Economia delle aziende agri-turistico venatorie
Author(s)
Zucconi, Niccolò
Date Issued
March 28, 2011
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
Agricultural farms are presently facing particular difficulties due to the increase of production costs on one hand and the occurrence of unpredictable fluctuations of agricultural products markets on the other; additionally, there exists also uncertainty of Common Agricultural Policy choices to be taken in the future. Medium and large sized farms, practicing extensive production and located in marginal areas have based their production patterns overall on activities benefiting from the European Community compensation scheme. New prospective of multifunctionality, related to the agricultural sector specific capacity to produce public goods, allows farms to provide direct services to the community. The provision of such services may be funded by the Rural Development Plan (RDP) and other planning tools (Life, ROP, etc.) and will probably be integrated into the pending reform of the CAP.
In this context, the aspects of the application for hunting and the types of activities proposed by agricultural companies have been analyzed. Hunting is an activity of ancient tradition, which in Italy benefits from a particular ordering. The only formal possibility, according to italian legal system, to enable that game present on a farm’s territory, become a resource for the same farm is the establishment of a Agri-Tourism and Fee Hunting Farm, “Azienda Agri-turistica Venatoria“ (Aatv). Scope of the present Thesis is a research implemented on a group of Aatv, located in two provinces of central Italy and having, in almost all cases, agri-tourism facilities, open for both active hunters and guests who do not practice hunting. The methodology used has been based on the selection, made by interviews with privileged witnesses, of a group of Aatv active in the province of Terni and Grosseto. Entrepreneurs who run businesses were contacted and interviewed in the respective farms. In occasion of interviews and together with the entrepreneurs, a model of their farm was built permitting hence to analyze various aspects of business: type and extent of existing agricultural activities, land use pattern, hunting structures and related investments; economic accounts, which took into account average costs and types of hunting opportunities, have been accordingly developed. In the same model were also investigated some basic aspects of the farm, and, in particular, inter-relations between agritourism and hunting activities.
On the basis of the interviews synthetic economic accounts have been developed, permitting hence to develop budget related indicators, such as the impact of costs related to different aspects/elements of hunting management (security, workforce, food, game purchase, maintenance and depreciation of structures) on gross marketable production. Average revenue estimates were drawn up by type of hunting. Effects on the production of public goods (landscape conservation, protection of land and corporate structures, reduced hunting pressure on the territory, better control of hunting in general) by subject farms were also described. The objectives of the analysis were substantially related to the assessment of the level of profitability, as well as to the replicability potential of the identified models. The results have indicated that current level of profitability of Aatv, which is currently lower than in the past years, is due to, on one hand, to increased competition and, on the other, to the current economic climate. It has also been observed that the level of profitability is linked to ability of the entrepreneur in relating with and attracting the customers with hunting possibility, which may be out of ordinary. Also the farm management is important, as it can provide inputs/support for wildlife production. Regarding agri-tourism, the presence of hunters is concentrated mainly in autumn-winter season, when the presence of other guests is minimal. On average, the presence of hunters results in an increased number of overnights, raising hence from about 50-60 nights per bed per year to about 70 - 80 nights/bed/year, which permits to substantially increase the farm income. The conclusion shows that farms which are able to maintain, even in times of crisis, a certain profitability are primarily those that are able to create significant synergies and economies of scope among the different farm branches.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Economia e territorio
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