ABSTRACT
Agritourism is increasingly recognized as an important strategy that can contribute to agricultural development through diversification of farming activities and providing opportunities to rest, relax, enjoy and study about farming for the visitors. At present, agritourism is promoted by most of the countries in the world aiming at sustainable rural development.
Since Sri Lanka is an agricultural country, it is the time to analyze the potential of this strategy under local conditions. Thus the main aim of this research is to study the possibility of application of agritourism in Sri Lankan context. The study was conducted in five districts of the central part of the country using a field survey and some group discussions with farmers and respective state officials of these districts.
Results revealed that there are several possibilities for the establishment of agritourism in the country. However, there are few problems militate against the success of the agritourism development. Provision of solutions for these main problems related to; infrastructure development, relevant training and education for the farmers, access to farm credit, proper measures to waste management as well as suitable environment protection methods in those areas will enhance the benefits of agritourism as a sustainable rural development strategy. Key words: Agritourism, farm diversification, rural development, Sri Lanka
INTRODUCTION
Agritourism, farm tourism or agricultural tourism is the process of attracting visitors and travelers to agricultural areas, generally for educational and recreational purposes (Lamb, 2008; Veeck et al. 2006). Because of economic difficulties and changes in the farming and livestock industries in many countries in the world, many farmers especially those who have small-scale, family-owned farms have understood the necessity of supplement their agricultural business model and find new ways of generating income. Agritourism can contribute to the overall income, cash flow and profitability of a farm by providing alternative income via farm products, and farming activities (Colton and Bissix, 2005; Huybers, 2007; Keith et al. 2003; Sharply, 2002).
Further, agritourism can also be explained as a holiday concept of visiting an agribusiness operation for the purpose of enjoyment, education or involvement in the activities of the operation. . This includes you-pick operations, corn mazes, hay rides, pumpkin patches, dairy tours, and more (Adam, 2004). Therefore, agritourism may be any form of farm-based tourism operation that provides economic benefit to the farm owner(s) and
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provides on-farm entertainment, activity, or product for the visitor. Normally, agritourism is small-scale, low-impact and in most cases, it is mainly focused on education (Wicks, and Merrett, 2003; Wall, 2006).In agritourism a native or local farmer offers tours to their agriculture farm to allow visitors to view them growing, harvesting, and processing locally grown crops such as maize, sorghum or any produce the person would not come across in their areas. Often the farmers would provide farm-stay opportunities including educational programs and recreational activities (Nilsson, 2002; Weaver and Fennell, 1997).Small diversified farms may very much suitable for agritourism. Unlike the large-scale farms which produce bulk commodities, the small farm can recreate an earlier, simpler and human-scale vision of farming. The main qualification for the rural farmer who expects to make a living from the land through agritourism is the willingness and the ability to cater to visitors and meet their expectations of a farm visit (Nuntsu, et. al, 2004; Adam, 2004). Currently, more visitors than ever are enjoying at the diverse opportunities provided by agritourism, as the distance between the production and consumption of agricultural products grow (Lamb, 2008; Sharplay and Vass, 2006). Visitors are highly interested to know how crops are cultivated and livestock are raised. Moreover, they want to remember the traditional agricultural practices as well.
Important advantages of agritourism are 1) the ability to bring the main primary industry (agriculture) and the major service sector (tourism) together, by creating win-win situation for both sectors,2) enhancing the possibility of the enlargement of the tourism sector and 3) the ability to absorb the expanding tourism sector (Singh, 2007). Moreover, scope of the agritourism in the present context can be summarized as providing an inexpensive gateway for all the categories of visitors, giving solutions for the curiosity about the farming and farm life, meeting the increasing demand for wholesome family oriented recreational activities, provision of health conscious nature friendly tourism opportunities, providing a peaceful tranquility, interesting and natural tourism place for the visitors, and facilitating less crowded original conditions in rural areas for visitors to enjoy and be aware farming activities (Singh, 2007; Roberts and Hall, 2001). Many agritourism activities need only a small team of farm labors in order to be successful. For example, farm tours, farm stay with bed and breakfast, tractor or bullock cart rides, picking of grapes, mangoes, and other horticulture items, farm zoos, and many other activities may be operated with little additional expenditure on labor (Agritourism Development Organization in India, 2008; Taware, 2009).
