Society

Chengdu's agricola becomes agri-tainment model

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-23 09:17

China's high-speed urban development has created a potential new industry for big city suburbs. City dwellers in need of leisure activities and farmers in need of new profit engines have led to the startup of agri-tainment projects around the country.

However, many projects have encountered challenges along the way. Complaints have been made about poor safety and security, and also about offering entertainment that is too boring for urban visitors. . In April, at the Sixth Global Forum on Human Settlements held in New York City, Chengdu's foray into agri-tainment proved a shining model for China. The forum awarded Chengdu's agricola with an agricultural theme, Huawu Renjian, the title of "best example of global low-carbon scenic spots".

Huawu Renjian is located in Xinjin, a suburban county inside the city of Chengdu, and occupies an area of 200 hectares. China's private sector West Hope Group provided the investment and also built the park.

West Hope Group President Chen Yuxin said the agri-tainment blueprint he developed to build Huawu Renjian can be a model for the company's future developments. "One day in the future, Huawu Renjian will probably be opened in all the surrounding areas of big cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou," he told a reporter.

Overcoming obstacles

"Eating, fishing and playing Mahjong" is how one consumer described his experience with agri-tainment. Some developers place all their emphasis on farmhouse meals, thus spending too much time on food instead of innovative entertainment. Even the idea of "farmhouse meals" has come under question.

Apparently, pretending that food trucked is locally grown has become a "hidden rule" of fledgling agri-tainment enterprises, according to some reports.

Ma Xiaoxiao, a university student appointed village official in a county surrounding Beijing, laughed when interviewed by a financial reporter for China News Service (CNS). "In busy seasons, a farmhouse will receive as many as seven or eight groups of tourists, and where can they get that many free-range eggs? Even with more free-range hens, it would be impossible to meet the need," Ma said.

Ma said some tourists complain that en route to the agri-tainment spots they will see vans filled with foods crowding the same roads. "When we have dinner at night, the proprietor will serve one dish after another and say that they are made from wild ingredients from the mountain," one tourist said.

Sanitary conditions also worry tourists. Food security incidents in agri-tainment tourism have been reported frequently by newspapers in recent years. In October, 396 guests at a wedding banquet at a farmhouse of Chongzhou, Sichuan, 396 were sent to hospital because of the unclean food. Agri-tainment also can pollute the fragile environments of rural areas, some worry.

Searching for solutions

Part of the problem might be that agri-tainment venues have been opened by so many small businesses without the resources of big businesses to improve and maintain the quality of service. Once competition becomes intense, farm families are forced to lower prices, which can also lower the quality of service Some places also cite a development bottleneck when it comes to agri-tainment. An agri-tainment star assessment program was announced in the Shandong province city of Jinan. The program will appraise health and security, and living conditions, while also promoting farmhouse-style tourism that also supports crop production.

The Chengdu model

The West Hope Group's Chen said he believes enterprises such as his have an advantage over individual farmers. They have more money to expand the scale of projects and provide higher-quality services. With a stronger financial base, they also can afford to be patient.

"Tourism parks with good themes are all operated by enterprises, not governments." Chen said. "(At the beginning), a lot of senior managers at our company told me that the project would not be cost-effective. They said if we invested the fund in real estate, we would make money faster. But I believe that as people's living standard improves, more people will be willing to go out for fun. There is a good prospect for this kind of project."

Chen said he has proved his point with the success of Huawu Renjian. The park is not just a model for future Chinese development, but also agri-tainment efforts under way outside of China.

At Huawu Renjian, high-end hotels, and entertainment and fitness facilities augment traditional walking tours, gardens and fresh foods found at agri-tainment sites. "In the future, we will design mother and baby rooms to make it possible for those women forced to stay at home because of their very young children to come," Chen said proudly.

Environmentally friendly landscaping efforts led to the preservation of several native plants, and cultivated plants were selected from local varieties. "My hometown is in Xinjin, and I want to protect this land with such a project. If we hadn't made Huawu Renjian, we don't know what this place would have been developed to be." Chen said. The park also incorporated low-carbon technologies. The park used 28 patented technologies to reduce pollution, and also creative innovative no-electricity attractions. "For example, using a small hand-cranked turntable to replace sculls or paddles, we designed a kind of hand-cranked boat. Nearly all the children want to occupy the boats and play a long time, and many adults like them, too." Chen said.

Huawu Renjian combines production with agricultural tourism, growing more than 60 species of azaleas. Every spring, Huawu Renjian holds the Chengdu Azalea Festival to attract tourists. In 2010, the azalea festival attracted 500,000 tourists. Huawu Renjian also partners with local farmers. At its agri-expo park, farmers can work for a salary or be engaged in the tertiary industry such as food and services. The park holds training sessions for farmers on the cultivation, collection and storage, and marketing of fruits and vegetables. This project has been ranked as one of Chengdu's major special scientific and technological projects for urban and rural coordinated development and a provincial model enterprise in the construction of a new countryside.

"As for this project, we need five to eight years to recover the costs, and common companies can not bear this," Chen said.

Chen thinks the opportunity for larger-scale agricultural tourism is here. "Some of our senior managers often go to Beijing and Shanghai to look for suitable places. This model can be developed. If there are appropriate places in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other big cities, they will certainly be very popular. After all, these cities have much bigger populations and consumer spending power."