Research on World Agricultural Economy

Farmers attitudes on agritourism activity development in Uzbekistan: Khorezm region case study

Ergash Ibadullaev

Department Economics, Mamun University, Toza Qiblabog, Khiva 220900, Uzbekistan

Francesco Pagliacci

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Padova University, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy

Edi Defrancesco

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Padova University, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy

Umidjon Matyakubov

Department Economics, Mamun University, Toza Qiblabog, Khiva 220900, Uzbekistan

Dilnoza Butanova

Department Economics, Mamun University, Toza Qiblabog, Khiva 220900, Uzbekistan

Feruz Matkarimov

Department of Tourism, Urgench State University, Kh.Alimjan 12, Urgench 220100, Uzbekistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v6i1.1474

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Abstract

This paper attempts to fill a gap in the international literature by assessing the impacts of agritourism at local level combining with farmers’ attitudes on different aspects. The primary data were obtained through personal in‐depth interviews with the use of semi‐structured questionnaires from Khorezm region’s local farmers. This study employed cluster approach method to group the farmers according to their characteristics and the farmers are divided into three clusters: #1 - Small-medium sized animal husbandry farms, #2 - Large farms, specialized in fish farming and #3 - Farms growing commodity crops. The results revealed that additional teaching and dissemination activities are needed to increase the farmers’ knowledge about agritourism. In addition, also public funding and financial support (from both the national government and local communities) is observed to be crucial, according to the results of our analysis.

Keywords: Agritourism; Farm Diversification; Cluster Analysis; Uzbekistan

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