Tenom has huge potential to become agrotourism hub

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Bangkuai (left) and Tham.

TENOM: Tenom has the potential to become an agrotourism hub, with the hope of attracting more tourists to experience its agriculture while exploring the district post Covid-19.

Taking the lead, the Padas Farmstay has been busy focusing on its business through agriculture to remain sustainable albeit not hosting any tourist for the past one year.

Instead of laying off employees, its manager Tham Yau Siong has taken the initiative to share his experience and provide upskilling training to existing staff in farm cultivation.

Sitting within 25-acre of land at Kampung Paal, Padas Farmstay cultivated a variety of crops such as pineapple, passion fruits, lemongrass, tapioca, durian, limes, and the latest being coffee beans.

“Tenom is well known for coffee. However, we can see that coffee cultivation is declining due to the great influence of oil palm cultivation.

“Last year, we started to develop a plot of land into a coffee bean farm. Such a coffee farm is an added value and has the potential to become a quality tourism destination,” said Tham.

He also noted community-based rural tourism in Tenom could be further empowered and the poverty rate be reduced if every family runs a small plot of coffee garden, among other crops.

Describing the future of agrotourism as promising, Tham hoped more Tenom folks would get involved in the sector to increase their income and create more community-based tourism programmes for the district.

He said venturing into agrotourism allows the people’s economy to continue to thrive even as tourism comes to a halt.

Throughout the pandemic, Padas Farmstay also put emphasis on the cultivation of key lime, calamansi lime, and kaffir lime to produce marketable products such as essential oil, massage oil and beverage.

In the past, the farmstay had hosted many local and international visitors, where guests had the opportunity to learn about local crops, agriculture production, and participate in community work.

On Wednesday, Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister cum Sabah Tourism Board (STB) chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai visited Padas Homestay to see the development of tourism business and the potential of Tenom district to become an agrotourism hub in the state.

Having won numerous awards, including the community-based tourism award in 2017, he said Padas Farmstay could be a role model for other farmstay operators to focus on boosting the agrotourism sector.

“At the state level, we put emphasis on agrotourism and we have established a joint committee involving three ministries namely the Tourism, Culture and Environment; Fisheries and Agriculture; and Rural Development.

“We join in the efforts to further develop rural tourism and agro-based tourism. Tenom has a big potential to become an economically competitive agrotourism sector that can provide job opportunity,” he said.

During his visit, Bangkuai also inspected the newly constructed sealed road leading to Padas Farmstay. The farmstay is among eight tourism operators in Tenom that have applied for a RM20,000 grant under Sabah New Deal to improve respective infrastructure facilities.