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dr Arkadiusz Niedziolka ©
University of Agriculture in Cracow, Poland The Faculty of Agriculture and Economics Department of Sociology and Rural Development 31 - 120 Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 21.
THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL SURROUNDINGS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRITOURISM IN MALOPOLSKA VOIVODESHIP
Abstract: In the article the author presented different issues connected
with any institutions' influence on agritourism development in Maloposlka Voivodeship. Among these institutions we can name: agritourism associations, Agricultural Advisory Centres, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture, local authorities in districts. All these institutions support development of agritourism in this region. Such support is mainly connected with common promotion, among others organization of tourism fairs, edition of agritouris catalogues. Out of promotion agritourism support is seen Key words: institutional surroundings, Malopolska Voivodeship,
agritourism associations, Agricultural Advisory Centres, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation, local authorities.
Introduction
Agritourism is the form of rural tourism which is organized by farmers in the limits of farms. There are many determinants of such kind of tourism development. Tourism values, interesting tourism attractions, possibility of rest in calm and clean countryside, getting to know farm production are the most important factors of agritourism development. Besides, institutional surrounding has big influence on this development, too. Different institutions support agritouristic services development in different ways. Especially such support is seen in promotional activities. Agricultural Advisory Centres help farmers in training courses which mainly concern aspects connected with setting up agritourism farms. These centres organize courses which concern improvement offered services , too. Moreover, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation is next institution which supports agritourism development in the field of obtaining union funds fot this activity. While, local authorities in districts can support farmers providing agritourism farms in different way, mainly in promotion.
Task, the aim of the article The aim of the article is the presence the role of different institutions in the development of agritourism in Malopolska Voivodeship. Such kind of rural tourism, which is organized by farmers must be supported from different sides. Farmers are not able to run such enterprise without any help. In the theoretical part of the article
© Arkadiusz Niedziolka, 2009 256
some functioning institutions that support agritourism development in discussed region are presented. Next, in the empirical part results of researches conducted among 365 owners of agritourism farms have been presented. These researches have been conducted by means of questionnaire.
Agritourism development in Malopolska Voivodeship
Agritourism is a popular form of rural tourism in Malopolska Voivodeship. In this region of Poland there are many factors which determine development of agritourism services. There is here interesting cultural heritage, many attractive tourism values. Among the chances favouring agritourism development in this region are the following [Zmija 1999]:
- natural and landscape qualities,
- substantial house resources in the rural areas,
- cultural and historic heritage,
- price competitiveness,
- growing interest of urban population in spending free time such way.
In Malopolska Voivodeship there is a good institutional surroundings support
in agritourism development, too. There are some agritourism associations which support this process. Local authorities in individual districts do the same. Besides, Agency for Restructuring and Modernization and Agricultural Advisory Centres also help farmer in providing their agritouristic services.
In Poland in 2006 there were over 9000 agritourism farms. Definitely, the most of them functioned in Malopolska Voivodeship - over 2300 farms (table 1).
Table 1 Number of agritourism farms in Poland in 2006.
Voivodeship Number of agritourism farms Voivodeship Number of agritourism farms
Dolnosl^skie 595 Podkarpackie 691
Kujawsko-Pomorskie 275 Podlaskie 734
Lubelskie 399 Pomorskie 822
Lubuskie 158 Sl^skie 258
Lodzkie 187 Swiçtokrzyskie 371
Malopolskie 2358 Warminsko -Mazurskie 952
Mazowieckie 334 Wielkopolskie 458
Opolskie 139 Zachodniopomorskie 459
Total: 9190 agritourism farms
Source:own study based on: D^bkowska K. (red.) Informacja o stanie agroturystyki w Polsce, Departament Prognozowania i Analiz w Ministerstwie Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi, Zal^cznik I, Warszawa 2006, s. 9.
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According to provinces the most agritourism farms are in Nowotarski Province (table 2).
