Factors Affecting the Change of Agricultural Land Use to Tourism: A Case Study on the Southern Coasts of the Caspian Sea, Iran

Mostafa Ghadami,Naser Aligholizadeh Firouzjaie,Mousa Pazhuhan,Andreas Dittmann

doi:10.3390/agriculture12010090

Mostafa Ghadami, Naser Aligholizadeh Firouzjaie + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12010090

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Journal: Agriculture	Publication Date: Jan 10, 2022
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Mazandaran, University of Giessen

Abstract

This research investigates the reasons of changing the agricultural land use to tourism in a developing country with different political, economic and social context (Iran). The method used in this research is qualitative, and unstructured interviews have been used to collect data. The target population of the research includes farmers who have sold their farmlands to investors in the tourism sector and experts from the agricultural department of the relevant county. The interviewees have been selected through using snowball method and after reaching theoretical saturation, the data collection process was stopped. The results showed that various macro and micro factors affected the process of changing the agricultural land uses to tourism, including the weakness of the agricultural sector in creating income and job opportunities compared to the tourism sector, the weakness of the land use laws and the lack of inter-organizational coordination in law enforcement, the weakness of the property registration system and the lack of a national cadaster, the lack of effective government support of the agricultural sector, the rapid rise in land prices and, ultimately, the change in the attitude of farmers both old and young once towards the agricultural activity and the level of welfare.

Highlights

The nature of relationship between tourism and agricultural sectors has always been one of the main concerns in tourism development
The first group included farmers who had sold all or a significant part of their arable land to the tourism sector, and the second group included experts from the Department of Agriculture who had a long expertise of working in the land management sector
The results of this study showed that the relationship between tourism and agriculture is a complex matter under the influence of various structural and individual factors that can benefit tourist activities and weaken and even destroy the agricultural sector if neglected

Summary

Introduction

The nature of relationship between tourism and agricultural sectors has always been one of the main concerns in tourism development. As Sun et al [6] argued many traditional agricultural systems are under severe pressure from globalization and inadequate government intervention which has led to loosing more farms and unwilling of the farmers to developing agrotourism activities due to unfamiliarity as well as lack of government support [6]. In this regard, in Europe, especially since the 1980s, attempts have been made to optimize the balance between tourism and agriculture through the strategy of agro-tourism [7]. As regards resource curse and its effects on agriculture sector, Behera and Mishra [9] investigated interrelationship between the abundance of natural resources and economic development in India and concluded that the resource curse exists in the Indian states because of weak institutions and policies that has had detrimental effects on agriculture sector as a natural resource abundance [9]

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