The Vidarbha Economic Development Council (VED), in association with SMART Welfare Foundation is organizing an Agro-Tourism Workshop, “Agro-Tourism – Challenges & Opportunities†on February 8 from 12.30 pm to 5.30 pm. at the VED Office, Mate Square, Nagpur.
Experts in the field of agro-tourism would be sharing their knowledge and experiences with the audience on the subject for promoting this particular brand of tourism so important in today’s world in order to be close to nature.
The Workshop agenda would include discussions on subjects like an Overview, opportunities, Investments and Challenges in Vidarbha in Agro-tourism and how to get into this field with minimum investment, funding opportunities for AT etc. There would be Case Studies of Success Stories and Q & A Sessions.
The Keynote Speaker would be P. M. Parlewar, Director, MSME-DI, Nagpur, and there would be Success Stories by Amol Khante, CAC-Allrounder and Roshan Daga, Ranwara.
There would be Panel Discussions on -“OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES IN AGRI-TOURISM ”    with Dr. D M Panchbhai, Associate Dean, PKV Nagpur as Moderator and Panelists, Dr. Prachiti Bagaday, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Geography, LAD College, Prof. Prasanna Shembekar, Assistant Professor, Tirpude Institute Of Management Education, Prof. Avinash Bhake, Dept. Applied Chemistry, YCCE, Gramin Agri-picnic and Dr. Anil Sharma, Director, Green Heaven Institution of Management.
There would be lectures on “INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES & SERVICES IN AGRI-TOURISM” by Prashant Sawai, Director, MTDC, Role & Support from Tours and Travels Agencies and Agri-Tourism by Anup Ghumare, CEO, CENIN Tours and Travels, as well as a talk on, “How to Start new Agri-Tourism Centers with minimum investment†by Sunil Mankikar, President, SMART Welfare Foundation Agro-tourism is the latest concept in the Indian tourism industry, which normally occurs on farms. It gives you the opportunity to experience the real enchanting and authentic contact with rural life, tastes local genuine food, and get familiar with the various farming tasks during the visit, broadly speaking, any agriculturally-based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm.
Agritourism is where agriculture and tourism meet to provide us with an amazing educational experience. Agro-tourism provides opportunities for diversification and economic incentives for growers, promotes economic development and helps educate the public about the important contributions of agriculture to the county’s economy and quality of life.
It is becoming an increasingly popular industry globally and even in almost every state in India. It is basically leisurely activities in the rural areas that help a person understand and appreciate the land and the people who live on it. Today, travelers want to slow down meet local communities in their natural environments and become more involved with the land they are visiting.
Agro-tourism is, however, not all about staying in a village and relishing the food, this is an opportunity to be close to where 75% of Indians live. One of the best things about staying on a farm is that guests can contribute to the place through their involvement. It provides people a welcome escape from the daily hectic life in a peaceful rural environment. It gives the chance to relax and revitalize in a purely natural environment, surrounded by magnificent settings.
Agro-tourism is important today as it is related to nature and Mother Nature is open door school without brick walls! Today, the urban children’s world has become limited in the closed-door schools, classes, cartoon programs on television, video games, chocolates, soft
drinks, spicy fast food, computer, the internet and so on, they see mother nature only on the television screen.
Therefore, it has now become necessary for children to know the traditional way of agricultural farming activities and other businesses dependant on agriculture. Here children come very close to Mother Nature and learn many new things in life for sustainable living.
