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Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan
Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, was established on 1st December, 1985 with the objective to promote education, research and extension education in the fields of Horticulture, Forestry and allied disciplines. Late Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar, the first Chief Minister and the architect of Himachal Pradesh perceived the importance of Horticulture and Forestry to develop and improve the State economy which led to the establishment of this University. Its history lies in erstwhile Himachal Agricultural College, Solan, established in 1962 and affiliated to the Panjab University. It became one of the campuses of Agriculture Complex of Himachal Pradesh University on its formation in 1970. Consequent upon the establishment of Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya in 1978, this campus became its Horticulture Complex and finally in 1985, assumed the status of a State University, being the only University in the country engaged exclusively in teaching, research and extension in Horticulture and Forestry.
The University is located at Nauni in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, 13 km from Solan on Solan-Rajgarh Road, at an elevation of 1300 metres above mean sea level. Solan town is situated on national highway (NH-22) and is well connected by train and bus services.
The University has four constituent colleges, out of which, two are located at the main campus Nauni, one for horticulture and the other for forestry, having 9 and 7 departments, respectively. The third College i.e., College of Horticulture & Forestry is located at Neri in Hamirpur District on Nadaun-Hamirpur state highway, about 6 Km from Hamirpur town and is well connected with bus service. The college offers three Undergraduate Degree Programmes i.e. BSc (Hons.) Horticulture, BSc (Hons.) Forestry and B. Tech. Biotechnology and MSc degree programme in a few subjects. The fourth college i.e. College of Horticulture and Forestry, Thunag (Mandi) is located at Thunag District Mandi. This college offer BSc (Hons.) Horticulture and BSc (Hons.) Forestry degree programme. In addition, there are five Regional Research Stations, 12 Satellite Stations and five Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) situated in different zones of the State.
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ThesisItem Open Access Common property resources and rural livelihood security: A study of common pasturelands in hills of Nepal(YSPU, 2012) Regmi, Sudarshan Prasad; Sharma, RavinderThe study analyzed the linkages of common property resources (pastureland) with the rural livelihood security of people in Rasuwa district of Nepal. A stratified multistage random sampling design was used to select a sample of 180 respondents from three different climatic zones, viz., temperate (2000-3000 masl), sub-alpine (3000-4000 masl) and alpine (4000-5000 masl). The selected samples were further classified as users’ and non-users’ depending upon their dependence on common pastureland. The result of the study revealed that 63.33 per cent of sampled respondents were users and 83.33 per cent were exclusively dependent on agricultural farming. The pasture to herder ratio was found higher in the temperate zoneand lower in sub-alpine and alpine zone indicatingthat as the altitude increased the number of herder also increased. A maximum likelihood estimates using Tobit model was used to determine collective effort for the pastureland management. It was revealed that area of common pastureland, Gini ratio and income from livestock were positively and significantly whereas, membership to local organization and quadratic form of Gini ratio were negatively and significantly affected the management of the common pastureland. The Tobit analysis revealed that probability in thecollective effort of an average illiterate farmer having Gini ratio of 0.40 and non-member to local organization with landholding of 0.30 ha has probability of 0.261; which further decreased to 0.197 with increased landholding (0.60ha). Further increase in educational level from illiterate to primary lowered in probability to 0.158. The condition of pastureland in physical term and availability of forage were high in alpine zone than the other regions and overall condition was found to be fair to good; with highly weed infestation and unwanted shrubs (56.12 %). The major determinants of the good pastureland condition found using Tobit analysis; were land holding, land to man ratio, family size, household work force, forage availability index andthe status of respondent being user of the pastureland. The findings explicitly indicated that livestock income contributed 51.89 per cent to user household income whereas remittance as off-farm income constituted 59.92 per cent of the non-users’ household income. It was found that food availability based on their own production level of wheat, rice and maize) was deficit in all categories of respondent and climatic zones. Whereas, when potato crop was considered as stable food, then the food available become sufficient. The analyze of the major determinants for willingness to pay for betterment of pastureland condition inferred that were cost of stay, management level, and livestock units were found positively and significantly, and family size and value of