Pune-based Agri Tourism Development Corporation 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, however, 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 per cent 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 weekend 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 per cent people do not have any relative or connection in a village and 43 per cent had never stayed in a village," Taware said adding that this was the main trigger for expanding the agri-tourism idea.