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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 ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF PLUM IN KULLU DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) KHARAYAT, ANURITA; GULERIA, CHANDRESHABSTRACT In the present study entitled “Economics of Production and Marketing of Plum in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh” a sample of 60 farmers cultivating plum was selected using two stage random sampling method. The farmers were categorized on the basis of their total land holding as marginal (2 ha) and overall. Local markets of Bhuntar and Bandrol were selected purposively for conducting market study. A total sample of 5 wholesalers and 5 retailers were selected randomly from Bhuntar and Bandrol markets. Results of the study revealed that literacy rate was found 84.49 per cent with literacy index of 3 indicating average quality of education. Average operational area was worked out to be 0.98 ha. The cropping intensity was worked out to be 181.58 per cent. The cultivation of plum fruit seemed to be quite important, with its contribution to total household income ranging from 56.88 per cent in case of marginal farmers to 66.44 per cent in medium farms. Per hundred plants total cost of plum cultivation in the initial stage was estimated to be Rs. 22678.43 at overall level and practically found almost same in all categories of farmers. The maintenance cost of non-bearing plants was Rs. 18730.17, Rs. 20452.82, Rs. 23368.15, Rs. 26874.07 and Rs. 29349.63 per hundred plants in the first to fifth year, respectively. Maintenance cost during bearing stage was increasing with the age from Rs. 48205.66, Rs. 50577.87 and Rs. 51123.45 per hundred plants in the age groups of 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20 years, respectively and then gradually decreased to Rs. 50470.31 in plants >20 years of age. The proportion of variable cost ranged from 51.12 to 54.32 in different years and share of fixed cost varied from 45.68 to 48.88 in the total cost. The payback period worked out to be 7 years at overall level. Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) was estimated to be 2.17, Internal rate of Return (IRR) 33 per cent and Net Present Value (NPV) Rs. 448257.77 which indicated that plum cultivation in the study area is a profitable venture. At the discount rates of 5 and 10 per cent BCR was found to be greater than 1.5 and NPV was found positive with increases in costs at 5 per cent and decreases in return at 10 per cent for all categories of farms. It has been observed that value of r for all inputs is <1, which means overutilization and decrease in their use would maximize profits. Four main marketing channels were found prevalent in the study area for marketing of plum crop. Among these channel-B, consisting of Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer was found to be the most preferred as 49.97 per cent of the produce was traded through this channel. Lack of labour during peak operation time, higher wage rates, shortage of skilled labour, diseases management, lack of irrigation facilities, lack of storage facilities, fluctuating prices of produce, wholesaler not taking consent while selling, market very far off, etc. were some of the production and marketing problems faced by the farmers in the study area. The findings of this study strongly recommend optimum resource utilization for maximizing returns and profits.ThesisItem Open Access IMPACT OF PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF FARMERS IN HAMIRPUR DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) KUMARI SANDEEP; SHILPAABSTRACT The present study entitled “Impact of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana on the livelihood of farmers in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh.” was conducted during the year 2020-21. A sample of 120 farmers was selected consisting of 60 beneficiaries and 60 non-beneficiaries by multistage random sampling technique. The selected beneficiaries were further divided into two groups i.e. claim holders and non-claim holders. The progress of PMFBY was good in Himachal Pradesh and Hamirpur district since its implementation in terms of the number of farmers benefitted and claim paid in both seasons i.e. Kharif and Rabi from 2016 to 2020. However, the area covered and farmers insured have shown a decrease in Himachal Pradesh while increase in Hamirpur district from 2016 to 2020. Beneficiaries had a larger average family size (5.40 people) than non-beneficiaries (5.08 persons) and household literacy revealed that 95.84 percent of beneficiaries and 93.47 percent of non-beneficiaries were literate. Agriculture was the main occupation among