FARM TOURISM SAVIOUR TO 3Es
FARM TOURISM, SAVIOUR TO 3Es (ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, ENTREPRENEURS)
ABSTRACT
The potential of farm tourism in reviving local flora and fauna and generating more employment opportunities in rural area. The areas to be invested and factors needed to make it productive. The theory of spatial distribution developed to explain the industrial backwardness can be applied to present scenario of farm tourism. Numerous activities carried out by investors is able enough to generate that level of employment which ensures employability of 60 to 70 percent of people in the nearby community. The integration of primary sector with tertiary sector ensures a stable income, the linkage effect between primary and tertiary sector ensures development of secondary sector too (food processing, export-oriented production). The main conclusions derived from the study are the declining share of primary sector’s employment generation in rural areas, lack of infrastructure facilities to promote tourist hotspot, these initiatives are carried out alone either with NRI funds or personal loans. The major finding of this study is the untapped potential of government owned farms, namely at Vithura, the jersey farm ambience best suited for a trekking experience by taking advantage of the nearby forest cover and water fall can be revive with a PPP, this will drastically change the life of outlier community and infrastructure facility and will definitely generate more job opportunities.
Keywords: Farm Tourism, NRI FUNDS, Public Private Partnership, Green project, sustainability and self sufficiency
INTRODUCTION
Family was the fundamental unit upon which a prosperous society was built up. As it was said, society get flourished only when the families that constitutes it also get enriched in all manners. Since the concept of family tourism was in its infant stage, family backing is a must for the Entrepreneurs across the state. The number of projects established under this concept was counted at below 10. Majority of them are working under the partnership of
single person, which we call in the Economic sense as: Sole-Proprietorship,7 farms, which were established in full fledged, as a project of Farm Tourism. Among them, only 1 was found to be a Government run institution and the rest were of sole proprietorship. The main challenge that these “Entrepreneurs” or the “Innovator” found in establishing the farm is to get support and rapport from family as well as their social living set up. Firstly, the main reason behind this challenge as per them was the “lack of knowledge and understanding” regarding the concept. Secondly, the emphasis was given for an organised agricultural process. At a time, when all were giving up the farming an initiative to go back to older period was vehemently opposed by all as it was purely risk taking due to the loss. However, the family members of these Entrepreneurs make up the major
chunk of officials / Administrators of the farm. Each and every family member contribute as per their capacity and qualification. The sample selected included 7 farms from various districts from Trivandrum to Thrissur. Special attention was taken so as to include farms which enjoys
different social position, those which varies in educational qualification (regarding administration) and attainment.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
.Bowen RL, Cox L.J & Fox M (1991) in a journal of tourism studies presents a conceptual model of linkages between the agriculture and tourism sectors of Hawaii and it is argued that the linkages can benefit both sectors. In addition, agricultural service must be recognized as
rapid growth to tourist economies.
• Dernoi L A (1983) a tourism management expert stated his analysis as follows. Farm Tourism in Europe is long established but recently its importance has increased, both as a tourism resource and as a source of revenue for the farming community. In 1982, the UN Economic
Commission for Europe and the FAO held a symposium to study the effects of tourism on agriculture and the possibilities for integrating the two for the development of rural areas.
• FRATER M (1983) in his study has argued regarding the perspective of Farm Tourism in European Nations. Unlike Europe, England has come to farm tourism quite late. However, it is gaining popularity with the tourist public on the search for new holidays and with the farming community in search for new ways to supplement their agricultural income. This article shows some light on the first major research to be undertaken on farm tourism in England.
• SRAVANA K and MA JOSEPH (2012) had made an analysis on the prospective of Farm Tourism in Kerala. Agriculture is one of the main contributors of Indian Economy, around 52%of the population is directly or indirectly depending on agriculture and almost of GDP came from the agriculture sector. In the last 25 years of 20th century, the term farm tourism is becoming more popular. Kerala is a state where numerous agricultural crops are cultivated. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information from tourists. Caryeniente sampling
method is used to choose from respondents. The results of the paper is a good satisfaction level among the farm tourism activities in Kerala. Large number of tourists are coming to Kerala as a farm tourism destination but concentration and development in the present condition is required to satisfy all the perceptions of the farm tourists in Kerala.