resource use negatively and significantly affecting the willingness to pay of with cost of stay being most important (<0.01) factor for both users and non-users of the pastureland. It was further investigated that probability of extent for willingness to pay (WTP) for average respondent in the study area increased with increased in cost of stay, livestock income and family size. The expected amount of WTP for average respondent in overall situation varied from NRs. 304.53 to 680.00 ha 1 yr 1, whereas, in case of nonuser it varied from NRs. 216.58 to 362.62 ha 1 yr 1 . In case of users it increased from NRs.2163.29 to2666505.45 ha 1 yr 1 implying thereby that users were highly motivated to pay more than the non-users in the study area. Itwas revealed that respondents were willing to pay higher price for the higher quality of pastureland improvement. The findings of the present study strongly recommend that there should be a separate pastureland policy to bring several activities related to the pastureland management so that livelihood of the users may be strengthening in future.ThesisItem Open Access COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF DISTRICT KINNAUR IN HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2017) CHAMAN, LAL; PRASHER, R.S.ABSTRACT The study analyzed the common property resources and their management systems in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Multistage stratified random sampling design was used to select a sample of 180 respondents from three different developmental blocks. The selected samples were further classified as marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha) and medium (>2 ha) category farmers on the basis of their land holdings. The results of the study revealed the average family size of 7 members per household of which joint family system (57.22 %) dominated the study area, literacy rate 82 per cent, sex ratio of 831, average land holding of 1.10 ha and average livestock population of 5 ACU per household. Survey further revealed that around 18 per cent of the household’s, income being derived from CPRs based activities and lower caste households were found highly dependent on CPRs (26.87 % of total income). The Ginni coefficient of income from CPR’s in case of upper caste was 0.51 and in case of lower caste it was 0.44. On an average the employment generated through CPR based activities were found 253 man days with an opportunity cost of ₹ 63250 annually. The dependency of households for animal grazing showed that CPRs supported 113 animal units grazing per households, which confirm heavy dependence of tribal people on these resources. Factors like social participation, family size, livestock population significantly and positively affected the dependence on CPR’s whereas, caste, education and non-farm income affected negatively. Devta committee leads in the benefit sharing and management of CPR’s (11 per cent involvement of locals) followed by Gram Panchayat (5.67 %) and Mahila Mandals (5.33 %). The main factors responsible for the degradation of CPRs were the construction of hydroelectric projects followed by excessive lopping of trees for fodder and firewood collection, population pressure, overgrazing, forest fire etc. So, to improve the conditions of CPRs in the study area community-based collective management system in which government and beneficiaries come together for the benefit sharing and sustainable management of resources should be strengthened.ThesisItem Open Access EVALUATION AND BENEFIT SHARING OF JOINT FOREST MANAGEMENT IN HIMACHAL PRADESH(2016) GULERIA, CHANDRESH; VAIDYA, MANOJ KUMARABSTRACT The present study entitled “Evaluation and Benefit Sharing of Joint Forest Management in Himachal Pradesh” was conducted in the total 18 JFMCs of 6 forest development agencies (FDAs) of the state, using random sampling technique to select the sample. A sample of 206 respondents was selected from the 18 selected JFMCs. The results revealed that average family size at overall level comprises of 6.45 persons and the sex ratio was 946 females per thousand males in the study area. The overall literacy rate was found to be 85.64 per cent while literacy index was only 2.18. The size of land holding per family head varied from 0.331 ha in Dehra FDA to 1.655 ha for Kullu FDA whereas, average holding on overall basis was found to be 0.761 ha. The cropping intensity was worked out to be 169.68 per cent at overall level and was found highest in Palampur division (193.64 %). The share of income derived from forests in total income was only 4.25 % in the study area. The level of inequality in total income among the sample households at an overall level was 0.31 and varied from 0.22 in Una division to 0.43 in Sundernagar. As on 1st February, 2016 there are 1562 registered JFMCs in Himachal Pradesh which are involved in execution of National Afforestation Programme out of which only 963 were active. There has been an increase in the total number of the FDAs from 11 to 36 from 2007 to 2011, however, the funds outlay to the FDAs decreased significantly from 644.11 lakhs in 2007-08 for 11 FDAs to 62.59 lakhs in 2014-15 for 36 FDAs. In the selected FDAs, the total number of JFMCs were 172 out of which only 80 were found to be active. The number of executive committee members varied from minimum of 8 in Thore and Dhamasan JFMCs to a maximum of 28 in Badoo Kandi JFMC. Among 18 JFMCs, 7 failed to fulfill the condition