Agritourism India
Farmer is our Nation’s pride and Tourist is our Nation’s wealth,
Isn’t it our responsibility to equally look after their health?
The plight of farmers today is a reason of alarm,
Thus, Agri Tourism believes in
Farm in the family and Family in the Farm
About Agritourism
Agri Tourism India (ATDC) is moving beyond traditional approaches of Tourism by introducing Agriculture Tourism to villagers. Commencing in 2005, in rural Maharashtra, ATDC approach has rapidly spread over the last few years to encompass more than 200 villages, attracting the attention of Farmers and Tourism practitioners in the Country.
- Empowering rural economies
- Promoting local agriculture
- Ensuring small farm sustainability
- Simplicity in agriculture tourism
Poem on Agri Tourism
GOING BACK TO THE ROOTS ©
BY CA REVATI TAWARE MURKUTE - 2019
Introduction
When the primary sector contributes least to our GDP and tertiary sector the most, why not combine the best of both to ensure an Inclusive Growth! With this aspect in mind, the essence of Tourism was thought of flavouring the basic Agriculture ingredient and thus was born the concept of Agri Tourism.
Shri Pandurang Taware was the brainchild behind this Sustainable thought and his rural childhood background instigated the zeal to get back to his basic roots and help the Pride of India-our farmer, to live an equivalent life of dignity by systematically generating the non- farm income sources.
The Indian farmer is faced with dwindling opportunities to feed himself and his entire family satisfactorily. Thus, his children set out to find work in the urban areas for the entire year or off farming season leading to either educated open unemployment or seasonal unemployment. This leads to disparities in the treatment of these migrated farmers into the urban areas. Aren’t there any solutions to help the farmers increase their income source and standard of living by working in their farm itself? Why fall prey to unsecured temporary jobs in the cities when a Farmer has expert knowledge in permanent farming activities? Why send his children to lead a life of poverty when India’s real richness lies in the lush green farms? These burning questions instilled a fire in Mr Taware’s mind and he set out to provide a solution to decrease these hardships. Though he thought of the idea, the implementation and re-assessment of the goals set couldn’t be achieved solely.
Agri Tourism began its operations by conducting a survey of urban dwellers to infer the number of people who are still attached to their villages in any which way. It was concluded that around 43% of Urban dwellers did not have any relatives residing in the villages or their children had never visited any village so far in India. This widening gap between the rural and urban livelihood encouraged Mr Taware to form a link between Urban dwellers enthusiasm for tourism with the Farmer’s need for Agriculture. Thus began the journey of Agri Tourism on an official platform since 2003. Agri Tourism Development Corporation was established and later ATDC Pvt Ltd was formed to continue delivering the services for which it has been established.
Strategic Plan
ATDC (Agri Tourism India) Project’s Objectives
- To develop and promote agricultural tourism (Agri-tourism) as a potential vehicle for diversifying and stabilizing rural economies.
- Creating jobs, increasing community income, providing a broader market base for local business.
- Attracting tourists to the rural area, thereby supporting the growth of small tourism industries.
- Through ATDC’s projects, training and support, farmers benefit from the development of tourism.
- Tourism income to improve their livelihoods, traditional forms of art and music in rural areas are encouraged and supported.
- Urban Indians as well as foreign tourists have the opportunity to discover and appreciate Indian agricultural traditions.
The main goals of the programme are
- To benefit farmers, local communities, and tourism enterprises through the development of new consumer markets.
- Increasing awareness of local agricultural products, enhancing understanding of the importance of maintaining agricultural lands.
- Providing farm family members with opportunities for on-site employment so they do not have to migrate to urban areas.
- Strengthening the long-term sustainability of small farms.
- His idea is to provide safe and convenient tourism project options and agriculture supportive opportunities for poor and low-income farmers and households and businesses in rural areas.
- Rather than relying on traditional approaches of high capital oriented supplementary agriculture businesses like dairy etc, farmers from rural areas can generate additional income and employment from agriculture based Tourism.
- Conventional Tourism related products like swimming pool, carpets, big Infrastructure is not needed in agriculture Tourism activities
Statistics
Year of survey
Year of Establishment
Awards Won
No of Registered ATC
No. of Tourists
Incremental Profit Impact
In The News
Playlist
Latest Blog & News
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