James Kurian

James Kurian
Born Nellikuzhi Kuriakose Kurian
(1971-05-11) 11 May 1971
Kaipuzha, Kottayam
Residence Kaipuzha, Kottayam
Citizenship Indian
Nationality India
Fields Agriculture
Institutions MangoMeadows Agricultural Pleasure Land Pvt Ltd
Kurians Fashion Wear - Kottayam
Nandini Agro Farm - Kasargode
Kalappurackal Plantations- Kannur
Key Chits PVT LTD - Kottayam
Kurians Cine Max - Kottayam
Known for Derived the concept of Agricultural Theme Park
Influences M.S. Swaminathan
Spouse Lathika Kurian
Website
mangomeadows.in

Nellikuzhi Kuriakose Kurian, better known as James Kurian, is an ecologist, agriculturist,[1] and award-winning agricultural entrepreneur from Kerala, India. N.K. Kurian is the person who derived the concept of the Agricultural theme park.[2] He is the Managing Director of MangoMeadows Agricultural Pleasure Land Pvt Ltd,[1][3] an agricultural theme park.

Early life, education and family

Kurian was born in Kaipuzha, Kottayam on 2 May 1971. He was the son of A. T. Kurian and Mariamma Kuriakose. He took his primary education from Govt. LPS Kallara, Kottayam, high school education from St.Thomas H S, Kallara and matriculated from St. George H S Kaipuzha. He completed his Pre-degree from Vidhya College, Kottayam and his Diploma in Civil Engineering from S.N Polytechnic College, Kottiyam.

Career

Kurian started his career as a site supervisor in various construction projects in Mumbai. At the age of 26 yrs, he left India for a job. He worked as a Site Engineer at Al Rukhiya & Al Mohsin Co. Saudi Arabia, as Production Manager in Thani Benson Co Dubai, as Project Manager at Robust contracting LLC, Dubai, as General Manager at Robust aluminium LLC, Dubai and as Managing Director at Bethlehem Aluminium & Glass LLC Dubai. After 13 years, he returned to India.

Conceived the concept of agricultural theme park

As a farmer, Kurian had to go through difficult situations where the traders and the market discriminated his efforts, his farm produce was undervalued and he had to suffer huge losses in farming. He learned that he was not alone. The majority of farmers in India do not get a decent living out of their farm income as the traders and intermediaries take all the profit and the farmers are left with no or minimum benefits. This made him think about a solution to fetch a reasonable price for the commodities produced by the farmers. He understood that equipping the farmers to sell their produce directly to the end users by avoiding the intermediaries and facilitating them to have value added products is the only option to ensure better rewards to the farmers. He also felt the necessity of farmers raising some supplementary income other than through sales of farm produces or its value addition but from other means or activities on the farm land. Kurian started working on the project on October 2004. It took more than 11 years of effort to make the project as it is now.

Agricultural theme park

According to Kurian, agricultural theme parks are parks that are made within or adjacent to an agricultural area mainly with an objective to give supplementary income to the farmer and to provide value addition for farm products. The main idea behind the agricultural theme park is to bring the buyer directly to the agricultural farm and to sell farm products directly to the buyer in a value added way without any intermediaries.

Awards and recognition

Kurian has received several awards in the field of agriculture and more than ten awards from schools, colleges and local government institutions.

Official Website of Mangomeadows Agricultural Pleasure Land

http://mangomeadows.in/

References

  1. 1 2 "Agricultural Excellence Award Winner and Managing Director of Mango Meadows Agricultural Pleasure Land Pvt Ltd, Mr N K Kurian (James Kurian) receiving the first copy of "Kaarshikamrutham" agriculture guide from P.J. Kurien, the honourable Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha.". Deepika. 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Agricultural theme park turns spotlight on Ayamkudi". ManoramaOnline. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  3. ↑ "The World's first agricultural theme park". World's first agricultural theme park.
  4. ↑ "Deepika Kottayam, deepika 13 march 2016 : readwhere". deepika.epapr.in. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  5. ↑ "Deepika Kottayam, deepika 13 march 2016 : readwhere". deepika.epapr.in. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  6. ↑ "Deepika Kottayam, Deepika 11 March 2016 : readwhere". deepika.epapr.in. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.