ANTIGUA & BARBUDA: Agro-Tourism, a must in A&B

Agro-Tourism, a must in A&B
 
Thursday September 18 2003
 
The relevant question to be asked is: "Who is marrying whom in this new 
afffair or, better still, who is in love?"

My belief is that "Agro-Tourism" in Antigua & Barbuda should be a natural 
marriage or love affair. In many parts of the world where both agriculture 
and tourism have been married together, activities in relation to the affair 
have been on the increase. Take Hawaii for example, where tourism has been 
fully married with agriculture.

The relationship is referred to as "Ag-Tourism" and agriculture has been 
embedded with tourism in many activities. Unfortunately, such a marriage of 
agriculture and tourism has not fully taken place in Antigua & Barbuda. For 
example, the recently concluded "Agri-Splash 2003" had no representation from 
the tourism sector. Are we really serious with this affair? Officers in the 
ministry of agriculture have done so much work in this affair, that should 
have stepped up the marriage or affair between agriculture and tourism, but 
unfortunately, nothing seems to be moving. We are hoping to move the 
agricultural Gross National Product (GNP) to a higher level. This will not be 
by cultivation only, but also by linking the agricultural sector with other 
sectors. 

By the way, do many people know that agriculture involves many areas of life 
such as information, communication, banking, law, health, transportation, 
education, religion, sports, manufacturing, etc?

Our tourism should be more than sun, sea and sand - just as Hawaii declares 
its own tourism to be more than Kilauea Volcano. Antigua's agricultural 
potentials need to be shown to the whole world. Among the Caribbean nations, 
we produce some of the best qualities of onion, carrot, beet, pineapple, as 
well as other vegetables. Farmers need to be convinced to open their farms to 
tourist, and visitors. Tourist guides need to contact farmers to 
operationalise this feature of "Agro-Tourism." I have once encountered a 
tourist who had no idea how carrots were grown and I am convinced that there 
are several more tourists and even local people who are in the same boat. Our 
tours to farms during the last "Agricultural Exhibition 2003", indicated that 
many of us are not even aware of the ability and potential of the Antiguan 
farmers.

The tour has confirmed that our farmers could contribute meaningfully to the 
economy and general development of the country's tourism product. Tourism and 
agriculture need to take steps to ensure that the affair lasts. This will 
allow tourism activities to include exposure of tourists to working farms 
and/or farming operations with possibilities of tourists taken directly from 
the boat to farms.

Activities that can attract tourist, and visitors and ,at the same time 
generate supplemental income for farmers, include conducting tours to farms 
with responsibilities of sales of fresh agricultural products to tourists, 
sales of agricultural souvenirs, organising horseback riding to farms, etc. 
The stipulation will be that tourism-related activities will be secondary to 
encourage access to visitors and tourists. An example of a farm that operates 
similar tours is the Claremont Farm at Claremont Estate in Old Road. Many 
farms such as those at Creekside, Sandersons, Burkes, Betty's Hope, and 
Orange Valley, which are equal to the task, should be encouraged to do so. 
This is the time to improve on the relationship between agriculture and 
tourism in Antigua & Barbuda. 

Remember, we can only sell sun, sea and sand for a short time.

From the Ministry of Agriculture
 


SOURCE: Antigua Sun