Kerala is one of the major tourist center in India and there is large scope and great potential to develop Farm–Tourism. Kerala, in the perspective of tourism is often called as “God’s own Country”. There are a range of other forms of rural tourism which are not necessarily a part of Farm–Tourism in the strict sense, e.g. ethno-tourism, project tourism, health tourism, historical tourism, cultural tourism or adventure tourism. The term ‘farm–ecotourism’ is generally synonymous with ‘Farm–Tourism’.
Farm–Tourism is one of the forms of tourism which capitalizes the rural culture as a tourist attraction. It is nothing but tourism through farming or is the commercialization of agriculture through tourism. It is similar to ecotourism except that its primary appeal is not the natural landscape but a cultural landscape. Farm–Tourism is an innovative agricultural activity related to tourism and agriculture both. It has a great capacity to create additional source of income and employment opportunities to the farmers. Farm–Tourism can promote regional development. It also helps to conserve diversity, and the rural population itself must have recognized agro-biodiversity as valuable and worthy of protection.
INTRODUCTION
FARM TOURISM can be defined as “A range of activities, services and amenities provided by farmers and rural people to attract tourist to their area in order to generate extra income from their business.” ‘Farm Tourism’ is something, which promotes tourism through agricultural activity which is an emerging sector now a day.Tourism always accused to have a bad effect on our environment, natural resources etc. Introducing ‘Farm Tourism’ is a new way to tackle this. Along with promoting tourism, ‘Farm Tourism’ also helps to maintain the balance of the nature by giving importance to the natural resources. One of the growing sectors in tourism, Farm Tourism can be considered to be one among the five types of rural tourism. The other types are ecotourism, adventure, cultural and activity tourism. Farm tourism is also known as Agro tourism or Agri tourism. Any agriculture based activity, which attracts tourists, can be termed as farm tourism.
Usually farm tourism involves accommodation, farm visit, guided walks in farms, farm activities etc .In an agriculture based society, Kerala has endless opportunity to develop farm tourism. Tourist who visits Kerala, always want to experience the greenery here. If they are given an opportunity to explore the nature, they will definitely utilize it. Much additional investment is also not needed for promoting so called ‘Farm Tourism’.
As per reports, Kerala has around 3, 50, 000 hectares of land under paddy cultivation. This can ideally be converted into tourism hot spots without disturbing the farm activities. Now the state tourism department recently has launched ‘Green Farms Kerala’, which aims to revamp agricultural land in the state to tourism destinations. Along with promoting tourism, this scheme will help the local peoples especially the farmers too to have financial stability. There are many benefits from farm tourism which includes, a get together in a farm will be some precious moments in your life, it involves group work, an opportunity to meet new people, can get closer to nature etc.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Havlicek, Lohr and Benda (2011:45) define agritourism “as a specific form of local tourism that involves tourists staying on a farm and engaging in daily agricultural activities and learning of the traditional rural activities that take place on the farm which include: horseback riding, winery tours, agricultural exhibits, exotic farm animals, farmers markets, fishing, garden tours, free hunting and on-farm sales”.
According to Porcaro (2009:2), agritourism refers to “activities of hospitality performed by agricultural entrepreneurs and their family members that must remain connected and complementary to farm activities”.
For Porcaro (2009), agritourism can also be categorized as a business or activity that allows tourists to come on-farm or into a rural community to enjoy agriculture, its produce and the natural environment in which it exists.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Tourism is one of the biggest and fast growing industries in the world. In India, tourism have been playing a significant role in contributing a major share to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Tourism sector enhances the inflow of fund from abroad, which leads to the prosperity of nation. Agriculture as a business is becoming more and more expensive and many farmers cannot afford it. In addition to this the gradual loss in fertility of land that is giving diminishing yields. Unless and until the farmers start business of any form to compliment and support to their income from land, they shall be deemed to eke out a bare existence below poverty line. Therefore they should be encouraged to establish small and viable business like farm tourism units on the farm in the villages. 75 to 85% of Indian Population lives in rural villages. 90% of the rural community earns it’s livelihood from agriculture directly or indirectly. To improve the standard of living of the rural people there is need to improve and increase the per capita income from farmers land. For this new approaches beyond traditional farming will have to be implemented in their farms. Agritourism is one of a kind.
The proposed study is designed to find out whether Kerala is promoting farm tourism, the problems faced by service providers, the satisfaction level of customers, the response of local peoples, marketing prospects of farm products etc.
NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Tourism sector is an important sector for employment generation. Scope of tourism sector is growing time to time with a view to exploring new opportunities and ideas. Farm Tourism is defined as Travel which combines agricultural or rural settings with products of agricultural operations, all within a tourism experience. Positives of farm tourism is limitless, it attracts foreign and domestic tourists with splendid experiences. Apart from these benefits there are some challenges in farm tourism which includes marketing problems of service providers, customers etc. The proposed study tries to calculate the problems of farm tourism its market potential, growth rate and identifying the problems of service providers, customers and local people. The study drives at a pro-poor approach and aims at developing eco-agri-rural tourism not only for tourist but also for local farmers who will recognize the importance of farms and farming. This research will also promote community ownership and ensure the participation of women, youth and other disadvantaged groups. The research will focus on the development of horticulture, medicinal plants, dairy product, apiculture, sericulture, fresh fruits and preservative drinks and food products, agro forestry, aquaculture, fishery etc. The research will be significant in forging strong community private sector partnerships and will bring together on a common platform a host of players such as local communities, artisans, local and state authorities, NGO’s and private entrepreneurs. Eco-agri-rural tourism will also bring about the general infrastructure and superstructure development in these areas.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The farm tourism brings major primary sector ‘Agriculture’ closer to major service sector ‘Tourism’ expected to create a win – win situation for both the sectors. Through this the agriculture sector has the capacity to absorb expansion in Tourism sector. It is an inexpensive gateway the cost of food, accommodation, recreation and travel and tourism is low which is widening the scope of tourism. It enhances Strong family oriented recreational activities through rural games, festivals, food, etc. It has the capacity to satisfy the curiosity of the urban segment by providing scope for re-discovering the rural life, which is rich in diversity. Nature friendly life style, peace and tranquility are in built within the farm tourism.
