Farm tourism & rural development

Historically, during and right after every Sinulog festivities, tourism industry players and the country’s tourism department never fail to talk about the prospects of tourism. Carried away by the usual successes of the Sinulog Grand Parade, however, most discussions are still focused on how the festivities shall be improved the ensuing years.

Thus, as always been the case, as the deafening drums are muted, the energizing beats dissipated and the equally revitalized crowd degenerated, the discussions of other tourism initiatives also disappear.

Such is the reality of the Sinulog festivities as far as our tourism initiatives are concern. It gives us a week bounty. Considering that a year has fifty two weeks, it simply means, a week of abundance and fifty one weeks of scarcity. Worse, other initiatives are simply blown away as well.

This year though is quite different. At least, this time, some industry players were talking about farm tourism. The Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association in Cebu (HRRAC), for one, “commits to further promote farm tourism in Cebu.” HRRAC president Carlo B. Suarez “believes that although Cebu is not an agricultural province, farm tourism could still thrive by developing the small farm lands and aquaculture facilities within the province to accommodate tourists.”

Moreover, though have some concerns on accreditation of farms by the Department of Tourism (DoT), Farm Tourism Association of Cebu (FTAC) believes too that farm tourism is the way to go.

This is not the first time though that farm tourism is given prominence in Cebu. To recall, last year, then Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Melanie Ng “expressed her optimism that promoting farm tourism would further boost the countryside development as well as augment the livelihood means of farmers and communities.”

Sadly, all these pronouncements have frustrating undertones. The fact is, the agriculture sector, despite having one-third of the country’s labor force in it, contributes just about 11% to our Gross Domestic Product. Simply put, this is the most inefficient sector of our economy. Worse, it might even be deserted in the future.

To recall, several years ago, a report revealed that even agriculture graduates disdain farming. A Filipino sociologist had observed that “Most agriculture graduates do everything but farm; they take government jobs, teach, do research, etc. They don’t want to touch the soil.” Worst, agricultural workers are dwindling every year as most of them, as surveyed by the Food and Agricultural Organization, migrate to urban areas seeking for better paying jobs. Some, in fact, are working as mere household helpers because, to most of them, these jobs have given them better rewards than that of the farms.

The advent of modern technology has been the biggest contributor to this phenomenon. News or reports about progressive cities and the better lives of their inhabitants (true or not) can be heard or seen right in theirs or their neighbors’ living rooms. Naturally, the dream to try their luck mounts.

Also, the advancement of communication technology made it easy for these hopefuls to make decisions. Though they have to leave their families for the time being, the portability of their best communication equipment made them more comfortable even if they are far away. They are fully aware that knowing their families’ well-being is just a call or text away.

Indeed, while the availability of real-time communication benefitted the majority of the country’s population in many ways, it has also somehow hastened rural exodus. Consequently, congestion in the urban areas is sickening and inactivity in the countryside is deafening. Worse, both situations have added concerns on criminality in the urban areas and non-productivity in the countryside.

However, despite these conveniences, most rural folks will definitely stay where they are if opportunities to earn are present and reachable. When all the necessities like food, shelter, clothing as well as health and school facilities are available they shall surely stay put. Thus, having undertakings that directly relate to what they are doing right now that may uplift their well-being might be tenable. One of these could be farm tourism.

Moreover, if the local government units will support this initiative, then its funds may be realigned to focus more on infrastructure development to make these places of interests accessible to tourists. Likewise, if our military and the national police will be able to address peace and order issues in the countryside, then, probably, farm tourism will have better chances to flourish and rural folks might just stay put.