Home-stay units planned in eco-tourism venture

 
 
“Most of the tourists who visit ask me if they can stay at the farm, which has inspired me to invest in making 20 rooms available under the home-stay concept to serve demand,” managing director Phairot Pitipantarat, 53, said during an interview with The Nation early this week.
The investment capital will come from its initial cash flow, bank borrowings and a joint venture that is being negotiated with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank.
He is also promoting the same concept among farmers located within 5 kilometres of his own farm, encouraging them to open up their houses as home-stays.
Phairot said that in 2014 he had also created a “Fruit Buffet” event, which runs through August each year.
This has contributed hugely to the number of visitors to Suan La Mai increasing from 50,000 in 2014 to 100,000 last year – with a target of 150,000 this year.
The key to the event’s success is that tourists can enjoy as much fruit as they like for Bt400 per head, and they can see first-hand the farmer’s lifestyle and select the fruit directly at the farm.
The annual “Fruit Buffet” has become the signature of farmers throughout Rayong during the harvest season, leading to a big rise in the number of visitors to the province.
“Our philosophy is to run our business as an example for other farmers, so that they can move from selling their produce to middlemen to distributing it themselves. They will then earn enough to keep their business running for the long term,” he explained.
Suan La Mai’s output is for consumption at the “Fruit Buffet” as well as for visitors to take home, while the farm also sells fruit from 53 other farmers in the province, as its output cannot keep up with fast-growing demand.
“We generally buy at market prices from farmers, while some produce is above the market price, depending on the quality. This encourages local farmers to produce quality fruit, and we spend about Bt15 million a year on buying from them,” Phairot said.
The goal in running an eco-tourism business is to create value for agriculture products and a market that does not need the middleman, he added.
The MD said he had embarked on this business 15 years ago by developing 700 rai (112 hectares) of land into a farm growing several fruits, flowers and other plants, targeting year-round visitors.
Thirteen years later, he opened the farm up to visits over three seasons: April-August for fruit, October-December for blossoming flowers, and January-March for strawberries.
This has generated annual revenue of Bt50 million to Bt60 million and sustainable growth for the enterprise, and also more sale for farmers locate to close to Suan La Mai.
“To run a complete cycle, from growing the plants and selling direct to the market under the concept of eco-farm tourism business, is the way to create sustainable farming during the changing seasons … We have had to create new demand and drive market growth by changing our business strategy into being an integrated farm that grows plants, learns how to market, and how to manage the whole operation,” he said.