The area under study is three dimensional in nature that is farm tourism service providers, customers and local peoples. The proposed study is based on farm tourism, hence it is focussed on hill stations such as Idukki, Munnar , Wagamon etc.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Major objectives of the study include,
- To study about the influence of farm tourism in kerala.
- To study about the opinion of service providers in connection with farm tourism.
- To study about the level of satisfaction of customers in the field of farm tourism.
- To study about the emergence of innovative ideas in farm tourism.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology adopted for the proposed study is given below;
Types of study
The study is empirical in nature; the study covers three dimensions which deal with potentiality, satisfaction and environmental issues, so the study is analytical and descriptive in nature.
Data source
Both primary and secondary data is used for the study.
Secondary data
Secondary data are collected from various sources like Reports of central and state Government and other Institution Research Thesis, Textbooks, National and International journal, seminar proceedings, Government publication, various government websites etc.
Primary data
Primary data is collected from the farm tourism service providers, the customers who use such services and from the local people in that area.
Sample design
The research is based on sampling design which deals with the method of selecting the item to be observed for the given study. Sampling design used for the study is given below.
Population
The population consists of total number of hill stations in Kerala which avails farm tourism services.
Sampling unit
Sampling unit is selected from the state of Kerala where farm tourism is made available. There are three sampling units used for the study. The service providers of farm tourism constitute the first sampling units. The tourists who utilize the services of farm tourism forms the second sampling units and the local people residing in the area where farm tourism provides constitutes the third sampling unit.
Sample size
The sample size is expected to be 10% of the service providers, 1% of the total consumers, and the number of local people was selected on macros principle at 99% significance.
Sampling technique
Simple random sampling method is used for selecting farm tourism service providers, stratified proportionate simple random sampling method is used for collecting data from service receivers of farm tourism and purposive sampling is proposed to use for collecting data from local people.
Tools used for data collection
A Pre-tested and structured interview schedule is expected to use to collect primary data. Three sets of schedules are required for the proposed study. First set is for the providers of farm tourism. Second set is used for the service receivers of farm tourism and the third set is used for collecting data from the local people in that area.
Tools for analysis
To analyze and ascertain facts and to arrive at valid curriculum appropriate statistical techniques are expected to use in the proposed study.
WORKING DEFINITION
· FARM TOURISMFarm tourism can be defined as “A range of activities, services and amenities provided by farmers and rural people to attract tourists to their area in order to generate extra income from their business. ‘Farm Tourism’ is something, which promotes tourism through agricultural activity which is an emerging sector now a day.
· FARM TOURISM PROVIDERSFarm tourism providers are persons or group of persons or institutions which provides farm tourism services.
· CUSTOMERS
In this proposed study customers means the service receivers of farm tourism.
· LOCAL PEOPLE
In this study local people are the group of persons who are residing in the particular area where farm tourism had much flourished.
· MARKET POTENTIAL
In the proposed study, market potential includes the marketing possibilities and the entire size of market is considered.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The limitations of the study are as follows.
- The geographical area for data collection is limited to hill stations only.
- The study is focused on farm tourism service providers, customers and local peoples related to farm tourism only.
ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH WORK
Results of the study presented by chapters in the following manner;⮚ Chapter 1 – Introduction.
⮚ Chapter 2 – Review of Literature.
⮚ Chapter 3 – Farm tourism in kerala.
⮚ Chapter 4 – Problems and its prospects faced by farm tourism service providers.
⮚ Chapter 5 – Level of satisfaction of service receivers of farm tourism.
⮚ Chapter 6 – Market impact and market potentials of farm tourism in kerala.
⮚ Chapter 7 – Impact of 7 Ps in farm tourism.
⮚ Chapter 8 – Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion.
REFERENCE
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❖ Pearce, P.L., The ulysses Factor: Evaluating Visitors in Tourist Settings, Springer Verlag, USA, 1988.
❖ Pigram, J., and J. Jenkins, Rural recreation and tourism policy and planning, In Mercer, D New Viewpoints in Australian outdoor Education Research and Planning, Hopper Marriott and Associates, Melbourne, 1994.
❖ Roberts, L., and D. Hall, Rural Tourism and Recreation: Principles to Practice, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK, 2001.
❖ Kothari, C. R. (2009). Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques, 2nd Edition, and New Delhi: New age
❖ Kotler, & Keller. (2008). Framework for Marketing Management, 3rd Edition, New Delhi.
❖ Malhotra, N. K., & Dash, S. K. (2010). Marketing Research: Applied Orientation, 6th Edition. New Delhi.
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