both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. In both insured and non-insured farmers, cultivated land had the highest share of average landholding, followed by Ghasnis, barren land and land put to non-agriculture use. Cropping intensity among beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were 185.76 and 173.58 per cent respectively. In the study area, beneficiaries had 1.67 adult cattle units while non-beneficiaries had 1.68 adult cattle units. Farm income in the case of claim holders was Rs. 53522.33 which was higher than non-claim-holder’s income of Rs. 49419.84. Livelihood framework analysis showed that beneficiaries had a better position in social, financial and human assets status than non-beneficiaries. Landholding size, income, awareness and contact with extension agents were key factors that affected the adoption of PMFBY. Overall, 51.10 per cent of beneficiaries and 13.28 per cent non-beneficiaries were significantly aware of PMFBY. PMFBY acts as a safeguard against production losses has shown significant, positive and highest impact on the adoption of the scheme among beneficiaries and perception "Farmers friendly procedure in buying crop insurance" has shown a significant and most positive effect on adoption in non-beneficiaries. The mean willingness to pay of non-beneficiaries was Rs. 649.79, 539.32 and 644.54 per hectare for maize, wheat and paddy respectively which was higher than the existing premium rates in the study area. Contact with extension agents, literacy rate, farmers friendly procedure in buying crop insurance and lack of trustworthiness has shown positive and significant impact on willingness to pay for field crops among non-beneficiaries. Major constraints faced by beneficiaries were lack of awareness regarding scheme, insufficient compensation and delay in claim settlements. Whereas, procedural difficulties in enrolment, lack of contact with agricultural extension agents were key constraints faced by non-beneficiaries. For a better scheme's success, large-scale awareness programmes, timely claim settlement and sufficient compensation should be provided.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF NATURAL FARMING IN UNA DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) SHARMA, ARCHITA; SHARMA, SUBHASHABSTRACT The present study entitled “Economic Analysis of Natural Farming in Una district of Himachal Pradesh” was carried out in Amb and Gagret developmental blocks of Una district by taking a representative sample of 60 farmers through simple random sampling technique. For the analysis of data, the total respondent farmers were divided into three farm categories according to the size of their land holdings, viz., marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha), and medium (2- 10 ha). The average family size in the study area was 5.38. The literacy rate was 94.08 per cent in males and 78.29 per cent in females whereas the literacy index was 2.56 in case of males and 1.63 for females. 87.90 per cent of work force is involved in agriculture followed by business (6.85%) and service (5.24). The average land holding size was 1.24 hectare out of which cultivated area was 1.01 ha. The average area under Natural Farming was 0.28 ha and 0.73 ha was under Conventional Farming. Agriculture (61.56%) accounted highest share in household income. 63.33 per cent of farmers had adopted the complete SPNF model. There were four major crop combinations adopted under Natural Farming system i.e., Vegetables, Vegetables-Pulses, Cereals-Pulses, Cereals-Vegetables. The most preferred crop combination was Vegetables as 38.33 per cent farmers in Rabi and 41.67 per cent farmers in Kharif season were adopting this combination. The major crops grown under Conventional Farming system included Wheat, Pea and Radish in Rabi season & Potato and Maize in Kharif season. Under Natural Farming, in Rabi season maximum cost of cultivation was in crop combination Vegetables (Rs.56780/ha) and in Kharif season it was in crop combination Cereals-Pulses (Rs. 47693/ha). The Crop Equivalent Yield under Natural Farming system was lowest in all crop combinations as compared to Conventional Farming system and the percentage reduction in CEY was ranged from 6.82 to 14.38 per cent in Rabi season and in Kharif season it was ranged from 2.47 to 29.68 per cent. In Rabi season, the percentage reduction in cost of cultivation under NF over the CF system was ranged from 9.41 to 17.43 per cent in Rabi season and 10.86 to 34.27 per cent in Kharif season. In Rabi season, the percentage reduction in gross returns under NF over the CF system was ranged from 6.82 to 14.38 per cent and in Kharif season it was ranged from 5.10 to 29.68 per cent. The Relative Economic Efficiency (REE) was highest in all crop combinations under Natural Farming over CF system, except in crop combination Cereals-Vegetables in Rabi season. Under NF system, the sum of elasticity coefficient was 0.64, indicated decreasing return to scale. The significant factors responsible for the adoption of Natural Farming over Conventional Farming were yield, increase in cost of chemical fertilizers, decreased pest attack and health benefits. Labour intensive technique, lack of irrigation facilities, time consuming technique and higher wage rate were the major problems experienced by farmers across the different farm categoriesThesisItem Open Access COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS OF CONVENTIONAL AND NATURAL VEGETABLE CULTIVATION IN SOLAN DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) ZINTOO, AMAN; VAIDYA, M KABSTRACT The present study entitled “Comparative Economics of Conventional and Natural Vegetable Cultivation in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2020-21. Two-stage random sampling technique was adopted to select the ultimate sample of the farmers practicing natural farming. 60 farmers were selected for the collection of primary data. These farmers have been practicing natural farming since 2018 and the data of conventional farming has also been collected for comparison from same farmers as they were practicing conventional farming before 2018. For the analysis of data the total respondents were divided into three classes according to size of land holdings, viz., marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha) and medium (2-4 ha). Results of the study revealed that sampled households had dominance of nuclear families (73.34%). The average family size was 5.21 persons with literacy rate of 88.68 per cent and 2.67 as literacy index. 60.11 per cent of workforce is engaged in agriculture. Average land holding size was 0.79 hectares, of which 46.84 per cent were under natural farming, 17.72 per cent under conventional farming. Cropping intensity under natural farming was 191.89 per cent and 171.43 per cent in conventional farming system. Tank (77.73 %) was major source of irrigation in the study area. Agriculture and livestock formed 81.65 per cent of income of the farmers. The total cost of cultivation per hectare of pea, cauliflower and tomato under natural farming was Rs.47825.24/ha, Rs. 49837.01/ha and Rs. 62607.62/ha respectively and under conventional farming was Rs. 96861.33/ha, Rs. 100789.81/ha and Rs. 110003.94/ha respectively. The average net returns from cultivation of pea, cauliflower and tomato under natural farming was Rs. 100524.37/ha, Rs. 111305.77/ha and Rs. 96073.63/ha respectively and for conventional farming was Rs. 80886.52/ha, Rs. 81178.18/ha and Rs. 78063.09/ha. The output-input ratio of vegetables grown under natural farming was higher than vegetables grown under conventional farming. The per cent decrease in cost of cultivation of vegetables in natural farming over conventional farming was highest in pea followed by cauliflower and tomato. Relative economic efficiency under natural farming over conventional farming was highest in cauliflower followed by pea and tomato. In natural farming system the sum of elasticity coefficient was found greater than one which indicated increasing returns to scale. Under natural farming factor-price ratio of pea were more than one in variables Ghanjivamrit and seed whereas under cauliflower and tomato factor price-ratio was more than one in variable Ghanjivamrit. The factor-price ratio was more than one in seed under conventional pea, cauliflower and tomato variables were fertilizers and plant protection which showed that the resources were at under-utilization level. The higher wages rate was ranked one followed by shortage of skilled labour, higher cost of fertilizers, high transport charges and non-availability of labour at peak operation time.ThesisItem Open Access IMPACT OF PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF FARMERS IN KANGRA DISTRICT OF H.P(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) SANJEEV KUMAR; SHILPAABSTRACT The present study entitled “Impact of PMFBY on the livelihood of farmers in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2020-21. Multistage sampling was used for the selection of the respondents from the randomly selected two blocks named Bhawarna and Nagrota out of 15 blocks. A total sample of 60 beneficiaries and 60 nonbeneficiary farmers was selected for the present study. The results revealed that average family size at overall level comprises of 5.28 and 4.93 persons for beneficiaries and non-beneficiary farmers. The literacy rate was 91.52 per cent at overall level of beneficiaries while it was 89.19 per cent in