm experience, they will do so in India too," he said.
New Source of Income
Today, he conducts training sessions for bureaucrats from states like Bihar and is involving other farmers in the business. For farmers, it is not only a brand new source of income, but also much easier than planting and harvesting crops. The new income comes without the frustrations of irregular weather, volatile prices and fear of droughts, pests and plant disease.
Rustic experience comes as a complete package. The traveler gets to ride bullock carts and horses, milk cows or goats, sow, plough and harvest, bathe at a tube well, climb trees and pluck fruits. They can watch the making of jaggery or rearing of silkworm and enjoy traditional food and folk arts show.
Harkirat Ahluwalia of Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, who offers farm holidays in luxury tents at 8,000 a day per person, said that people were ready to loosen their purse strings for a quality experience.
He bought the first luxury tent in 2008 and now has nine tents on his 40-acre farm complete with all modern facilities. "There is a growing percentage of repeat tourists who come to visit us. It is enabling us to expand our services - from providing yoga services to cooking classes of Punjabi dishes," said Ahluwalia.
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