A 'thorny' way to success for Maharashtra man

Annasaheb Antre, a matriculate, lives in a tiny village Astgaon near Shirdi. Without a roof on his head, living in a tiny rented room, Anna kept his dream of starting a cactus nursery alive and finally got success. Carving path of success for himself, Anna has become an inspiration for farmers all over the country.

Ahmednagar (Maharashtra): There is an aphorism which says, where there is a will, there is away. A farmer, Annasaheb Antre, is a befitting example of this aphorism. After leaving a job in a nursery due to clash with the owner, Anna had only darkness about his future. But, he was nurturing a dream of starting cactus nursery.

Astgaon is a village famous for its nurseries. The nursery industry has blossomed in this village for many years. But the thorny cactus is not considered as useful and so it is neglected. But, Anna found a way of prosperity through cultivating cactus.

In a small farm, Annasaheb has cultivated his cactus nursery. The trees, their beautiful colours and flowers in his garden are tempting everybody. Fate has changed Annasaheb’s life such that, once working in someone’s nursery as labour, he now owns a world-famous nursery due to his sheer hard work.

The success story of nursery owner Annasaheb is inspiring. He took a loan on his meagre saving and invested it to start his nursery. He erected a shed of Bamboo for cultivation and covered it with a plastic paper. He could not even afford to change the torn paper. Against all odds, his work was going on. A friend in Gujrat helped him.

According to Dr Ram Gandhi, chairman of Cactus Association Annasaheb is the only person in India who has preserved 1600 species of cactus. His research in cactus has been a milestone now.

Anna gets invitations for cactus exhibitions being held in India as well as abroad. His 200 cactus species were sold in Mumbai expo. The organizers paved the way for him to organize such exhibitions across India.

In the exhibitions held in Delhi, Hyderabad, Surat his saplings were sold in large number.

IAS officer A K Singh, also overwhelmed by his work, visited Annasaheb's nursery in Astgaon and gifted him a mother plant of cactus brought from Thailand and Japan.

Through this new guidance, Annasaheb got a new vision to his research. He has so far grafted 1600 species of cactus. He has customers not only from India but abroad also.

With this financial support, Annasaheb has paid back loan completely and bought a bungalow and car.