According to Griver, (2009), agricultural tourism is a global trend which provides city dwellers an opportunity to escape from urban concrete environment and re-discover their roots in rural areas with farming. Furthermore, visiting farmers, agronomists and other agricultural experts can evaluate worldwide developments in agriculture which have been highly influenced by modern agricultural technology and management (School of Travel Industry Management, 2007). Agritourism and ecotourism are closely related, but, in reality agritourism is farm attractions, which visitors are encouraged to partake in farming and agricultural activities, while ecotourism seems to have been green washed by the tour companies (Crete, 2009).
Based on the above literature, agritourism is an important alternative for rural farmers including small-scale farmers in many countries of the world, as an extra source of income. There should be basic facilities to start and operate an agriourism
S. H. P. Malkanthi and J. K. Routry
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destination and it has ability to generate lots of benefits for the owner and the surrounding community. However, as the economic, socio-cultural, environmental, geographical conditions are varying country to country, country wise analysis of the feasibility of agritourism development is an important attempt to understand the reality of application of agritourism in the Sri Lankan scenario. Sri Lanka and its agriculture sector
The island of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) lies three degrees north of the equator, 82 degrees east of Greenwich and 32 km southeast of India. Sri Lanka is in the Indian Ocean situated south and slightly east of the southernmost point of India, separated by the 23 km wide Palk Strait. Including 870 km2 of inland water, Sri Lanka has a total land area of 65,610 km2 (Wikipedia, 2010). The central and south-central regions are hilly and mountainous, while the rest of the island is mainly flat. The climate in Sri Lanka is tropical and monsoonal, but varies from warm in the coastal plains and lowlands to temperate in the hills and mountain regions( Atlapedia online, 2010). Sri Lanka‟s economy has traditionally been dominated by agriculture. It produces various plantation crops, including tea, rubber, coconut, cocoa and spices for the export market. However, it is presently undergoing diversification as other sectors, such as manufacturing, are also making significant progress. The agriculture sector constituted 12.6% of GDP in 2010 and provided employment to about 32.7% of the labor force (World Factbook, 2011). An estimated 1.8 million families are engaged in farming. In Sri Lanka, agriculture is dominated by smallholders as over 64% of the farming families cultivate holdings of less than 0.8 hectares. Around 40% of the cultivated area is occupied by plantation crops, tea, rubber and coconut (UNESCAP, 2006). Out of the total land area of 6.5 million hectares 1.5 million (24 %) are recognized as agricultural land; 13.96% of the land is arable, 15.24% is used for permanent crops and 70.8% for other uses (Department of Census & Statistics, 2006). Sri Lanka is considered as a valuable repository of crop germplasm and agro-biodiversity. It has a rich treasure of rice genes and over 2,800 varieties have been recorded in the country. Besides rice, germplasm of the country is also rich in cereals, legumes, bananas and other fruit crops, root and tuber crops, medicinal plants, leafy and other vegetables, spice crops etc. Selection and cultivation of crop plants over several thousands of years by various traditional and modern farming practices and the country‟s eco-edaphic variability are two reasons for high genetic diversity of crops in Sri Lanka (Living Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka (2009). Moreover, Sri Lanka has started organic farming which is having a very high attention of the health concerned consumers. According to IFOAM & FiBL (2006), there are 15,215 hectares of land under organic management, with a share of total agricultural land of 0.65% and a presence of around 3,300 organic farms. According to UNESCAP (2006), Sri Lanka is one of the major organic producers in Asia and one of the leading sources of organic tea. The organic market in the country has been described as a “niche market” (International trade centre, 2008). A number of organic products are increasingly being sold in major supermarkets. The main certified organic products are tea, desiccated coconut, cashew nuts, spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, clove and ginger), fruits (mango, papaya and passion fruit), and herbs (citronella and lemon grass). Most of these organic products are exported.
Agritourism in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a tourist‟s paradise. It is one of the favorite travel destinations in south Asia. It is endowed with an abundance of tourism resources of considerable diversity, including beaches along its The Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2011, vol. 6, no148 coastal line, natural/ecological and wildlife attractions, indigenous culture, Buddhist heritage, and remnants left by Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and British seafarers. From the beginning Sri Lanka has enjoyed a growing number of visitors and gradual growth in the tourism industry.
