Agritourism - the new profit frontier for farmers???
During the Professional Fellows Program, I had the opportunity to visit Sixteen Sprigs Lavender Farm and Gift shop set a whooping 3 acres (1.21ha) in Lansing Michigan USA. The growing season in Michigan is a total of 4-5 months and the rest of the time you have frosty weather. The owner of this farm Prof. Wynne Wright has found interesting ways to increase her income through agro-tourism and value addition to the Lavender she grows. This is not the only farm doing this, and I thought of you here in Zimbabwe. Agro-tourism is the concept of opening up the farm to paying visitors to learn, view or relax. Sixteen Sprigs offers Yoga in Lavender, Workshops on value addition, event space, Art and craft sessions, and U cut days (you pay to cut your own lavender bouquet and pay per kg) to promote wellness and agricultural therapy. In Zimbabwe we have multiple farms that have taken advantage of this phenomena such as Panganayi Farm (Hwedza) that offers accommodation on site, and learning exp