Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima (MVIWATA) in collaboration with a French-based organisation TAMADI, has embarked on new initiative aiming to boost rural tourism.
Speaking during inception of the initiative, at a stakeholders’ meeting here in Morogoro, the MVIWATA Executive Director, Stephen Ruvuga said the new initiative entails to create a platform where visitors from abroad will have chance to tour smallholder farmers in the country and learn their traditions in their homestead.
“Through this partnership, farmers will get opportunity to share their life experience with tourists, but also it is a way of enhancing international relations between Tanzania and other nations,” he said.
According to Mr Ruvuga, the initiative will forge friendship between visitors and the indigenous farmers while preserving their tourist attractions like environment and customs such as farming and livestock keeping, art craft and other appropriate technologies.
This type of tourism emphasizes the use of local transport and home-stay.
Tamadi implements similar initiative in Mali, Madagascar, India, Turkey and Western Sahara.
Speaking at the recent workshop entailed to train farmers that will host the tourists, the TAMADI Director, Ms Veronique Dave said in areas where the project was implemented like in Madagascar, hosting communities were sensitized to value and preserve their cultural heritages and environment.
According to her, guides, interpreters, host families, local organizations, national coordinators are paid fairly for their services.
“However, host families and farmers’ organizations have to consider community based tourism as a secondary generating revenue activity. Profits are reinvested to strengthen the rural development activities,” she said.
On their part, farmers who attended the training praised the initiative saying it would be a boost to their household income instead of depending only on single source.
“This is initiative has come just on time, we farmers have been depending entirely on farming as our only income generating activity, but here we are told that our community associations could also earn something by simply hosting and teach visitors our customary rural life,” said Mr Joseph Kwekanga.
Another farmer from Zanzibar Mr Haji Husi said the project was interesting the fact that it links people of two different world coming together and learn from each other on their daily lives and the surroundings.
Profits obtained through rural tourism are reinvested to strengthen the rural development activities
