Pune, Sept 26: The farmers of Maharashtra didn’t need Chandrababu Naidu to tell them Israel was the Promised Land. Long before the Government task force decided to tap the country’s knowhow, thousands from the state have been making the trip to Israel to learn about its ‘‘superior agricultural practices’’. Such is the demand that a travel and tour company, the Pune-based Travel Designers, now holds agro-tours. Since 1995, it says, it has sent over 2,500 farmers to Israel and increasingly, Europe.

Expenses range between Rs 50,000 and Rs 80,000 for a five-to-eight day stay, depending on where they are headed. And the farmers, adds Travel Designers’ Ujwal Athare-Patil, ensure they get value for money. In Israel, the most popular destination is Agritech, an extensive exhibition of the latest in agriculture techniques held every three years at Tel Aviv.
Brazil’s lure is its coffee plantations, Australia’s its successful farming of varied crops on large farmlands, while France is high on vineyards. Farmers come smelling floriculture to Netherlands, and Denmark ranks high on dairy farming.
Though 80 per cent passengers are first-time travellers who have never seen an airport or the interiors of a plane, they can’t be fooled with the itinerary. ‘‘A bit of sight-seeing, and they say ‘amhala shetat gehum chala ata (take us to the farms now),’’ says Athare-Patil. Especially post-1998, with a lot of young, educated farmers joining in. ‘‘They may give leisure a miss but not the field trip to a factory or farm.’’
Forty seven-year-old Tatya Rachkar, with 22 acres in Akluj, Solapur, was among the first from around here to go to Israel. A vegetarian, he was a little sceptical on his first trip but had company in 44 other farmers from across Maharashtra.
‘‘I knew of the superior agricultural practices around the world, especially Israel, through radio and newspaper reports. It aroused my curiousity and I decided to go,’’ says Rachkar.
Travel agent majors like SOTC and Cox & Kings have created separate departments to handle trade fairs. ‘‘When we started in 1999, we’d go completely by customer (mostly agro-enterprises, both private and government) requests, but by 2001 the potential had grown enormously enough for us to concentrate on the category and start soliciting response,’’ says head of Trade Fairs at Cox & Kings Shailendra Chawla.
The company’s contingent of 150 plus for this year’s 15th Agritech, held between September 15 and 18, included 45 agricultural professionals from Maharashtra. Tour brochures are regularly sent out to agro-units and agro-organisations. Priced Rs 1 lakh and above, a tour to Cairn, Australia, for instance, includes visits to tropical fruit farms, greenhouses, sugar mills and vegetable farms, apart from lessons in water-management systems, processing and packaging processes.
In Melbourne, it will mean catching up on a winery, taking lessons in recognising wines and their grades, dropping in at a dairy farm and taking notes at an agro-machinery display. There are also interactions with local farmers and experts who are part of the entourage.
Agriculture and water expert Sudhir Bhongle, who was part of the 750-strong contingent that Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar took to Tel Aviv in 1993, and credited with having started the trend, is not surprised.
‘‘There is paucity of agro-consultants in our country. There are a few but they are out of reach of our farmers,’’ he says. Bhongle is also the author of a book titled Sheti Israelchi (Israel’s agriculture).
‘‘When our farmers go to Israel,’’ adds another agricultural expert, Budhajirao Mulik, ‘‘they see undulated and lesser land, fewer water resources, unfavourable climatic conditions, and yet the constraints being overcome.’’
Translated back home, it means a great business opportunity. ‘‘The export potential of produce in Maharashtra is great—with its intensive cash crop farming, horticulture, floriculture, vegetable farming and food-processing industry. There are advantages like warmer temperatures as compared to Europe, lower energy costs and lower labour costs. With markets opening up, competition is hotting up. Our farmers need the best technology and the best contacts to get ahead,’’ says Bhongle.
Keda Kakulte, the sarpanch of Kikwadi Khurd, Satana, vindicates Bhongle’s point. Until 1998, he used to cultivate vegetables on his 40-acre farm. After a trip to Israel, he shifted to grapes and pomegranates. He now plans to export them to the UK. His immediate priority is a polyhouse (a sort of greenhouse) like the one he saw in Israel. ‘‘With this I’ll be able to produce the fruits as and when the demand comes up,’’ says Kakulte.
His jump in earnings: A remarkable 40 per cent.