Agritourism: Its Potentials in Davao Oriental

Abstract

This study established baseline information about the potential agritourism sites in the five (5) selected areas in Davao Oriental. Forty (40) outstanding farmer awardees were interviewed and their farms were documented through still photos and small format video footages to establish the characteristics of their farms in terms of attractiveness, amenities, activities, and accessibility.  Potential agritourism farms had an area of 5-10 hectares while others had either below 1 hectare to less than 5 hectares; accessible to all types of land transportation and can be reached with an average of 1-10 minutes. Attractive features include plains, coastal, rivers, and upland terrains planted mainly with coconuts and other agricultural crops and farmers raised live stocks and poultry. Activities in the farms were mostly educational tours among students and other farmers who want to learn agricultural technologies and organic-based farming practices. Farm owners mainly derived their income from agricultural production hence; economic benefit from agritourism was not evident. Amenities were limited; however, the sites were mostly provided with drinking water and restrooms. Word-of-mouth was the major means of promoting the potential agritourism sites, thus mass and social media remained untapped communication channels in for promoting agritourism sites.