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FAO Characteristic Story
Harnessing the potential of agritourism to enhance rural livelihoods and promote sustainable agrifood methods in Albania
By helping Albania in constructing its capability for agritourism, FAO is supporting the nation’s imaginative and prescient for enhancing its agrifood system and rising prosperity in rural areas. ©FAO
02/07/2024
The untamed river valleys and the breathtaking environment of the Vjosa Wild River Nationwide Park attracts wilderness fans and adventurers alike into Albania yearly.
And on this nationwide park, close to the Bënja thermal baths, is the place the Lile household farm and restaurant sits. Together with lodging and Albanian and Greek delicacies, the Liles’ household enterprise gives wine, gliko (a conventional fruit protect) and raki, a distilled liquor that’s common within the Balkans and the southern Mediterranean.
In recent times, the variety of vacationers visiting Albania greater than doubled, from 4 million in 2016 to eight.4 million in January-October 2023. This vital growth in tourism has led to a excessive demand in high quality native meals and associated providers.
This presents an important alternative for family-run agritourism companies to extend their capability to fulfill the rising calls for. Albania has acknowledged that fostering the agritourism sector can create new market alternatives and increase rural improvement.
Agritourism is a superb instance of a methods strategy that brings collectively many interrelated sectors: agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, advertising, meals, tradition and native economies. Addressing these as an entire permits international locations to see key blockages to alter in addition to rising alternatives for development.
In 2022, to assist the Albanian authorities on this quest, the Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations (FAO) carried out the Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean (SFS-MED) project, funded by the Authorities of Italy. The venture offered trainings, facilitated dialogues between nationwide and native representatives and lent experience to stakeholders from numerous sectors to strengthen agritourism and improve rural livelihoods.
“Till this 12 months, my mother and father ran their enterprise all on their very own. We didn’t know this sort of assist was out there. Now we’re extra hopeful and extra open to studying from different organizations,” recounts Fabja Lile.
Earlier, their household obtained coaching from the Rural Affiliation Assist Programme (RASP), an area NGO taking part in FAO’s SFS-MED venture.
“They helped us not simply with materials issues, like constructing a greenhouse so we will develop greens year-round, in addition they helped develop our minds,” Fabje provides.
FAO’s SFS-MED venture is offering assist and coaching for rural, household companies to fulfill the rising calls for of the agritourism business in Albania. ©FAO
Addressing the rural-urban divide
The World Financial institution estimates that city manufacturing in Albania is round 11 instances larger than rural manufacturing, whereas the inhabitants dwelling in cities is just one.3 instances than that dwelling within the countryside. This is because of constraints similar to inadequate infrastructure. One other problem in rural areas— the place the vast majority of cultivated land is made up of small household farms— is an insufficient labour pressure, as many younger individuals migrate to cities or different international locations in quest of higher financial alternatives.
Furthermore, the ageing rural inhabitants struggles to maintain up with technological improvements and altering client preferences. Regardless of agri-entrepreneurs modernising manufacturing practices, domestically grown merchandise nonetheless typically don’t meet the protection and high quality requirements and the calls for of the market.
In figuring out these key areas of the rural-urban hole, Albania set a imaginative and prescient for rising prosperity by way of collective efforts in all of the inter-related sectors surrounding agritourism.
Shared studying
To assist obtain this imaginative and prescient, FAO’s SFS-MED venture convened farmers, agritourism entrepreneurs, micro-finance establishments, culinary faculties and different people within the agritourism business to return collectively in an inclusive house, encouraging collaboration. A key realization was the necessity to equip native youth with abilities to grow to be agrifood innovators of the longer term.
“The youthful technology has the appropriate angle to implement higher enterprise fashions, however they lack expertise and financing alternatives to start out companies,” feedback Eldi Ceco, dialogue participant and head of the ABA Centre, a consulting and advisory enterprise for farmers.
Serving to younger individuals foster their abilities and discover alternatives within the agritourism sector is not going to solely carry new concepts and improvements for Albania however will provide younger individuals a substitute for migrating for higher financial alternatives.
With the assist from the FAO SFS-MED venture, the Lile household was in a position to enhance the visibility of their household’s enterprise by way of labelling and showcasing their merchandise in gala’s. ©FAO
Subsequently, the SFS-MED venture additionally introduced agritourism entrepreneurs along with agronomists, the native NGO, RASP, and a seed financial institution to advertise partnerships and farm enterprise networks. From these numerous connections, companies obtained coaching on sustainable farming practices, together with diminished water and pesticide use, natural composting and drip irrigation.
The Lile household was in a position to enhance the visibility of their enterprise by way of labelling and showcasing their merchandise in gala’s. In addition they realized agritourism finest practices from the SFS-MED organised research tour to Puglia, a southern area of Italy. This research tour showcased how their Italian counterparts mix natural farming with tourism, providing conventional delicacies based mostly on domestically sourced elements. It was likelihood for Albanian agritourism entrepreneurs to watch, be taught and interact with the native Italian agritourism entrepreneurs.
Total, the SFS-MED actions boosted smallholder farmers and agri-entrepreneurs in harnessing the rising calls for of tourism in Albania in a means that helped them undertake sustainable farming strategies, enhance enterprise practices and leverage shared studying to supply safer, increased high quality merchandise.
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