of minimum 33 per cent female members in the executive committee in the study area. The expenditure of 41.95 lakh rupees has been made in the selected JFMCs during 2005-06 to 2015-16 and maximum expenditure of 12.47 lakh rupees was incurred in the JFMCs of Dehra FDA. It was also found that the funding to the JFMCs were meagre and also not provided regularly. Among all FDAs except the Dehra and Paonta Sahib shows the decline in the expenditure and employment growth rate over the years. The employment of 23463 mandays has been generated in the selected JFMCs during 2005-06 to 2015-16. Maximum employment of 5249 mandays was generated in Dehra FDA. Since the inception of JFMCs 336 ha area was covered under new plantation, 69 check dam/ retaining walls, 26 water harvesting structures, 10 vermicomposting pits, 3 nurseries and 21 path construction, tialas, kuhls road repair work etc. was done in the area. During the past 29 years, the forest cover in the state has registered an increase of 2115 sq. km to 14997 sq. km during 1987 to 2015. The results of the people participation at various stages of JFM programme reveals that at an overall level the participation index in the planning stage, implementation stage and maintenance stage was found to be 60.29, 51.32 and 61.53 per cent. There is almost equal participation of the households of general caste and the other caste and the APL as well as BPL at an overall level. The study also concluded that the annual income from community forest is higher for small and marginal, and poor households than that of rich households. Lack of involvement of local institutions in micro plan, lack of budgetary support to micro plan, lack of incentives to the village leadership, operational clash between agriculture & JFM activities, failure to address the social factors, and delay in payments were observed to be the main constraints in the effective implementation of JFM programme in the study area.ThesisItem Open Access STRUCTURE, CONDUCT AND PERFORMANCE OF IMPORTANT TIMBER MARKETS OF NORTHERN INDIA(2012) SHARMA, SUBHASH; NEGI, Y.S.ABSTRACT Present study analyzed the “Structure, Conduct and Performance of Important Timber Markets of Northern India” by taking a representative sample of 254 tree growers, pre–harvest contractors, commission agents and wholesalers/sawmillers. Representative markets of Saharanpur, Yamuna Nagar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Baddi and Mantaruwala were purposively selected for the present study. Results of the study revealed that for majority of the tree growers the income from farm forestry was prominent; with its share in the total household income ranging from 15.18 per cent in Amritsar area to 24.70 per cent in Hoshiarpur area. Majority of the respondents were in the business of tree growing for reasons of long term financial security. Important tree species planted on the farms were shisham, kikar, mango, eucalyptus and poplar. Eucalyptus and poplar were the most prominent tree species as far as relative allocation of land to growing of different tree species is concerned. Timber marketing in the region was found to be lacking in quality and timely market information, as also in enforcing grade specifications and quality control. Only Saharanpur and HPSFC’s depots were regulated markets. The functioning of other markets was regulated by local marketing organizations like Poplar Safeda Arhatiya Sangathan in Yamuna Nagar and Lakkar Mandi Samities in Amritsar and Hoshiarpur. Yamuna Nagar market is a big market which handles about 250 thousand quintals of timber daily of which bulk is that of poplar and eucalyptus. The timber markets in the study areas are working under imperfectly competitive market situations tilted more towards oligopolistic nature of the market. Contractors, commission agents and HP State Forest Corporation are three marketing intermediaries with whom producers deal directly. Channel involving producer -- contractor -- wholesaler/sawmiller -- consumer is the most important channel through which bulk of the timber is transacted. However, in case of poplar and eucalyptus the channel: producer – contractor -- commission agent -- consumer was found to be more prominent. Shisham is the main species of which an estimated average quantity of 245 quintals per tree grower is transacted in different markets. Shisham was followed by mango with average transaction ranging from 120 quintals in Saharanpur market to 245 quintals in Hoshiarpur market. Producer’s share for poplar ranged from 73.20 per cent in Hoshiarpur market to 77.50 per cent of consumers’ price in Amritsar market. Similarly, in case of eucalyptus the producer’s share ranged between 66 per cent in Yamuna Nagar market to about 80 per cent of the consumer’s price in Amritsar market. Contractor’s margins in Yamuna Nagar were estimated to be about 13 per cent of consumer’s price for poplar and 20 per cent of consumer’s price for eucalyptus. In other markets these were in the range of 4 to 8 per cent in case of poplar and 3 to 5.9 per cent of consumer’s price in case of eucalyptus. HPFSC’s costs forms about 22 per cent of the consumer’s price while wholesaler/sawmiller’s margin were in the range of 11 to 16.6 per cent of the consumer’s price. A high degree of market integration was there in the selected markets for different timber species. Production area wise response regarding various problems related to market intelligence reveal