Rural distress fails to cloud prosperity

A tomato ketchup plant has transformed lives in Dhagewadi in Maharashtra.

There is an island of good news in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. For, Dhagewadi, once a patch of backwardness, is now a role model of progress.

Thanks to Pune-based NGOs Suyash Charitable Trust and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Dhagewadi has taken the produce from its fields straight to the kitchens of the urban pockets of the state.

For, the NGOs helped Dhagewadi helped set up a plant to process its tomatoes into Ambika, a ketchup brand well known in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik.

But it's not been like that always for Dhagewadi. Till 2000, villagers here were struggling to make both ends meet and had to depend on neighbouring villages to work as daily-wagers.

Today, the story is much happier for close to 60 families.Set up five years ago, the Ambika ketchup plant is the result of an attempt to pull the villagers out of bare subsistence.

This transformation was ushered by Dhagewadi resident Bhaskar Rambhau Pardhi under the guidance of Suyash Charitable Trust and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.

Initially there were only six other villagers along with Pardhi, but now 450 of them are enjoying the fruits of labour "" plant owners are making profits, while the cultivators are doing well.

In the beginning, Pardhi was trained by the NGOs about 15 years ago in Pune, after which he took up development work in his village. Others joined hands to build a water bund, a 4-km road and 12 wells, says Ragho Bhute, the Dhagewadi sarpanch. Suyash helped with quality seeds, technical know-how and farming schemes, for Dhagewadi to begin growing tomatoes and other crops.

Further, Suyash and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram workers also helped the farmers market Ambika ketchup in Pune, Mumbai and Nashik.

For funds to set up the plant, the Dhagewadi villagers borrowed Rs 6 lakh from the Bank of Maharashtra, which was returned in due time.And things have never looked for the farmer-turned-entrepreneurs.

"Our business turnover has doubled as compared to previous year. We sold sauce worth Rs 8.32 lakh during the financial year 2006-07. About 12 tonne ketchup was made from 36 tonnes of tomatoes," says Balu Shankar Gode, manager of the ketchup plant at Dhagewadi.

"Our lives completely changed due to the efforts of Suyash Charitable Trust. Before setting up the ketchup plant, the average income of each family in Dhagewadi village was around Rs 2,000 per annum. Today, it is around Rs 15,000. In fact the idea of setting up a tomato ketchup manufacturing plant emerged from the fact that the Dhagewadi farmers never earned enough from tomatoes,"says Bhute.

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