Agritourism as a Tool for Sustainable Development for Rural Zimbabwe

Abstract

This chapter promotes agricultural tourism as a strategy for rural Zimbabwe’s sustainable development. As a strategy for sustainable rural development in poor countries, agricultural tourism has gained increased recognition in the Fourth Industrial Revolution because of the support it has received from academics on all sides of the ideological spectrum. Sustainable development is a problem that everyone in the world has to start addressing right now in order to satisfy the demands of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own requirements. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which must all be achieved by 2030 according to the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development, must be implemented by all nations. A majority of African countries do not have the necessary established infrastructure to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals. This creates a vicious cycle of poor economic growth and hinders community attempts to enhance their quality of life. The risks that countries are exposed to, which include, among other things, catastrophic risks, financial risks, liability risks, and biological hazards, present another set of challenges for agritourism. The use of the agritourism idea in rural Zimbabwe is a recent development. This study’s main objective is to investigate the economic effects of agritourism in rural areas in order to promote growth and development, despite the problem of popular acceptance among the rural population. Agriculture and rural communities stand to gain economically and socially from agricultural tourism. Agricultural attractions have not been fully utilized as tourist attraction drivers despite Zimbabwe’s agricultural economy and the existence of multiple farms that might be developed and promoted as agritourism destinations. This chapter tries to show how Zimbabwean farms and rural people could benefit from agritourism. The researchers employed grounded theory to explain agritourism and produce predictions about anticipated future occurrences in the area of study by examining data from a sample of 30 A1 farmers, 2 regional managers of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, 2 Agritex officers purposively selected until the researchers witnessed information saturation. The study’s findings demonstrated the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship for rural sustainability and suggested that they may work as economic catalysts for rural development in Zimbabwe. The researchers also propose agritourism as a crucial solution since it unites agriculture and tourism, promotes the investigation of new possibilities, and has an entrepreneurial mindset.