Tamil Nadu planning to set up agro-tourism facilities for visitors
Imagine a break where you will be waking up with the rooster, trying your hand at milking the cows, feeding the chicken, plucking tender lady’s nger from the elds and having lunch under the shade of a canopy of trees. The images in your mind will remain even after you return to the mill and grind of your daily routine. Agro-tourism centres give such lasting memories to those who like to be one with nature.
The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) is trying its hand at oering farm tours to visitors in the State. Studying models from other States, it is charting a strategy for the same.
Recently, a meeting of various stakeholders was held. O¤cials said tourists were evincing interest in learning about rural life and it would be a win-win situation for both the farmers and tourists.
A.P. Arul James Edwin Thambu, founder and secretary, Tamil Nadu Agrotourism Federation, who has been providing training to farmers interested in agro-tourism, said visitors have to be able to do something in the farm, to see and learn something and buy something from the farm.
Shammy Jacob and his wife Charlotte Vant Klooster, who started their farm in 2016 at Thalambur, o OMR near Chennai, said their objective was to expose their children to nature when they moved back from the Netherlands.
“We planted trees and then the farm started telling us what to do. We give people space to have picnics beneath the trees,” he said.
C. Samayamoorthy, Commissioner of Tourism, said a policy was under preparation for agro-tourism in the State.
“This is one more oering that we are preparing for our guests. There is a lot of interest in Tamil Nadu, which is evident from the rising numbers of tourists, to the State. Agro-tourism is already being offered at a small scale in some places, we want to enlarge the scope,” he said.