• SHILPA VARMA & Dr R GOPAL (2006) in his study presents following arguments. A case study on Malegaon village, Maharashtra. Global Economic Restructuring has created a climate in which many local economies have to adjust, in order to maintain or enhance their socio-economic viability. Economic and social forces operating at the global level to determine both the nature and form of the rural landscape and how we value and approaches to leisure and recreation time are encouraging tourism development in rural areas at an increasing pace.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
i) Decoding the mindset of farm tourism investors
ii) Reliability of jobs generated under farm tourism
iii) Track down overall development caused by farm tourism initiative
iv) Analyse the change brought by farm tourism in the life of nearby outlier communities and environment
METHODOLOGY
i) Mailing Questionnaire
ii) Pilot survey
iii) Site verification
iv) Personal interview
Capital Investment
The requirement of capital for an initiative conjoins primarily along with
tertiary sectors were found to be very high. The main factors that propelled up the
magnitude of requirement was;
1. Area of land required to establish the farm
2. Amount to set up tourist facilities
3. Amount to put up installations
4. Amount incurred to employ new employees
5. Purchase of materials and equipment
6. Cost incurred fir the organisation of activities
The tourism opportunities could be ensured only if the farming activities are expanded over a vast area of land. The average size of the land utilised by each farm was over and above 20 acres, which itself makes around 50% cost of initial investment. The amount incurred to bring in further facilities to make the farm full-fledged further add ups the investment. The magnitude of investment soared up as per the volatilities in market price. However, the source of investment from the entrepreneurs for the farm mostly made up by the personal wealth and assets. Out of the seven farms, four entrepreneurs were of NRI background. So, the major chunk of capital investment made by these Four comes out of their NRI income. The NRI income makes out 68 – 90% of total initial investment and the rest comes out from personal investment and loans comes out from the banks. However, the subsidies and loan lend out from Government toward it remains abysmally low due to exiting agrarian distress. This case was absolutely in reverse, when taking into consideration the case of rest three farms. Two out of them were self-employed and the remaining are made in a manner, where people are made to enjoy an organised farming system that is the One is completely administered by the Government. Government farms were running out of losses except the Chettachal farm for cattle and fodder. Major chunk of the capital investment was made out of the amounts that the farms got by conjoining various subsidies. The subsidies provide by Government toward various projects were channelized towards various diverse farming activities. Some are: Aquaculture project, sericulture project, paddy development project, cattle welfare and milking projects
Employment Generation
Regarding employment generation, it is sufficient and capable enough to bring and ensure inclusiveness and self-sufficiency for the community. If analysing the gender disparity in employment which more half mark of it were women. Thus, it ensured inclusiveness as well as equality. It helped to fill up the financial disparity by bringing more family into the net of employment and income. The farm tourism conjoined the Primary and Tertiary sector together. The non-discussed “linkage effect” in between these two sectors is capable enough to generate a great number of employment opportunities. Farm tourism is a concept in which tourism activities corner stone of farm tourism, where people could explore more. So, the major share of activities is concerned around agriculture and so that the employment generation.
Agricultural activities contribute the major share of the total employment in each farm which almost accounts to 60% of each one’s total employment count. Tourism generates most job following agriculture. It involves hosts, guides, yoga trainer etc. Farm provides an opportunity to the tourist to explore the native tastes via the offered canteen facilities which comes in third. The main reason behind the topping of agriculture is that the farm makes use of its own products in providing food and other facilities. The administration of farm is coordinated by well qualified professionals and graduates who had the skill. Mostly they belong to the family of entrepreneurs. Rasa Gurukul, located in Thrissur even provided the entertainment and rejuvenate recreations like Bharatanatyam performance, live kitchen, medical gardens etc. Mostly they were belonging to the family of entrepreneurs.
Profit Generation
The profit is a must in the business, as it is the “life blood” of business. Business itself is established with the objective of earning some returns over and above what they had spent. As the concept of farm tourism is in its inception, profit is not their concern. Tourism is the largest income earner for each farm. As it provides an opportunity for people to recreate themselves in the beauty of nature. Farm tourism is a project which is expanded over a large area of land. Out of which almost 7% of total land area span was utilised for cultivation of food crops, livestock rearing and horticulture. But still income generation from the same was low as there are no enough marketing facilities. Along with that major share of these outputs were used for canteen services and only the rest was sold out. Thus, from the same it is clear that the fall in income generation in primary activities as a total won’t affect the life of people. A low income from agriculture could be made over by income from the tourism activities.