Table 2. Number of agritourism farms in Malopolska Voviodeship
Number of agritourism farms in individual provinces in Malopolska Voivodeship
1140 - Nowotarski 65 - Myslenicki 16 - D^browski
301 - Tatrzanski 62 - Suski 15 - Wielicki
250 - Nowos^decki 60 - Krakowski 7 - Olkuski
169 - Limanowski 49 - Brzeski 5 - Proszowicki
84 - Gorlicki 30 - Bochenski 3 - Oswi^cimski
72 - Tarnowski 20 - Wadowicki 2 - Chrzanowski
Source: own study based on: Poloczek G. (red.) Raport o agroturystyce, Malopolski Osrodek Doradztwa Rolniczego w Karniowicach, Krakow 2006, s. 2. There is a new form of agritourism. It has been becoming popular from some years. It's ecoagritourism. It is a kind of agritourism which is characteristic of cultivation soil and produce food by means of organic methods (in farms which possess certificate or being in the course of conversion [Zariba 2006]. The Agriculture Advisory Centre in Brwinow made efforts to achieve to form all - Poland base of ecoagritourism farms. This base is being formed free for farmers and is provided on the Internets' side: www.eko.radom.com.pl. Nowadays their base consists of 158 ecoagritourism farms (table 3).
Table 3. Number of ecoagritourism farms in individual voivodeship in
Poland in 2007
Voivodeship Number of ecoagritourism farms
dolnosl^skie 25
kujawsko - pomorskie 3
lubelskie 3
lubuskie 2
lodzkie 0
malopolskie 29
mazowieckie 6
opolskie 8
podkarpackie 4
podlaskie 11
pomorskie 0
sl^skie 5
swi^tokrzyskie 33
warminsko - mazurskie 18
wielkopolskie 1
zachodniopomorskie 10
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Saurce: own study based on: http: //www.eko.radom. com.pl/bga/index.php
The term "ecoagritourism" has been existed in literature for some years. This kind of agritourism denotes stay at farmers who cultivate soil and produce food by means of organic methods (in farms which possess certificate or being in the course of conversion [Zariba 2006]. In recent years a new kind of holiday, based on ecological tourism on organic farms, was pioneered in Poland. This new type of holiday or vacation is associated with the increasing awareness of the importance of the traditional rural environment as a vital natural and cultural resource and treasure that can be both protected and enjoyed, having positive impact on our physical and psychological health. Poland is ideal for such holidays, as it has a variety of regions with beautiful landscapes, rich, bio-diverse environments, and small-scale organic and traditional farms that are ideal vacation spots. One of the precursor of ecotourism is ECEAT-Poland, which members are mainly small family farmers.
The role of different institutions in agritourism development in Malopolska
Voivodeship
In Malopolska Voivodeship there are some institutions which support agritourism development in this region. It's important to discuss them.
The Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture was established in 1994 with the aim of supporting the agriculture and rural development. The Agency has been designated by the Government of the Republic of Poland to perform the role of an accredited paying agency. It deals with the implementation of instruments co-financed from the European Union budget and provides aid from national funds. The Agency, as the performer of agricultural policy, cooperates with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. At the same time this agency is under supervision of the ministry of Finance within the scope of managing public funds.
The Agency, among others support agritourism development by obtaining union funds. The maximum level of financial assistance granted to a beneficiary may amount to 50% of qualified costs. At the same time the maximum amount of financial assistance granted within the task, during realization of the program, to one beneficiary and one farm cannot exceed 100 000 PLN. It means that [Niedziolka 2005]:
- one beneficiary may obtain assistance amounting to not more than 100 000 PLN during realization of the program,
- Owners, co-owners and members of the household applying for co-financing of projects realized within one farm may obtain assistance in the amount not exceeding 100 000 PLN in total during realization of the program.
In Malopolska Voivodeship the most important agritourism associations are: "The Galician Hospitable Farms" based in Cracow, and "The Association of Tourism and Agritourism of Mountainous Regions" in Nowy S^cz. Membership in these
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organizations is very helpful for farmers who have agritourism farms. They benefit from common promotion. It is clearly seen in common tourism fairs organization.
In individual districts, local authorities very often support agritourism development, too. They help farmers in promotion, in training courses. That's why it is very important to cooperate with local authorities.
Results of researches Researches focused on the role of institutional surroundings in agritourism development in Malopolska Voivodeship. They have been conducted among 365 farmers who provided agritourism farms in this region.
