Agriculture in a Sicilian inland area: Strategies and motivations of conversion towards multifunctional activities

Abstract

The main topic of the paper concerns multifunctional farms, their activities and motivations for starting up, and on the other hand visitor satisfaction. To this purpose, a preliminary sample survey was carried out addressed to 13 farms in 3 Sicilian provinces. The aim was to identify positive and negative aspects of the services offered. The most relevant findings of the survey are the variety of activities and services, a widespread use of internet services, efficient means of communications and a significant growth in labour force. On the other side, long time is generally needed in order to obtain administrative authorizations or to carry out farm plants, as well as excessive pay-back time.