Understanding barriers for agriculture-tourism linkages: Setting policy agenda for agricultural growth

This study examines the linkages between agriculture and tourism following the shift from an agricultural economy to a tourism, hospitality, and service oriented economy in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It answers the question: what are the barriers for achieving economic linkages between agriculture and tourism in the environment where there is change towards the hospitality economy and where there are declining agricultural activities? It then responds to the question what are policy options for revitalizing agriculture. Following the decline of agriculture, the hospitality industry has taken an important economic role in the Virgin Islands but the agricultural sector hasn't captured the backward linkages from the tourist industry. According to the Bureau of Economic Research, tourism is the mainstay of the U.S. Virgin Islands' economy. It annually creates about {dollar}4 billion and it provides employment for about 30 percent of the entire workforce. With the expansion of the tourism sector there should be a relative market increase for the local agricultural produce because the tourism industry provides a potential market for the agricultural produce. However, no empirical evidence supports the assumption although in some other regions in the world there is evidence that tourism supports agriculture growth.; The study applies the conceptual framework of three bodies of knowledge; the institutionalism, policy networks and agenda setting theories. The institutions theory was used to determine the barriers that hinder linkages between the two sectors, whereas policy networks theory provides a framework for creating linkages between the agriculture and tourism sectors. The research makes use of the institutions and policy networks theories to set a policy agenda for creating agriculture and tourism economic linkages that would benefit local agricultural producers. While literature in the 1980s viewed tourism as competing with agriculture for resources like labor and land, the present study pursues an understanding of the two sectors as complementing each other. The objectives of the research therefore were to find out the necessary conditions needed for enhancing agriculture and tourism linkages and to explore policy patterns and propose policy network that will create more opportunities for the contribution of the tourism sector to agricultural growth.; The study found that water for irrigation is the greatest barrier for the farmers to produce adequately for the tourism and hospitality industry, because there is strong congruence between policy makers, farmers, and stakeholders in the tourism industry that water for irrigation is a barrier for farmers to produce for the tourism and hospitality industry. Other significant barriers were identified in order of importance as lack of local government support, unavailability of farm labor, inadequate access to farm land, and lack of farm loans. The lack of labor for agriculture was an eminent barrier from the survey as the young population engagement into agricultural activities is very minimal.; Furthermore, the study found that there is strong agreement on lack of market information for the locally produced food to be a selling barrier. This qualifies the qualitative data collected in the hospitality focus group discussion that both farmers and tourism and hospitality industry claim lack of market information is a barrier.; The study also observed other barriers ranked in order of importance as inadequate quantity of local foods, inconsistent supply of local foods, global competition from imported foods, lack of availability of market outlets, and lack of chef-farmer coordination. The interpretation given to this finding entails that improved communication between farmers and chefs can increase opportunities for farmers to produce and sell to the tourism and hospitality industry. In addition, the study identified barriers like lack of production inputs, land, and storage facilities.;...