Importance Of Plants And Planting In Agri-Tourism Center – Part 1

In recent times, agro-tourism has been a thriving industry. Urban tourists take their families to agri-tourism centers in villages or rural areas to see the farms. Agricultural crops, farm implements, farming methods have become the subject of tourism. The satisfaction you get in the agro-tourism centers is the way beyond other things. Farming usually begins around 30 kms away from a major city. The tourism team selects the farm with some innovative culture for tourists.

It may be organic or it may differ from other agro-tourism centers. In order to increase agritourism, it is necessary to implement innovative initiatives like this. The current article talks about the importance of plants and associated essentials. This includes organic farming, plants or trees depending on the farming and tourism, their suitable season, place, geographical conditions, etc. In brief, we will look into importance of plants considering the geographical conditions of Western Maharashtra, Konkan, Marathwada, Khandesh and Vidarbha.

The relationship between trees and agriculture is inseparable. Man has cut down forests to avail agriculture farmland in his history. The dense forest area posed a great threat to agriculture and man from wild animals. Taking this risk, they created an extensive amount of arable land. However, recognizing the importance of trees in the agriculture, man has left some trees on the embankments of farm land and started planting some new ones.

Recently, redistribution of farmland results into small and fragmented pieces of farms. Tremendous embankments have also shrunk with time. The trees on the embankment often became the cause of disputes. The fruit trees planted in groups were cut down as a matter of controversy. Some of the trees have been cut down with the reasons like the land under the trees is wasted and crop does not grow under the tree. But when we cut down the trees, we forgot about the different roles of those trees in agriculture.

Agritourism is not complete without trees on the embankments. It is rare to find a farm where there are no trees on the embankment. The farmer first goes under the tree in his farm field. The farmer works only after placing his water bottle, food, and other valuables under a tree.

What trees were on the farm embankments twenty-thirty years ago? A closer look at it reveals that it was beneficial for water and crops around it. Recently planted trees in agriculture or on embankments are selected by the Department of Social Forestry in a centralized manner. It does not consider farmland and farming families.

 

Article By,

Basavant Vithabai Babarao

Project Coordinator, Center for Environmental Education, Pune