What problems and controversies exist in agritourism
What important roles does agritourism play in economic and social development?
Many people think agritourism is just about eating, drinking and having fun, something optional. Through research it has been found that agritourism has become an emerging agricultural business format, playing a pivotal role in supporting economic and social development.
(1) Agritourism is becoming an important growth pole driving increases in farmers' incomes. The urban-rural dual structure is a bottleneck restricting the integrated development of urban and rural economies and societies, and the core of breaking this urban-rural dual structure is narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents. Research has found that agritourism, as a new industrial form and new consumption format pulled by the market, has in recent years seen farmers actively participate and the industry develop rapidly regardless of whether the government has promoted it. Data provided by Sichuan Province show that in 2013 the province's agritourism and rural tourism received 250 million tourist visits, realized operating revenue of 56 billion yuan, with output value closely trailing that of cash crops, directly driving 8 million farmers into employment and income growth. It is expected that in 2014, the province's agritourism and rural tourism will receive more than 300 million tourist visits, with comprehensive revenue of 75 billion yuan, directly driving 9 million farmers into employment and income growth.
(2) Agritourism is becoming an effective driving force for building modern agriculture. Building modern agriculture is the only way to achieve sustainable agricultural development and is the top priority of the path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics. On the basis of fully considering factors such as locational characteristics, industrial features, resource endowments and consumer demand, Sichuan Province has actively innovated mechanisms, explored development models and expanded agricultural functions, opening a new path for the development of a new type of modern agriculture.
In the process of post-earthquake reconstruction, 10 villages in Xin'an Town and Sanhe Town of Jiangyou City, Sichuan Province, centering on the development goals of "agricultural modernization, farmers becoming workers, rural areas becoming parks, and urban-rural integration," focused on building a complex integrating modern agriculture, pastoral scenery, eco-tourism and farming experience -- the "Guoyu Huaxi" agricultural park. In 2013, the park absorbed 1,400 farmers into employment, and the per capita net income of farmers in the park increased by 1,524 yuan to reach 11,056 yuan. It is expected that in 2014 the park will employ more than 1,500 long-term workers and over 500,000 person-times of temporary workers, with the per capita net income of farmers in the park increasing by 1,548 yuan, up 14% from 2013, becoming a microcosm of the province's integrated development of agriculture and tourism.
(3) Agritourism is becoming a strong supporting point for building beautiful villages. Building beautiful villages is an important part of building a Beautiful China. But building beautiful villages is a long-term, systematic project that requires not only government guidance and policy support, but also, more importantly, highlighting farmers as the main body and strengthening industrial support -- this is the internal driving force and decisive factor for construction and development. In the long run, without the active participation of farmers and relying only on project-driven efforts, the building of a new countryside will lack sustained vitality; without strong industrial support and relying only on policy support, the building of beautiful villages will become a castle in the air. Through research, we have learned that Sichuan Province has explored new approaches in building beautiful villages that highlight the position of industry and highlight farmers as the main body.
In short, the reality of Sichuan tells us that developing agritourism is of very great significance and plays a very important role in promoting increases in farmers' incomes, building modern agriculture and building beautiful villages. On further analysis, we feel that at the social level, the even greater significance of developing agritourism lies in the fact that it has become an important connector for coordinating urban and rural development. Promoting the mutual integration of factors such as urban and rural population, technology, capital and resources is the key to building a new pattern of integrated urban and rural economic and social development. It can be foreseen that these changes will inevitably have a profound impact on breaking the urban-rural dual structure, coordinating integrated urban-rural development and driving steady economic growth.
What experience can be drawn on for advancing the development of agritourism?
The exploration and practice of Sichuan Province fully demonstrate the economic function of agritourism in promoting income growth, the social function of driving employment, the cultural function of protecting and passing on farming civilization, and the ecological function of beautifying the rural environment, prompting farming areas to become scenic areas, pastoral fields to become parks, air to become popularity, labor to become exercise, and agricultural products to become commodities, allowing idle rural land to be put to use, farmers' leisure time to be enriched, surplus labor to flow, and traditional culture to come alive. Agritourism has played an irreplaceable important role in the rural economic and social development of Sichuan Province, so in the process of promoting agritourism, what experience can be drawn on?
