FPJ 98th Anniversary: Maharashtra's Agritourism Boom Is Giving Farmers A Second Harvest

Pratik Naravane dreaded long weekends. Overbooked hotels, overpriced food, and overcrowded attractions made every escape from the daily grind feel like a punishment. Two years ago, the 37-year-old IT professional from Navi Mumbai ditched the usual hotspots for a family-run homestay in Choul near Alibag. “No checklists, no running around,” he recalls. “For the first time, we came back truly rejuvenated.”

Vrunda Ranjane’s vivid childhood memories of her grandparents’ verdant homestead in Admal village near Mulshi often made the 41-year-old teacher from Kolhapur feel sorry that her own children knew village life only through stories they could barely relate to. Spending a weekend last year amid farming communities in Shenavade in the Gaganbawda hills changed that. “It was wonderful to pass on a part of my childhood that I had locked away,” she says.

When the daughter of Nashik-based Sahil and Sharvari Kumawat struggled to think beyond the supermarket for a school project on the origins of food, they took her to a working farm near Satana. “We too discovered a forgotten lesson in living,” says Sahil.

Fields that were once mere scenery are now becoming the story. And farms that once fed only their keepers are now nourishing strangers. For a generation longing to break free from its own shackles, everything from the bullock’s slow tread and the chorus of cowbells to the crackles of a wood-fired chulha and the scent of freshly turned earth is a hark back to simpler times, a sentiment at the heart of agritourism.

Agritourism in Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, agritourism is emerging as an important means for farmers to supplement their modest earnings and improve the long-term viability of farming. More importantly, its benefits extend far beyond the farmers. What tourists spend on experiences, accommodation, food, farm produce, processed goods, handicrafts and services also creates additional income for many others like cooks, farm and hospitality workers, guides, housekeeping staff, drivers, activity coordinators, artisans, craftspeople, fisherfolk and food processors, besides supporting allied activities like dairy, poultry, livestock rearing, polyhouses and greenhouses.

“Our studies indicate that for every Rs. 100 a tourist spends, around Rs. 60–70 goes to the farmer and the rest benefits the wider village economy,” says Pandurang Taware, noted agritourism pioneer and Managing Director of Agri Tourism India. “With the number of leisure travellers doubling since the pandemic, agritourism has become more attractive.”

According to Taware, since Maharashtra announced its Agritourism Policy in 2020, the number of registered agritourism centres has doubled to around 2,800, with twice as many unregistered centres likely to be operating across the state. The policy mandates that at least 80% of registered agritourism projects must remain under agriculture and, regardless of farm size, the accommodation should not exceed eight rooms. This protects farming and keeps capacity from getting ahead of demand.

Additionally, farmers can earn 2–2.5 times more by selling value-added products like flour, papads, pickles, chutneys, snacks and grain mixes directly to visitors than through intermediaries. Thanks to direct sales of strawberries and related products at farms in Mahabaleshwar, some farmers are earning 10–20% more per kilogram of fruit. Agritourism and agri-festivals have helped increase the revenue of Jalna’s mango farms by 35% and farmer earnings in Beed by 20%.

Stories of inclusion

Chinchani, a village of 65 families displaced by the Kanher Dam in the late 1970s from the water-rich Satara district to a rain-deficient region near Pandharpur, may well have continued growing sugarcane despite formidable odds, but its sweetest harvest has come only recently in the form of community-owned agritourism, a model the Solapur district administration is keen to replicate elsewhere. “We have rediscovered our confidence and dignity,” says Mohan Anpat, one of the venture’s driving forces.

The village entered agritourism in 2023 by forming a self-help group of women, one from every household, to run a tourism centre. “No government scheme covered the expenses for utensils and furniture,” says Anpat. “Bank loans required collateral, but we couldn’t provide a land ownership record as security because our venture was to operate on public land.” So the women of Chinchani rose to the occasion by mortgaging around 50 tolas of their gold. Chinchani’s very first season of hurda parties — winter gatherings in Maharashtra where people savour tender, field-fresh green jowar grains fire-roasted on the cob — was such a success that they redeemed the gold.