Sustainable Development
This objective was the key to the project, obviously by which I wished to plot the possibility of contributing to the sustainable management of the local economy, as it was a micro-level advancement in the management would truly guide others to follow the same path. Sustainability simply means the conditions and situations which ensures the longevity and durability. It also indicates the feasibility and viability of a phenomenon to last long.As we had visited 7 sites (farm), each of these belonged to different geo-economic zones. That’s what we targeted to proceed a plan which was sensitive to the prevailing conditions that blindly imitating a nutmeg. In order to elucidate our purpose, we had chosen a scale to assess the sustainable management of each site. It was a fair way to apprehend the performance of these sites we took on basis of certain indicators, which are considered as the benchmark for measuring this novel concept. Measuring the phenomenal concept of Sustainability is not as simple as that. Since Farm-Tourism is an innovative concept which is developed with the purpose of opening a new path for Economic Development and Growth, it’s Sustainability has to be measured. This study tries to analyse the condition of Sustainability via Two different perspectives. They are:
➢ Economic Sustainability: The concept of Economic Sustainability is measured via the principal of ‘Break-Even point’. For an Economic Initiative to go on with its process and functioning, at the minimum it should be able to recover the Total Cost(TC) incurred to them from its Total Revenue(TR) i.e. TR=TC. For convenience and to bring more clarity to this concept among people, we measured it using ‘Cost Minimisation’
➢ Environmental Sustainability: The success of Farm-Tourism belies on the Environmental Sustainability. The Farm-Tourism is based on a technique of cultivation which integrates man with the environment. So, it can be maintained well only if the Environment is kept well. To get this straight, we adopted the following indicators. And each of the chosen indicators have been explained along with the performance of these in each adopted farm:
➢ Cost Minimising: Cost minimising refers to minimise the cost required to operate by designing a sensitive plan to make it effective. Rasa Gurukul and Chettachal farm were working efficiently by more value-additional services as well as minimising the cost. Chettachal farm had the brand of “green milk” and it got sold in the prominent cities of Kerala. Rasa had the diversification of service to harness more profit and to minimise the cost.
➢ Eco friendly: Eco friendly means to make the farm closer to the local environment by adopting natural way of dealing with pest and other non-harm methods like using substitutes of plastic in catering needs of visitors. In 28Kanthaloor, they used organic measures and it was based on the Subash Palekar’s ZBNF (Zero- Budget Natural Farming) – “No chemical zone”It is the only place in Kerala were we have the apple cultivation. It also have oranges, strawberries, plums, rum butanes etc. the usage of bullock-carts and from the visitors, who already paid attention to the development of sustainable development,“chakku” in Rasa Gurukul to carry out recreational activities were the “icing on the cake”.
➢ Less Pollution: These indicators looks to preserve the precious water, air and soil of the farm from consumerist attitude either from visitors or hosts: “Plastic free zone” and “No to disposables” were the tag lines invited as to Rasa Gurukul, JYes farm and Kanthaloor
.➢ Waste Management: Proper and sound day to manage the solid waste and the bio degradable waste to wealth was the trade-mark of the Farm Tourism in Kerala. Usage of compostable pits, Bio-Gas plants, turning the used water to plant the medical garden etc. promote sustainable development.
➢ Bio-Diversification: It wishes to preserve the local varieties of crops which seems to be extinct in near future and also the local breeds of animals. In Vitura Jersey Farm, we had “Vechoor variety of cows, Gujarat Gir cow, endangered species of medicinal herbs etc. In Rasa Gurukul, they were so keen to enrich the traditional knowledge of the local community by blending the “Golden Heritage of with Tourism.”
➢ Organic Farming: Using the self-sufficient method to watering plants and providing manure to the crops and using intelligent non-harm pest control methods like pheramea traps, Neem sprays, natural drugs, usage of Azolla for cattle and adopting green farming techniques were phenomenal. They marketed these at the “fresh zone” online marketing avenue and it had the unique feature of “know your farmer” techniques. Organic farming promotes a healthy life style and nourishes sustainable development.
Analysing the response made by the entrepreneurs, the first and foremost thing that many of them emphasised is “organic farming”- the foundation upon which SDG can be achieved. They believe that relying upon organic farming itself enable them to accomplish other factors simultaneously. They also emphasised proper waste management system with a view to ensure the wellbeing of the community as a whole. The economical sense of sustainability i.e. “minimum cost and maximum output” was not that much a matter of botheration. The economical way can be split it out if and only if this was run as a purely commercial venture.
