Agritourism Can Drive Socio-Economic Development In The Caribbean

With the global market size of agritourism expected to reach $10.16 billion by 2024 (Verified Market Reports) and with an estimated Caribbean market for agribusiness products of $4 billion per year, there is a major opportunity for the region to enhance its tourism product and improve food security, connecting visitors and locals to the people, places and processes involved in the production side of food and drink.

Regionally, operations such as Goodfellow Farms in the Bahamas, PEG farms and Coco Hill Forest in Barbados and Ridge 2 Reef Farm in St. Croix are offering farm tours, farmers markets, farm stays, farm retreats and even opportunities to take part in farm life. As an outcome of their study to map agritourism policies in the Caribbean, the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation and the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture are currently supporting agritourism development in 6 countries, including Grenada, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Suriname and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

According to the Culinary Tourism Alliance, these initiatives are particularly important to socio-economic development because they “allow farmers to diversify their income through tourism-related activities that often leverage un- or underutilized lands and buildings, connecting people to the source of their food through experiences that are meaningful, which can help to bridge urban-rural divides while cultivating pride in agricultural landscapes and livelihoods.”

In this interview, Trevor Jonas Benson, Director of Food Tourism Innovation at the Culinary Tourism Alliance, discusses the opportunities for agritourism in the Caribbean. Benson is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the organization’s social enterprise consultancy, Grow Food Tourism and as a Barbadian, he is particularly passionate about the region.

Daphne Ewing-Chow: Why is agritourism particularly important to the Caribbean region?

Trevor Jonas Benson: There is tremendous potential to grow food tourism in the Caribbean, and agritourism presents itself as an authentic way to build awareness around the region’s agricultural histories and heritage while celebrating its growers, producers, and harvesters. The foodways of each island along with the coasts that surround the Caribbean Sea are so diverse. Agritourism experiences can help to bring these foodways to life for the growing segment of food-connected consumers who are interested in connecting deeply with the destinations they visit.

Agritourism moves people out of urban centres and areas that may be susceptible to over-tourism, such as seaports and overdeveloped coastlines. This means that the visitor dispersion potential is high, which can be very beneficial during the high-season.

Agritourism also drives the localization of visitor dollars by preventing tourism expenditure leakages through facilitating the direct purchase of products and experiences from small producers and providers. While the multipliers range by destination, every dollar spent on fresh local food has a more significant economic impact than one spent on imported foodstuff.

There are also strong social networks and communities that form around various agritourism products, such as farmers’ markets.

Daphne Ewing-Chow: How can sustainability, food security and the environment be merged into the Caribbean’s agritourism product?

Trevor Jonas Benson: The success of agritourism is intrinsically linked to the health of local food systems, and agritourism product can help to build resiliency into these systems but the relationship between the two needs to be interdependent. In other words, the sustainable use of natural resources needs to be at the foundation of any product development. Similarly, one cannot pursue the development agritourism, which has the potential to attach significant value to local foods, without ensuring that the needs of locals continue to be met.

Daphne Ewing-Chow: How can the challenges associated with merging food and agritourism in destination branding be overcome?

Trevor Jonas Benson: The challenge of branding food and agritourism as one is overcome by focussing on what brings the food and food experiences of a destination to life; that is, the people and their stories. By concentrating the brand on experience, whether this is at the restaurant table or on a fishing boat, one is able to navigate around having to identify hero ingredients or dishes. What is left is the unique opportunity to tie the stories of production through to consumption into one narrative that is shared with current and prospective visitors.

Daphne Ewing-Chow: Small island developing states such as those in the Caribbean are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts to the agriculture sector. How can this be addressed strategically?

Trevor Jonas Benson: With agriculture as its base, the agritourism product is particularly susceptible to the unforeseen and often sudden impacts of climate change. However, agritourism development can also help to build resilience into local food systems by turning growers, producers, and harvesters on to climate-smart agricultural methods that fit their changing environments while providing more sustainable and diverse means to generate revenue. Food insecurity is also a major concern for many small island developing states that have come to depend heavily on imports, and while agritourism is not the solution to climate change, it can certainly help to stimulate increased local food production, food literacy, and food security.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2019/07/23/agritourism-can-drive-socio-economic-development-in-the-caribbean/#2adbc10f6cd0

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