The agrarian, culinary and cultural experiences offered by Chinchani have since attracted over 25,000 tourists, generating a turnover of over Rs. 1 crore and net community gains of over Rs. 30 lakh. Tourism employs nearly half of the village’s 400 residents and adds around 5–7% to every household’s income, reducing dependence on moneylenders for farming, education and healthcare. Work is rotated among families so that everyone benefits, and nearly all payments are digital. “None of us had ever sold even tea,” says Anpat. “We are running a business today.”

In the agriculturally challenged Surabardi village near Nagpur, a labour shortage led Aruna S. Purohit to turn her 100-year-old orange, soybean and cotton farm into Orange Theory Life in 2021, where visitors can experience a slice of Vidarbha’s fading rural culture through orchard tours, local cuisine and Purohit’s collection of rare artefacts.

She employs 10 full-time staff and, during larger community events, hires an additional 15-20 people, all from the village, including drummers, folk performers, bangle-sellers, visually impaired foot massagers, and women cooks skilled in the region’s distinctive technique of making ultra-thin maande flatbreads on a griddle balanced on the head.

For Kiran and Pratibha Sanap of Jikthan village near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, agritourism came to the rescue of their 21-acre farm and 35 indigenous cattle in 2014 when a severe drought in the already water-stressed Marathwada region forced them to look for additional income. Their lemon and mango plantation has since grown into Srushti Agro Tourism, an all-day destination offering a taste of Maharashtra’s culture, history and farming traditions.

“Nearly three-fourths of our earnings now come from agritourism,” says Pratibha Sanap, who has been running the venture single-handedly since her husband passed away in 2018. “We actively engage local artists from potters to magicians.” She employs 10–20 women during the off-season and nearly half of the 50–100 people she hires during the October–February peak season are women, while the rest are young men. “Women whose husbands are alcoholics have found dignity and financial stability here, so much so that their children want to follow in the footsteps of their mothers,” she says.

Intent to implementation

For all the difference agritourism is making, what calls for attention is the gap between policy and execution. “The government must ensure that incentives reach farmers properly and on time,” Taware says. “For example, Maharashtra’s capital investment incentive of up to 18% amounts to nothing if farmers have to first pay 18% GST and then wait months or even years for the incentives to be released.”

Although there are incentives like interest reimbursement for women entrepreneurs on loans of up to Rs. 12.5 lakh and electricity at domestic rates for agritourism operators, Sanap still cites low-interest credit and concessional power tariffs as her key asks, adding, “What we need most are officials who actually know the government already has policies meant to provide just that.”

There is also the social angle. “Every visitor and every event brings extra earnings for some people in Surabardi,” says Purohit. But while a few put that money to good use by investing in their families, many simply lose their share to liquor and predatory savings groups. “Agritourism does create opportunities,” Purohit adds, “but what the beneficiaries choose to do with them is the larger social challenge.”

One of agritourism’s more significant contributions, however, lies hidden from view. “It is helping urban visitors understand that farming is not an easy occupation and farmers are not just defaulters on government loans,” says Taware. “When visitors experience rural realities up close, they develop greater empathy. Agritourism is bringing farmers the social respect they deserve.”

Balu Gawande, a 47-year-old former contractor, has, with additional investments from three friends, developed a 50-acre orchard in Naregaon, a village of 400 near Washim, hoping to turn a flooded derelict mine there into the orchard’s centrepiece for water-based activities. His modest four-room lodging has started drawing small groups of visitors. He hasn’t broken even yet but employs 5–10 villagers who would otherwise have had no source of income in this rain-starved area, at a monthly salary of Rs. 12,000. He was stunned when he recently received an electricity bill of Rs. 7.5 lakh, despite having no arrears. “We haven’t even gained full momentum yet and we get a bill that high. This is hardly the way to encourage agritourism,” he rues.

Published on: Sunday, August 16, 2026, 07:45 AM IST