Articulating farmers' engagement with agritourism in Rural Areas of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

การแสดงออกเพื่อสื่อนัยของเกษตรกรที่เข้าร่วมกับการท่องเที่ยวเชิงเกษตร ในพื้นที่ชนบทของสามเหลี่ยมปากแม่น้ำโขง, ประเทศเวียดนาม

Name: Le Thi Thao Anh

ThaSH: Vietnam -- Description and travel

Classification :.DDC: 915.97

ThaSH: Agritourism

ThaSH: Farmers -- Vietnam

Abstract: This thesis focused on farmers’ practices in agritourism to understand their perspectives and motivations in three communes: Mỹ Hòa Hưng, Vàm Nao, and Ô Lâm in An Giang Province. Firstly, this study investigated farmers’ activities in agriculture, which represented their daily life in rural areas, including their interactions with insiders and outsiders in order to reveal farmers’ identity in the commodity market. Secondly, I examined the farmers’ rationality behind participating in agritourism in order to identify their economic and non-economic motivations, which showed the localization of the new concept. Thirdly, I analyzed farmers’ activities in agritourism in terms of organizing and managing in order to comprehend how they redefine their identity in agritourism business and transcended the roles of farmers. These analyses also helped to understand the role of the Dutch Farmers Association as the initial driving force behind introducing farmers to agritourism, the marketing manager as farmers’ leader, and farmers engaged in agritourism. I analyzed the communications and interactions between these stakeholders to explain how farmers strategically negotiated with other stakeholders. Lastly, I assessed farmers’ multiple roles in sustainable agritourism. My main finding was that agritourism made farmers’ roles as entrepreneurs viable by engaging them as active subject in the tourism market and tourist market. Agriterra as an international agri-agency introduced their new image of farmers as an agri-agency, who played as capable actor to bypass the market to achieve higher economic value. Agritourism became a negotiated space for farmers from different levels (international, national, and local) to represent their identities. In Vietnam, farmers had difficulties in accessing the market, capital, and investment. The government could not support farmers in filling the gap of market demand in liberalized market economy, which motivated farmers’ roles in the market. A number of farmers understood farming to be difficult and risky with unstable incomes. Agritourism created a new space for an alternative market, which emerged tourists market and tourism market. Farmers proved their worth as entrepreneurs by commoditizing their live stories and the food culture. I also discovered rural space as an space for stories telling, which encouraged the farmer community to share their information of agricultural practices and their livelihoods. Farmers utilized their stories to make agritourism activities even more engaging for tourists. The level of contact and intensity of activity varied across the three communes. Tourists could better understand the farming life during these homestays and have indirect contact with agriculture through farmers’ conversations of their activities in the field. Farmers also found themselves helping to spread knowledge about agriculture and the rural lifestyle, adding even more to their roles as farmers and entrepreneurs. Additionally, the space of drinking and eating facilitated them to connect with outsiders and attract tourists to their agritourism products. Thus, farmers presented their identity at different scales as entrepreneurs according to how they actively engaged they were in connecting the tourism market and tourist market to achieve higher economic value. By studying farmers as a capable actor in the market, the study found that farmers’ multiple roles of producers, entrepreneurs, and educators contributed to sustain rural areas through agritourism by improving rural social-welfare, educating tourists, and preserving their practices and identity as agricultural producers.

Chiang Mai University Library

Address: Chiang Mai

Email: cmulibref@cmu.ac.th

Name: Achariya Choowonglert

Role: Chairman

Name: Anan Ganjanapan

Role: Member

Name: Chusak Wittayapak

Role: Member

Created: 2016

Modified: 2019-12-24

Issued: 2019-12-24

วิทยานิพนธ์/Thesis

application/pdf

CallNumber: Th 915.97 L433A 2016

eng

DegreeName: Master of Arts

Level: Master's Degree

Descipline: Social Science

Grantor: Chiang Mai University

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