Tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world over the past six decades. Many developing countries—Thailand, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya—have reconstructed their economy through the proper utilisation and management of the tourism industry. India has the potential to become a leader in this area, being a land full of natural beauty.
In general, tourism can be classified in a number of ways based on the nature of activity, location type or duration of stay. Such as heritage tourism, cultural tourism, historical tourism, geo-tourism, adventure tourism, eco-tourism, agro-tourism. Among others, agro-tourism is essential to save native crops, fruits, fishes and vegetables.
Agro-tourism is a type of vacation in which hospitality is offered to firms which may include the opportunity to assist with farming tasks during visits, where tourists have an opportunity to pick fruits and vegetables, ride horses, taste honey, shop in gift-shops and farm-stands for local and regional produce or hand-crafted gifts. Each farm generally offers a unique and memorable experience suitable for the entire family. People are more interested in how their food is produced and want to meet the producers and talk to them about what goes into their food.
University and college students can spend their leisure time to try out organic farming in rural areas. Students can share their thoughts with farmers, teach them and gain indigenous knowledge from farmers in return. It is necessary now to cultivate our land in sustainable ways in order to have an organic future. Researchers and agro-tourists often share their experiences among indigenous farmers about climate change, global warming, crisis related to extract more ground water, arsenic pollution, importance of vermi-composting, bio-fertilisers, etc.
Both parties—tourists and indigenous groups exchange knowledge on poultry farming, importance of poultry manures in agriculture, etc. Our country is an extreme sufferer of atmospheric and land based degradation. International and national agro-tourists can exchange views with local farmers on how to reduce climatic impacts on land, water, forest, health and fish resources.
The government can take up projects to represent the indigenous capacities of our farmers to protect land, environment and ecology, among international tourists, in order to attract them which may enrich our agro-tourism industry in return. The Indian academy for rural development may take this opportunity to promote agro-tourism.
We have the capacity to compete with the other member countries of SAARC. But if we do want to take the matter up seriously, we must formulate a comprehensive strategy and look to involve the farmers and other local people. India can easily increase its agro-tourism by a substantial margin, with the right kind of marketing initiatives and promotional methods. And with that, turn the tourism sector into a significant contributor to our GDP.
Leave a Reply