The Impact of Agriculture and Tourism Potentials on Sustainable Rural Development in Ekiti State

Abstract

The rural areas, which inhabit the greater proportion of the population, mostly in developing nations, are the main sources of primary products (agriculture and minerals) for urban and industrial areas, hence the rural dwellers are regarded as the set of population that provide engine of  in the development process of a nation (Long, 1982). Equally, tourism in rural environment is a potential strategy of developing the rural areas as an alternative to existing strategies. As a result of this, paper, through descriptive techniques, identifies the various agriculture and tourism potentials within the rural areas, identifies the impacts of these potentials on rural dwellers and suggests various processes of preserving these potentials for self-sustainable development. The result of the findings shows that there is a direct linkage between agricultural and tourism potentials and rural development. Though, agriculture and tourism may exacerbate pollution problems, environmental degradation and other social ills but effective and positive linkages provide ample benefits to the people in the such as job opportunities, generate income and other economic benefits to the people in the rural areas.

Key Words: Agriculture, Tourism, Potentials, Rural environment,
Sustainability