To begin with, the Author acquainted with the influence of the local self-government on the development of agritourism services in individual districts. The results are presented in table 4.
Table 4. The influence of the local self-government on the development of
agritourism services in the districts studied
The impact of local self-government on the development of agritourism Number of responses % ofthe number of districts
Promotion 27
Including: Participation in fairs Internet advertising Publication of leaflets 10 4 4 47,4
Distribution of informational materials 1
Trips to agritourism farms 1
Development of tourist and recreation infrastructure 11 19,3
Building technical infrastructure 7 12,3
Organization of training courses 4 7,0
Funding agritourism 2 3,5
Organization of various events 2 3,5
Funding outdoor events 1 1,7
Promotion of cultural heritage 1 1,7
Record of agritourism farmsteads 1 1,7
Maintaing the cleanliness of the natural environment 1 1,7
Total: 37 100,0
Saurce: own study, based on own research.
Next, the intention of the author was the acquaintance with the fact of number of associated agritourism farms and benefits from it. It turned out, that over half of examined agritourism farms is associated in agritourism associations. The most important advantageous coming from its membership is promotion (table 5).
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Table 5. Advantageous due to membership in agritourism associations
Number of answers
Kind of answer For 100
Total agritourism farms associated (%)
Promotion 159 86,4
Courses 45 24,5
Access to information 35 19,0
Common trips to tourism fairs 34 18,5
Exchange of experience 14 7,6
Possibility of region promotion 1 0,5
Knowledge of agritourism extended 1 0,5
Common events 1 0,5
Departures to other agritourism farms 1 0,5
Lack of advantageous 8 4,3
Total: 299
Saurce: own study, based on own research.
Examined agritourism farms' owners were asked to say which institution best supports agritourism development in their districts. More than half answers related to Agriculture Advisory Centre (table 6).
Table 6. Institutions best support agritourism development in respondents' opinion
Institution % of answers
Agriculture Advisory Cenre 55,1
Agritourism association 17,4
Local authorites 14,3
Others 7,9
Chamber of Agriculture 3,8
Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture 1,4
Total 100,0
Saurce: own study, based on own research.
365 examined agritourism farms' owners expect further help from different institutions in the future. Most of respondents expect it from local authorities and Agriculture Advisory Centre. There were 738 answers, all In all (table 7).
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Table 7. Institutions, from which respondents expect further help
Institution Number of answers
Local authorities 260
Agritourism Advisory Centre 214
Agritourism association 177
Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture 69
Chamber of Agriculture 13
Others 5
Total 738
Saurce: own study, based on own research.
Summarizing, results obtained in researches showed, that institutional surroundings plays essential role in agritourism development in Malopolska Voivodeship.
Conclusions
Agritourism development in Malopolska Voivodeship is determined, among other by institutional surroundings support. There are different institutions which support this development in different ways. Especially, it concerns promotion supported by local authorities and agritourism associations. Besides, training courses organization, mainly organized by Agricultural Advisory Centres.
Researches showed that farmers providing agritourism services obtain support from different institutions and they expect such support from them in the future.
Literature
1. D^bkowska K. (red.) Informacja o stanie agroturystyki w Polsce, Departament Prognozowania i Analiz w Ministerstwie Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi, Zal^cznik I, Warszawa 2006, s. 9.
2. Niedziolka A., Structural funds as the source offinancing the development of agritourism in Malopolska [w:] Annals of The Polish Association of Agricultural and Agribusiness Economists. Vol. VII No. 6, Warszawa -Poznan 2005, s. 87.
3. Poloczek G. (red.) Raport o agroturystyce, Malopolski Osrodek Doradztwa Rolniczego w Karniowicach, Krakow 2006, s. 2.
4. Zariba D., Ekoturystyka, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2006, s. 52.
5. Zmija J., Przedsi^biorczosc w agrobiznesie a rozwoj obszarow wiejskich w Regionie Malopolski, Wydawnictwo Czuwajmy, Krakow 1999, s. 181.
Cmammx Hadiumna do peda^ii 14.04.2009
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