that tree growers and pre–harvest contractors of Yamuna Nagar and Saharanpur were relatively at a disadvantage as compared to their counterparts in other selected timber producing areas. Difficulty in getting harvesting permit, late information, small size of auction platform and high transportation charges were other important problems faced by the tree growers. Lack of market infrastructural facilities is the major and the common problem faced by the commission agents and wholesalers/sawmillers in all the study markets, followed by problems of unregulated vehicles and the lack of accommodation for the tree growers in the markets. The results of the study suggest the need to assure tree growers of the remunerative returns, if not by support prices then may be by further promoting wood-based industries and improving the industrial infrastructure for these industries. Establishment of such industries in the vicinity of producing areas will send a right message to the tree growers with regard to sustainability of the demand for their product. Also, there is a need to ensure proper conduct of timber market which is the responsibility of the concerned public agencies. Forest corporations or tree growers’ cooperatives need to be promoted and the same should show their presence to increase competition in the market to improve the efficiency of the timber markets.ThesisItem Open Access COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD SECURITY: A STUDY OF COMMON PASTURELANDS IN HILLS OF NEPAL(2013) REGMI, SUDERSHAN PRASAD; SHARMA, RAVINDERABSTRACT The study analyzed the linkages of common property resources (pastureland) with the rural livelihood security of people in Rasuwa district of Nepal. A stratified multistage random sampling design was used to select a sample of 180 respondents from three different climatic zones, viz., temperate (2000-3000 masl), sub-alpine (3000- 4000 masl) and alpine (4000-5000 masl). The selected samples were further classified as users’ and non-users’ depending upon their dependence on common pastureland. The result of the study revealed that 63.33 per cent of sampled respondents were users and 83.33 per cent were exclusively dependent on agricultural farming. The pasture to herder ratio was found higher in the temperate zone and lower in sub-alpine and alpine zone indicating that as the altitude increased the number of herder also increased. A maximum likelihood estimates using Tobit model was used to determine collective effort for the pastureland management. It was revealed that area of common pastureland, Gini ratio and income from livestock were positively and significantly whereas, membership to local organization and quadratic form of Gini ratio were negatively and significantly affected the management of the common pastureland. The Tobit analysis revealed that probability in the collective effort of an average illiterate farmer having Gini ratio of 0.40 and non-member to local organization with landholding of 0.30 ha has probability of 0.261; which further decreased to 0.197 with increased landholding (0.60 ha). Further increase in educational level from illiterate to primary lowered in probability to 0.158. The condition of pastureland in physical term and availability of forage were high in alpine zone than the other regions and overall condition was found to be fair to good; with highly weed infestation and unwanted shrubs (56.12 %). The major determinants of the good pastureland condition found using Tobit analysis; were land holding, land to man ratio, family size, household work force, forage availability index and the status of respondent being user of the pastureland. The findings explicitly indicated that livestock income contributed 51.89 per cent to user household income whereas remittance as off-farm income constituted 59.92 per cent of the non-users’ household income. It was found that food availability based on their own production level of wheat, rice and maize) was deficit in all categories of respondent and climatic zones. Whereas, when potato crop was considered as stable food, then the food available become sufficient. The analyze of the major determinants for willingness to pay for betterment of pastureland condition inferred that were cost of stay, management level, and livestock units were found positively and significantly, and family size and value of resource use negatively and significantly affecting the willingness to pay of with cost of stay being most important (<0.01) factor for both users and non-users of the pastureland. It was further investigated that probability of extent for willingness to pay (WTP) for average respondent in the study area increased with increased in cost of stay, livestock income and family size. The expected amount of WTP for average respondent in overall situation varied from NRs. 304.53 to 680.00 ha1yr1, whereas, in case of nonuser it varied from NRs. 216.58 to 362.62 ha1yr1. In case of users it increased from NRs.2163.29 to 2666505.45 ha1yr1 implying thereby that users were highly motivated to pay more than the non-users in the study area. It was revealed that respondents were willing to pay higher price for the higher quality of pastureland improvement. The findings of the present study strongly recommend that there should be a separate pastureland policy to bring several activities related to the pastureland management so that livelihood of the users may be strengthening in future