12/10/2023
Agritourism | Policy | Resource Integration | Collaboration Network | Regional Development | Feasibility | Research | SWOT Analysis | Conference | Community | Strategic Alliance | Philippines | Southeast Asia
What support has your local government or NGO provided for the development of the agritourism? Policies and support systems are important external environmental factors to improve resource accessibility and promote the development of the agritourism. The Philippine government promulgated a bill in 2016 to provide market research and certification for agritourism sites, and to promote the development of farm tourism from multiple aspects such as investment, promotion, financing and incentives. Several government agencies, including the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation, the Agricultural Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture (DA ATI), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), participated in the implementation and collaborated with pilot agritourism farms. Nowadays, more and more farms are involved in agritourism, providing tourists with experiences of harvesting, feeding farm animals, transplanting, sowing, fishing, urban gardening, and rural accommodation. There is also a farm providing event venues for weddings and birthday celebrations, and purchasing high-quality local crops as ingredients from local small farmers that received training from the farm. Another large dragon fruit farm invites tourists to admire the dragon fruit flowers in the glowing fields at night during the non-picking season, and launches a variety of value-added products such as dragon fruit ice cream, dragon fruit vinegar, dragon fruit soap, and dragon fruit coffee. The Southeast Asian Regional Agricultural Postgraduate Study and Research Center (SEARCA) also organizes agritourism seminars to enhance mutual exchanges and learning of agritourism development experiences between the ASEAN region and neighboring countries. For example, a community in Thailand has brought together farmers, local governments, universities and academia, private businesses, and even the media to establish community partnerships and sufficiency economy to practice a sustainable model of farming and agritourism. Not only agritourism activities and ventures receive funding and support from local governments and private enterprises, agritourism knowledge and technology are also constantly updated through extension by nearby universities. It shows community involvement is one of the keys to the success of agritourism, sustainable agriculture, and rural development. The Provincial Government of Chiang Mai in Thailand has also conducted a feasibility study on establishing the province as an agritourism area, including evaluating the accessibility and attractiveness of the province's agricultural areas and their readiness to become an agritourism sites while conducting a SWOT analysis. Respondents for the study included community leaders from all farm tourism areas in the province, local government officials, program leaders of agriculture-related projects in the province, and owners and managers of tourist destinations in Chiang Mai. It reveals that a country’s tourism potential needs to be analyzed in a more holistic and wider perspective, including exploring the gaps between the goals and realities in the development of markets, human resources, and institutions. Development framework, research, innovation, promotion, or policy initiatives for agritourism should also be discussed and generated by multiple stakeholders together to help agritourism operators resolve practical business challenges and dilemmas.
https://www.searca.org/news/unleashing-the-potentials-of-farm-tourism-to-improve-the-lives-of-southeast-asian-farmers
