Tapola Agro Eco Tourism - Tapola

Six farmers living in far-flung villages around Mahabaleshwar, where electricity is still a luxury, set an example of determination and hard work and established an agro-tourism resort at Tapola, which is proving to be a success. Ganesh Utekar, Ramesh Dhanawade, Siddharth Gaikwad, Sandip Utekar, Nitin Gaikwad and Deepak Shinde share the responsibility of running each department and have opened up employment avenues for the locals. Recently, Infosys and Wipro organised a two-day conference at the Tapola agro-tourism resort. The efforts of these entrepreneurs have been rocognised by the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and it is planning to invest Rs 35 lakh for up-gradation of the resort. For the first time, NABARD is taking an initiative in a service-based business like agro-tourism. Under the Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme (REDP), NABARD has provided hotel management training to these farmers and even helped them to make a detailed project report (DPR).