Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda

Agriculture and tourism are important to sustain socioeconomic development and conserve environmental resources in developing countries. Yet, agriculture-tourism nexus and its components are usually overlooked. This study assessed ed the impact of tourism on agriculture in the northwestern region of...

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Main Authors: Yves Christian Turizihiwe, Hubert Hirwa, Provia Kesande, Takeshi Sakurai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Social Sciences and Humanities Open
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125004929
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author Yves Christian Turizihiwe
Hubert Hirwa
Provia Kesande
Takeshi Sakurai
author_facet Yves Christian Turizihiwe
Hubert Hirwa
Provia Kesande
Takeshi Sakurai
author_sort Yves Christian Turizihiwe
collection DOAJ
description Agriculture and tourism are important to sustain socioeconomic development and conserve environmental resources in developing countries. Yet, agriculture-tourism nexus and its components are usually overlooked. This study assessed ed the impact of tourism on agriculture in the northwestern region of Rwanda. The tourism participation among farmers that cultivated irish potatoes was evaluated using questionnaire survey across 14 villages within 3 districts (Burera, Musanze, and Nyabihu). A simple probit model was used to evaluate the determinants of tourism participation, and the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) estimator was used to assess the impact of participation on outcome variables. The results confirmed that participation was positively correlated with land-size ownership. Moreover, the participation had no impact on total input expenditure, which explained an easy access to credit in the study area. By detailing inputs into categories, we found that participation had no impact on fertilizers expenditure in total; whereas by analyzing the component of fertilizers itself, the findings confirmed that there was a positive impact of participation on the use of organic fertilizers. The control of the observable and unobservable characteristics implied that income from tourism helped smallholder farmers to purchase limited agricultural inputs as they needed to hold cash in the entire production cycle, thus leading to an increase in productivity, revenue, and income for participants farmers compared to non-participants. Moreover, the findings highlight the potential for policymakers and smallholder farmers to enhance agriculture and tourism stewardship, illustrating the broader societal co-benefits of promoting sustainable socio-economic and environmental practices.
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spelling doaj-art-7dfed1d710bf470d88192fe2c3c458542025-08-20T03:31:30ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112025-01-011210176410.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101764Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of RwandaYves Christian Turizihiwe0Hubert Hirwa1Provia Kesande2Takeshi Sakurai3Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7 Chome-3-1 Hongo City, Tokyo, 113-8654, JapanSustainability Institute, School of the Environment, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL, 32307, USA; Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali (UNILAK), P.O Box 6392, Kigali, Rwanda; Corresponding author.Makerere Business School, University of Makerere, Kampala, P.O. Box 1337, Kampala, Uganda; School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong KongGraduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7 Chome-3-1 Hongo City, Tokyo, 113-8654, JapanAgriculture and tourism are important to sustain socioeconomic development and conserve environmental resources in developing countries. Yet, agriculture-tourism nexus and its components are usually overlooked. This study assessed ed the impact of tourism on agriculture in the northwestern region of Rwanda. The tourism participation among farmers that cultivated irish potatoes was evaluated using questionnaire survey across 14 villages within 3 districts (Burera, Musanze, and Nyabihu). A simple probit model was used to evaluate the determinants of tourism participation, and the Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) estimator was used to assess the impact of participation on outcome variables. The results confirmed that participation was positively correlated with land-size ownership. Moreover, the participation had no impact on total input expenditure, which explained an easy access to credit in the study area. By detailing inputs into categories, we found that participation had no impact on fertilizers expenditure in total; whereas by analyzing the component of fertilizers itself, the findings confirmed that there was a positive impact of participation on the use of organic fertilizers. The control of the observable and unobservable characteristics implied that income from tourism helped smallholder farmers to purchase limited agricultural inputs as they needed to hold cash in the entire production cycle, thus leading to an increase in productivity, revenue, and income for participants farmers compared to non-participants. Moreover, the findings highlight the potential for policymakers and smallholder farmers to enhance agriculture and tourism stewardship, illustrating the broader societal co-benefits of promoting sustainable socio-economic and environmental practices.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125004929Agriculture-tourism nexusFertilizer useFood securityOff-farm incomeTourism laborRwanda
spellingShingle Yves Christian Turizihiwe
Hubert Hirwa
Provia Kesande
Takeshi Sakurai
Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda
Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Agriculture-tourism nexus
Fertilizer use
Food security
Off-farm income
Tourism labor
Rwanda
title Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda
title_full Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda
title_fullStr Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda
title_full_unstemmed Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda
title_short Exploring agriculture-tourism Nexus: A case study of Irish potato farmers in northwestern region of Rwanda
title_sort exploring agriculture tourism nexus a case study of irish potato farmers in northwestern region of rwanda
topic Agriculture-tourism nexus
Fertilizer use
Food security
Off-farm income
Tourism labor
Rwanda
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125004929
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