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Nellikkuzhy Kuriakose Kurian (N K Kurian) is an ecologist, agriculturist, and an award winning entrepreneur from Kerala. He is renowned as the founder of Mango Meadows Agricultural Pleasure Land, which is the World’s largest agricultural theme park (citation URF).

Early life, education and family
Kurian was born in Kaipuzha, Kottayam on 2 May 1971. He is 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 & NRI life
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 and started Mango Meadows.

Plan to settle in India
Kurian plans to quit his job and settle in India as he wanted his children to play, walk bare footed and enjoy a real life that he enjoyed in his childhood. For that the first thing he wanted was to admit his children in the same school where he studied and the next thing was building a new house in the village in the model of an arab oasis, surrounded by plants, trees and nature.

Life changing trip to India
Kurian was very fond of his School St.Thomas H S, Kallara and he had lots of childhood memories associated with his school. He wanted to send his children to the same school where he studied. During one of his trips to his home place, he learnt his old school is getting closed permanently as the school didn’t have enough admissions for the next year. Kurian decides to admit his children and renovate his school.

Rescuing the School
Kurian with his leadership skills formed an action council to rescue the school with Kurian being the President. The council decides to organize a grand Centenary Celebration to commemorate the 100 years of service of the School. Kurian sponsored a new building for the school along with school uniforms and also admitted his own children in the same school. A grand successful event was conducted and with Kurian in the forefront, lot of sponsorship and activists started to come forward. With all these activities, the school got enough admissions and was rescued from being shut down.

Settling down in India
Kurian then bought some land for building his own new house. He decides to settle in India by starting some farming activities in his land. He made a pond and deposited fishes in the pond and started his career in India as a farmer.

The realization
He started to realize the plight of farmers. He understood that the farmers are exploited by the seller, who takes all the benefits. He understood that to get the highest value for a produce, the farmers should start selling directly to the end customer.

Idea of agricultural theme park
Kurian started working on a conceptualized eco system where the farmers get the highest priority and benefits. He realized that by providing some value added services, a farmer can get high value for his produce and become a seller himself.

Mango Meadows
Kurian started Mango Meadows agricultural theme park which conceptualized his idea of agricultural theme park. It is a Biodiversity park with more than 4800 species of plants including 700 varieties of trees, 85 types of vegetables and 174 fruit-bearing trees, making it one of the richest artificial forests in the country.Located at Kottayam district, Kerala, Mango meadows is the worlds biggest agricultural theme park.

Crisis & controversy
The concept of agricultural theme park was new to India and the banks were not willing to provide loans.Biodiversity park of this size required extensive support from regulatory authorities and the Government. He had to invest all his savings and additional loans were also raised to make Mango Meadows a reality. Officers asking bribe to sanction a loan was a huge issue at one point and this was widely covered in local media.

Awards and recognition
•Deepika Agricultural Excellence Award ( 2016 )

•Best Farmer Award from ATMA (2011-2012)

•Best Agriculturist of Kottayam District, Kerala (2012-2013)

•Best Innovative Agricultural Entrepreneur, Kerala (2012-2014)

•GARSHOM PRAVASI RETURNEE AWARD 2017