Does Goa have lessons to learn from here? FN Drumstick farmer puts Sinnar on the global map
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Drumstick+puts+Sinnar+on+the+global+map&id=75654Drumstick farmer puts Sinnar on the global map -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kishore Belsare Thursday, July 7, 2005 (Sinnar, Nashik): An enterprising farmer from a village in Maharashtra's Nashik district has begun exporting drumsticks to far off places in the world via online. Balasaheb Marale is the drumstick king of Maharashtra! A poor and unknown farmer who supplied to the local markets for years, now he has gone online and international. Marale gets his orders at www.drumsticksindia.com and supplies to NRIs the world over - from his village Sinnar to Singapore, Canada, Taiwan, Kuwait. And even to Pakistan. Pioneer "My friend Anurag set up the website, www.drumsticksindia.com. Till date, three lakh people have visited it," said Balasaheb Marale, a drumstick farmer. Marale has pioneered a drumstick revolution in Maharashtra. Inspired by his success, 25 farmers of his village have begun growing drumsticks on 40 acres of land. Each acre generates a profit of 25,000 rupees. But moving beyond personal gain, Marale has started giving advice and guidance to farmers to switch out of non-profitable crops. "Under Balasaheb's guidance, we started growing drumsticks on our land. Our village has made a mark in the world. Our crop is doing great, and we are getting good prices," said Satish Yerande, a farmer. Green thumb As a businessman, Marale is going places. And as a farmer, his green thumb is making magic! He is able to generate two to three tonnes of the crop from each acre - a very high yield in an area that has no black soil and scanty rainfall. Farmers from all across the state follow his guidelines that were recently published in a book called The Means and Magic of Growing Drumsticks. And he has been able to develop two qualities of the crop - a domestic variety and an export quality. But Balasaheb Marale's dreams know no bounds. "Maharashtra has 300 acres of drumstick plantation. It has so much potential. If the government finances the promotion of this crop, we will go places," Marale said.