(1) Adhere to taking industry as the foundation. Agriculture is the foundation for the development of agritourism. Without agricultural industry as support, agritourism will be water without a source and a meal without rice. The China Lily International Expo Park in Jiangyou City is a typical case. This expo park was built by the Jinkang Lily Planting Professional Cooperative. In 2012 it transferred more than 5,000 mu of land, carried out research and development of new varieties and new technologies of the Chinese medicinal herb lily flower, built standardized production bases and primary processing facilities, and expanded leisure and sightseeing functions focused on ornamental viewing, picking and sales of leisure products, greatly extending the lily industry chain, enhancing the comprehensive benefits of the industry, strengthening and expanding the lily industry, and exploring a new model of coordinated development and integrated interaction of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. At present, a comprehensive lily expo park has been built integrating an 8,000-square-meter intelligent glass greenhouse, a 10,000-square-meter multi-span greenhouse for cut flowers, a 5,000-mu ecological planting demonstration base, a fresh-keeping storage warehouse with a capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes, and a primary agricultural product processing plant. From May to July 2014, thousands of mu of lilies in the park bloomed in competition, receiving more than 500,000 tourist visits, with ticket revenue alone reaching more than 3 million yuan.
(2) Adhere to taking creativity as the means. Strengthening the integration of creative design with agriculture, expanding the ornamental value of agriculture, and achieving the effect of one crop with two harvests, with returns even before harvest, is another major practice in the development of agritourism in Sichuan. In earlier years, the peach blossom economy, pear blossom economy and rapeseed flower economy in the suburban counties of Chengdu and other places already achieved great results; but in recent years, as the level of tourist demand has risen, the simple "spring flower economy" has been unable to satisfy residents' desire for leisure consumption, so they used creative means to focus on enhancing the ornamental value of agriculture, making it an important way to enhance the comprehensive benefits of agriculture. The Zhongdu Vegetable Theme Park in Pengzhou City uses the 24 solar terms, the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, the ancient Shu story of Du Yu encouraging farming, and farming equipment as artistic carriers, planting various vegetables in the park to create multiple horticultural landscapes, attracting large numbers of tourists to come for farming experiences and leisure sightseeing. In 2014 it received more than 600,000 tourist visits, of which a 5-day expo received 300,000 tourist visits.
(3) Adhere to taking culture as the soul. Agricultural culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, the soul of culture and the soul of interest in the development of agritourism, and the very soul that leads the development of agritourism. Qionglai City in Chengdu is the largest baijiu distribution center in the country, with very profound deposits of Chinese liquor culture and farming culture such as sorghum cultivation related to brewing. Daliang Wine Estate, located in this city, makes full use of its resource advantages, taking "field cultivation, harvesting wine grain, brewing fine liquor, tasting fine wine, drinking and singing, leisure and entertainment" as its theme, and uses transferred land to plant 2,671 mu of sorghum fields in a concentrated way. By carrying out citizen adoption and harvesting of sorghum and vigorously developing traditional liquor beverages such as sorghum baijiu brewed by ancient methods, it has not only greatly expanded the single value of sorghum, extended the sorghum industry chain and enhanced the industrial benefits of sorghum, but also, through carrying out wine-related activities of "planting wine grain, fermenting wine cellars, practicing wine arts, promoting wine rites," allowed tourists to deeply perceive the breadth and depth of Chinese liquor culture, initially achieving "prosperous industry, wealthy families, harmony among people and beautiful villages," receiving nearly 230,000 tourist visits in 2013 alone.
(4) Adhere to taking construction as support. The core of building modern agriculture is to strengthen condition building, enhance facility support capacity and raise the comprehensive benefits of agriculture by transforming the agricultural development model. Only in this way will agriculture as an industry retain people and achieve sustainable development. In the process of modern agricultural construction, Sichuan Province has continuously innovated development concepts, increased construction investment and optimized and beautified the environment, doing full justice to the transformation of production areas into scenic areas and pastoral fields into parks. Pujiang County has a 10,000-mu kiwifruit core production base and a 10,000-mu tea garden, which in the past could only be sold elsewhere after the kiwifruit and tea leaves were picked and processed. Now, through implementing a transformation strategy, the government has invested a cumulative 130 million yuan to build leisure and sightseeing facilities, greatly improving the sightseeing and leisure conditions for tourists and promoting high quality and high prices for agricultural products and hot sales nearby and on the spot. Today, the tea garden and kiwifruit production base in Pujiang County have become a large scenic area integrating a production experience zone, an ecological sightseeing zone, a living support zone and a cultural creativity zone, with industrial benefits greatly enhanced. In 2014 it received more than 400,000 tourist visits, with tourism revenue alone reaching 61.38 million yuan.
These practices of Sichuan Province represent, to a certain extent, the advanced concepts of agritourism development in some areas of our country today, embody relatively scientific development ideas and the correct development direction, and are worth improving and promoting in an appropriate way.