Rural tourism hits a high note in state
PUNE: A day-long rural tourism workshop, organised by the Centre for International Trade in Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Vanrai Pune, Sharad Krushi and the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre for Agriculture and Co-operation was inaugurated at the College of Agriculture here on Wednesday.
Mohan Dharia, founder of Vanrai, inaugurated the workshop that saw over 200 farmers from the Pune district and other parts of Maharashtra participating.
“Rural tourism is a booming trade, but tourists need to be familiarised with aspects such as organic farming. Over two-crore hectares of land in India has been spoiled by excessive use of chemical fertilisers. The farmers have to take the responsibility to familiarise them with irrigation, polyhouses, organic fertilizers etc,” said Dharia.
He said that another lucrative career option in the context of rural tourism was that of rural tour guides. “In European countries, there are tour guides who have indepth historical and geographical knowledge of a particular city or town. Such an initiative will help rural tourism to gain credibility,” said Dharia.
The proceedings and conclusions of the workshop will now be sent as a formal proposal to the State government to help formulate a rural tourism policy. “There are a lot of problems like infrastructure and power that adversely affects tourism in rural India. Moreover, since there is no State policy, farmers face problems in availing loans,” said B.D. Pawar, director, Centre for International Trade in Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.
Also present at the workshop were Pandurang Tawade, director, Baramati Agro-Tourism Development Corporation and Anna Saheb Bhide, director of Surya Shibir agro-tourism.
Source
- The Times of India