For the entrepreneur this was a way to integrate and reinstall the lost link between men and nature and the rest will come upon. The working condition, taking out the well dictated indicators. Didupe is considered as well as found to be the most ideal Farm-Tourism model in all perspectives. It matches with the standard maintained and followed in Western Models of Farm-Tourism. Moreover they are found to be most sustainable one, both Economically as well as Environmentally when compared to Kerala Farms. Didupe was established in the very beginning of 2000’s, taking inspirations from the growth of Farm-Tourism in Western Economies. Didupe situates at the lower hills of Western Ghats. It gives them geographical as well as topographical advantage. Blessed with the abundance of Alluvial soil along with better availability of water all the time, Didupe got established as an Agricultural Hub of South Karnataka. Around 111 varieties of rice along with vegetables and fruits are cultivated there. Best marketability enabled them to reap better profits all the time. Since it devoid HYV seeds along with the avoidance of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides, the farm products of Didupe got prominence in the market. The organic nature of the products improved the chances of exportability too. All this contributed well for the growth of Didupe as an Eco-Friendly, Organic Agrarian Economic System. Since Didupe is in the foothills of Western Ghats, it is also blushed with scenic beauty such as waterfalls, lakes and many other. The hilly topographical nature enabled it to emerge as a best Trekking spot in South India. Thus, Didupe emerged as preferred tourist spot. Earlier Didupe Farm-tourism operates only around the farm area where the farming activities were carried out. But later on, it developed a comprehensive plan which integrates the farm along with the tourists spot such as hills, waterfalls, lakes etc. It rolled out a plan in which they developed a tourism-circuit which interconnects the farm with other tourist spots in the area. It also offered the opportunities for water sports, trekking, mountaineering and other adventurous activities which aroused the interest for Didupe. It also brings in the concept of Tent-stay for tourists in the farm itself. Tourists are hosted by Nine different families which support Mr Parmeshwar. The food and other facilities to the tourists are provided by the hosting family to their corresponding tourists. This made the tourism more economical for both the Tourist and Hosts, as food & Beverage requirements are met out of the farm output and the same is provided at cheaper rates. The Didupe farm is No-Plastic Zone. No sort of plastic materials is either allowed or being used for daily purpose by farm authorities. The tourists are not allowed to carry any plastic items with them. The farm ensures proper waste management. The organic wastes are used as manures whereas inorganic- non-recyclable wastes are given to corporation authorities for disposal. The fact is that Didupe belongs to Mysuru Division, which brings in the concept of Road construction using plastic-like non-recyclable materials.
Thus, farm ensures Sustainability in its operation from the both Economic and environmental perspectives.
The major finding, we derived from the comparison of Kerala Farm-Tourism with Didupe is that, Kerala Farms brought tourism activities in its operation as a solution for falling agrarian income. It considers tourism as a way to ensure stability in income. Thus, the prominence it given to tourism is very high in comparison to the extent at which it emphasises 43agricultural activities. However, the condition is directly in contrast and opposite with the approach of Didupe. Didupe prioritise agricultural activities first and the rest comes later. The main emphasis is given to agricultural activities. It is because of this perspective difference, that Didupe emerges out as the most ideal spot of farm tourism. This difference in approach ensures a better sustainability for Didupe over any other Farm-tourism projects.
CONCLUSION
One of the main features of all the farm in Kerala is that it is more of self- proprietary nature rather than a co-operative or government aided one. The major share of capital base as well as working capital requirements are met out of personnel financial sources. The source of the finance is either NRI funds or personnel loans. Flow of credit from the organised leading sector is abysmally low in its operation.
The govt. by means of various projects and manners, is promoting agriculture or raring of livestock or other type of farming in personnel land. Government provides finance for it. To point out some of them for e.g.: “Grow-bag farming”, “oru nellu oru meenu” project, Inland Fishers, and agriculture development projects, etc. government is providing financial, technical and advisory services to people under this project via agricultural offices. It provides the people incentive and subsides to carry on the project and farming in this place. So, the first suggestion is that, there should be an integration of all these projects and aide should be provided to farms on this braise. Many farms in this business was carrying out various type of farming. So, while providing aide and assistance, government should consider it with some concession. The reason is that government provides such assistance on basis of some criterion such as area of cultivation, income level of beneficiaries, etc. And there were some cases were government stooped providing such beneficiaries to certain farms by pointing out these criteria’s.
Therefore, government should take an initiative by which it should provide such farm a healthy amount of subsidy by integrating all these projects under one head. For that what needed in foremost is government should recognise “Farm- Tourism “as an economic activity rather than neglecting it.” Integrated development of primary sector by emphasising not only the agriculture but also its allied activates. The benefit of providing such aid to the farms are:
• It helps to fill the working capital requirements.
• It helps in availability of enough funds, which can be utilised in the best manner.
• Fund can be used alternatively, when one need more and other have enough.
• It helps to strike a balance in fund utilisation.
The Main reason behind the lagging of Kerala Farm-Tourism is that it lacks vision. Majority of the farms in Kerala situates near to the important tourist spots. However, no project was established with integrating these farms with those tourist spots. This was mainly due to the competition that exist in between Govt and Private sector in tourism. To point out an example, Jersey farm situates near to Ponmudi and Kallar. Neither there is a tourist circuit connecting Ponmudi and Kallar nor one integration the both with the Jersey farm. Jersey farm is a Govt run farm. It emphasises only cattle stock rearing and an information-based tourism is emphasised. So, the tourist inflow is relatively low so as the income too. To develop such Govt. institutions and thereby developing the Govt. participation, such visionary plans have to be formulated and implemented
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