Agrotourism: The untapped Opportunity

A traditional store used for preserving food.

Agrotourism by definition is a form of tourism which capitalizes on the richness of the rural culture as a tourist attraction. The concept is quite new and as such, it has been absorbed or lumped up together with eco-tourism which mainly focuses on the natural biodiversity consisting of flora and fauna.
Most traditional communities the world over are rich in customs and norms that defined their way of living, defining individual roles, not just within the family but also in the wider community across all gender, age and status.
Culturally, agrotourism has remained an untapped potential in many societies mainly in Africa, which are rich in culture and traditional practices. This traditions have been adopted in part or in toto in our modern lifestyles, with slight modifications here and there. Some of them (traditions) are still strictly adhered to especially in areas and societies that are still closed up as far as information penetration is concerned. Others, according to UNESCO reports, are facing the threat of extinction mainly as a result of modernization as people get exposed to modern cultures and lifestyle especially in urban areas and forget their own cultures.
I've been lucky enough to work closely with an organization dealing with indigenous communities, both in Kenya and outside. From my small research work, i came to learn that these communities were completely organised despite the fact that their traditional structures and way of life were considered archaic- at least by today's standards. This was evident through traditional systems that governed different aspects of their lives like, marriage, divorce, death, circumcision, leadership etc. While some like female genital mutilation(FGM) and early marriages, could be considered repugnant, there's a lot of richness and diversity within traditional cultures. For instance, to attain food security, there were procedures and methodologies used, not just during hunting period but equally important, areas for hunting were clearly designated while in others, one had no permission to cross over someone else's territory without permission as this could invite not just conflicts but curses as well. There were also skills how the hunted animal would be preserved. This in a way ensured that there was food in the family during the rainy season, but also there was sustainability in the hunting i.e. people only hunted when there was need to. Economically, there were structures which governed the interactions between different communities in terms of trade and commerce thus ensuring that community members accessed goods and services they did not produce.
The field of medicine also has a long history. Traditionally, each community had a medical doctor or medicine-man/woman, who catered for all the patients both within and outside a given community. This was mainly done using traditional herbs-which still have relevance and wider application in modern medicine in treating diseases like epilepsy while others still are raw materials for some of the major pharmaceuticals and drug manufacturing companies. These rare skills were considered God-given and only possessed by certain families or a few talented people in the society and who were accorded esteemed for that. To date, some people still rely heavily on this traditional medical practices for treating chronic diseases like diabetes and many others. Its the same knowledge that a traditional-cum-modern medical doctor in a remote village in Tanzania, got a lot of publicity for his ability to cure all the diseases that afflict people. People streamed in their thousands via various means including helicopters to the hilly village in order to get a taste of the magical concoction. As much as these people were sick and needed help, to the Tanzanian government, they represented a good portion of medical tourists thereby earning the country the much needed revenue.
In Kenya, the Luhya community from western province, is famous for different cultural traditions. One is the bull fighting which attracts quite a sizable number of tourists, both local and international, who travel for miles to come over there and experience the drama, as bulls trained for fighting engage in a duel. In addition, there's also the annual circumcision ceremonies done during the Christmas holidays, where many boys move around the streets in the town and villages, singing songs and dancing as they undergo the passage of right from childhood to adulthood. The Maasai community- also in Kenya, is famous for this kind of tradition as well. The morans are famous for painting their head with red orchre soil, and it is said that in the past, for one to be considered a real man as a right of passage, they had to kill a lion. This tradition has so far been overtaken by time with the introduction of the modern governance system which emphasizes on conservation and the protection of flora and fauna.

A traditional hut(Manyatta)
 used to house a  family.

Other traditional cultural behaviors that could attract tourists include the traditional songs and dances, folklore and story telling. Traditional songs and dances is another selling point for agrotourism. Pretty much every traditional community around the world, had different songs which were sang in different occasions. For instance, there were songs sang during the circumcision ceremonies, praising the initiates for their promotion to a new status and for displaying bravado during the whole process of initiation which was considered excruciating since crude methods were used during the circumcision. Others were war songs  sang during battles; There were songs sang during harvest times.Others still, were sang during sad times like the loss of a community member or to sooth a crying baby. Some community members especially in areas toured by foreigners for scenery, community members in the vicinity have organised themselves in groups that entertain their guests. Others have taken it as a full time job and have been contracted by big companies running tourist resorts to offer entertainment. They are also invited by other bodies like the government during special functions
Artistry and creative art work is also another area that could benefit local communities if well managed. Different cummunities were traditionally known to posses different artistry and craft work which were not only used to ease their work on a day to day basis, but also traditionally used as a currency for barter trade. With such a rich traditional knowledge, women were mostly talented(and still  are) in weaving and basketry work while their male counterparts were known for carvings and metal work. Such beautiful artifacts are a common place in many tourists hotels and resorts although if the same tourists were to visit places where these items are made i.e. villages, they'd probably get value for their money because they'll get to learn so much about the product they've purchased, including the motivation and inspiration behind such beautiful art work since many artists normally have stories attached to their work.
As much as this opens up so many opportunities for the traditional artist, a few challenges still exist. One obvious one is the level of education or exposure to information especially the ICT among the rural folks. A good number of them sell their art work to middlemen who in most cases pay them peanuts while they themselves fetch a lot of money from the sell of the same product(s) to tourists and other interested buyers. The fact that people sell their wares as individuals, puts them at a disadvantage and denies them the benefit of collective bargaining. This has therefore seen lots of them being exploited considering the fact that a great deal of them can hardly afford a square meal a day therefore any offer made would suffice as long as they are able to survive with it. The other issue touches on intellectual property rights. The fact that most of them have basic education or none at all, means that they understand very little about ownership of ones creativity and innovation. As observed by UNESCO "...low level of enforcement of copyright laws destroy the incentives for the creation and distribution of local cultural products in all the countries of the world and reveal the need for concerted efforts to encourage creativity and to foster sustainable development."(Source: http://www.unesco.org). Without the establishment of an oversight body that would ensure that all products are copyrighted before they are offered out for sale, the innocent artist deep in the village could face legal actions from other parties or companies claiming legal ownership and copyright of the products. Community members also ought to be trained on entrepreneurship in order to maximize on their culture and be able to package it in order to derive maximum benefits. The use of ICT and the social media presents powerful tools that could offer wider exposure of a community's culture to the wider world at no cost. Governments also have a responsibility to protect such rich cultures through legislation and education initiatives on the value of traditional culture in the tourism sector. This will ensure that their interests are not only protected, but most vitally is that, they will be taken as key stakeholders in the development agenda. This initiative would gain credence especially considering that traditionally sources of revenue for most governments i.e the export of agricultural products, has largely been hit by both the climate change phenomena and the recent underperformance of the global economy which in turn has tremendously affected the purchasing power of most citizens.