However, agritourism sector of the country is in its‟ initial stage. Only a few agritourism destinations are operating at present with general facilities and services. With, the remarkable increase in the interest surrounding the concept of agritourism of other countries is influencing the development of agritourism in Sri Lanka. It is a suitable destination for agritourism. It has diverse agro-climatic conditions suitable for growing different types of crops, fruits, vegetables and trees. Sri Lanka‟s complex paddy cultivation systems (developed over the course of 2500 years), huge very old irrigation tanks, many tea and rubber plantations, milking cattle on dairy farms, having a go at plucking tea leaves using the traditional „bag-on-the-head' method, rubber tapping under expert guidance, or even working in many scenic paddy fields (engaging ploughing using bullocks, work on paddy nurseries, transplanting seedlings in muddy fields) of Sri Lanka are just some examples of its diverse agricultural developments of the country (Advisory panel on community based sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka, 2008).
Nevertheless, farmers are simple and hospitable. Sri Lankan villages and farms can offer unique experiences including local food and accommodation. Rural areas are rich with traditional things and cultural activities. Thus agritourism can cater to a niche market of agritourists.
Objectives of the study
The broad objective of this study was to determine the possibility of agritourism development in Sri Lankan context. The specific objectives were assessment of the important information on farming population and farm lands, identify the profile of farming community and identify the attractive features of the area for tourists. Conducting a SWOT analysis for agritourism sector of the country to study the important factors for the agritourism development was also another specific objective of this study.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
As agritourism is relatively a new concept in Sri Lanka, this study represents an exploratory approach with the intension of understanding the potential of agritourism development of the country. This study covered five districts (Badulla, Kandy, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya and Ranapura) in the country. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were gathered from the farmers of these five districts through a field survey. The total sample size was 100 farmers as 20 (5 small-scale, 10 medium-scale and 5 large-scale) farmers from each district. Stratified random sampling technique based on the scale of farming ( Small (<2 acres), medium (2-5 acres) and large (>5 acres)) was used to select the farmers for the survey. In addition to the survey, ten group discussions were held with farmers, as two from each district. Further, ten interviews with respective officials of Central, Sabaragamuwa and Uva provincial councils were conducted to learn about their views on agri tourism, farm facilities and conditions, and conditions for agritourism in these areas.
In this study, agritourism is defined as any activity, enterprise or business which is designed to increase farm and community income through combining the essential elements of the tourism and agriculture industries. As the study was exploratory in nature, data analysis was limited only for simple descriptive techniques.
Calculation
S. H. P. Malkanthi and J. K. Routry 49 of some total, percentage and average values have been done in appropriate places. Secondary data such as total, rural and farming populations in each district were collected from the department of Census and Statistics and data regarding farm lands, profile of farmers were obtained from Planning Divisions of the Central, Sabaramamuwa and Uva provincial councils. Primary data collected from the field survey were used to asses the attractive features of the five districts and SWOT analysis of Agritourism development in the country. Group discussions and interviews were used to cross check and verify the information given by farmers.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results are arranged under five sections as population information, information on farm lands, profile of farming population, attractiveness of the areas for visitors, and SWOT analysis for agritourism in these districts. Discussions are followed by results Population information
These five districts are located in the middle of the country having various geographical and agro ecological conditions. They are favorable for various agricultural activities, and have unique features that are very much important for tourism industry. The total populations of these districts were varied from 435,000 to 1,415,000. In these five districts, majority of the population (average of the five districts was 72%) was in rural sector. Out of the rural population a significant number (28%) was farmers (Table 1). They have cultivated of different crops and reared various livestock. Table 01: Population information of the districts
Information on farm lands
As mentioned in the Table 2, this study was done for farmers, excluding plantation cultivators in theses districts. Highest and lowers number of farm families (59,360 and 21,025) were in the Ratnapura and Moneragala districts respectively. Number of farms in different districts varies in between 29,435 and 89,040. Majority of the farmers in all the districts had only one farm while very few farmers had two or three. Most of the farms (about 80%) were below three acres. Since a lot of lands were under plantation crops, land extents for other farming activities were very low in these districts. This is a very serious problem in the agriculture sector of the rural areas of the country. Nevertheless, very few farms (0.21%) had essential infrastructure facilities (water, electricity, and road) with them. Most of the farm lands are in rural and remote areas especially on hills and mountains where these facilities not available. Also, some of
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these farm lands are the lands encroached catchments by the farmers. But, some successful agritourism destinations in other Asian countries for example Malegaon in India, Chocochai farm in Thailand and Desaru Fruit Farm in Malaysia have land extends larger than 100 acres, all the essential facilities and connected by airways, railways or roadways.
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