Here comes agri-tourism!

Good news for those bored with run-of-the-mill beach holidays or the hill stations...

Pune-based Agri Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) is ready with their new concept of agriculture tourism, which promises to offer the unique experience of actually staying on a farm, enjoying the serenity of village life and the flavour of wholesome ethnic food such as bhaji-bhaakri enhanced by freshly churned butter.

"Agri tourism is, howver, not only about staying in a village and relishing the food," Pandurang Taware, director of ATDC, said. "This is an opportunity to be close to the life of over 60% Indians. If you live - for whatever short duration that your free time permits - on a farm and observe the daily chores of the villagers, you are sure to develop respect for the farmers," Taware, who himself comes from a farmers' family in Baramati, said.

ATDC tried out the concept of agri-tourism late last year when it took groups of students to the 100-acre farm of Krishi Vikas Pratishthan - an organisation set up by late Appasaheb Pawar, elder brother of union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. "The agenda of the visit included bullock-cart ride, visit to guava orchards, sugarcane  farms, visit to a sugar mill, watching jaggery making, observing (even trying out) milking of cows or making mud toys," Taware said. 

ATDC has now made the experiment a round-the-year feature on the Pune tourism calendar. The company now offers week-end getaways comprising an overnight stay at the farm with the unique experiences of village life. 

Taware said the company conducted a survey about new holiday ideas. "We found that 35% people do not have any relative or connection in a village and 43% had never stayed in a village," Taware said adding that this was the main trigger for expanding the agri-tourism idea.