non-beneficiary farmers. Agriculture has been found to be the main occupation as 67.64 per cent of workforce practice farming on beneficiaries and 74.34 per cent on non-beneficiaries farmers. Average size of land holding was 1.20 and 1.14 ha on beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries farmers. The area under fields crops 72.24 per cent of total landholding in case of beneficiaries and 75.44 per cent in non-beneficiary farmers on an overall basis. Area under orchard accounted for 7.07 per cent of total land holdings among beneficiaries and 6.21per cent among non-beneficiaries farmers. The overall cropping intensity was found to be 175.09 per cent beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were 169.29 per cent. The overall number of livestock among beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries farmers were 4.14 and 6.98 (ACUs). Livelihood framework analysis revealed that claim holders had better position in financial, social and human capital/assets status than non-claim holders and non-beneficiary farmers. As far as physical and natural capital/assets was concerned it was same in all the three categories. No significant difference was found in natural capital on different categories. It was noticed that enhanced performance of farm operations and mitigation of risk of adverse climatic condition has 42.58 and 69.27 times more effect on adoption of scheme. The progress of PMFBY in Himachal Pradesh state was good in terms of no. of farmers benefitted, total premium amount, total claims paid but in terms of total no. of farmers covered and total insured area has reduced. Major constraints faced by the beneficiary farmers in the study area are awareness of crop insurance scheme and facilities available with mean garret score of (69.70). In case of non-beneficiaries farmer’s lack of awareness about PMFBY with mean Garret score of (71.23) was noticed. The study suggested that the training programmes and exposure visits should be organized on regular basis in order to enhance skills of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiary farmers so as to maximize the net profit and decrease post-harvest losseThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF DAIRY FARMING IN KANGRA DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) SHUBHAM; SHARMA, RAVINDERABSTRACT The present study entitled “Economic Analysis of Dairy Farming in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2020-21. Multistage random sampling technique was used for the selection of the respondents from the randomly selected five blocks named Baijnath, Dehra, Kangra, Indora, Nagrota-Surian out of 15 blocks. Then 2 villages from each selected block were selected randomly and 10 dairy farming households from each selected villages were selected randomly to constitute a sample size of 100 for the collection of the primary data. For the analysis of data all the dairy farmers were classified into three categories on the basis of Standard Animal Unit and cube root frequency method viz., small category (≤5.52), medium category (5.52-11.66) and large category (>11.66). Socio- economic analysis of the farmers revealed an average size of 4.99 members with the literacy rate of 88.65 per cent and index of 2.51. Dependency ratio w.r.t to total workers and w.r.t to family was 0.35 and 0.25. The cultivated land accounted for 67.22 per cent of total land holding. The crop intensity of 178.60 per cent was found in the study area. The average no. of cattle units were 5.21 of which 7.73, 47.2, 23.99, 7.32, 11.20 per cent are local cow, crossbred cow, buffalo, young stock, heifer, respectively. The study revealed that the average milk yield among the local cow found to be 2.88 litre per day, crossbred cow 7.33 litre per day and in buffalo 4.65 litre per day, cost per litre of milk production was highest in buffalo followed by local cow and crossbred cow Rs 39.53, 36.21, 29.24, respectively and highest returns were noticed in crossbred cow followed by buffalo and local cow 8.04, 5.23, 0.29, respectively among sampled households. The average daily milk production and milk consumption pattern was noticed 25.80 litre and 4.76 litre per day in sampled households. The marketable surplus was 21.04 litre and it was noticed that factors like income land holding and total milk yield has positive relationship and family size has negative relationship with the marketable surplus among sampled households. Main problems in the study area cost of feed and fodder, scarcity of fodder, lack of credits and funds, lower price of the milk, labour intensive farming etc. It was noticed that with the 1 per cent increase in the expenditure on the green fodder, dry fodder, concentrates and labour per farm per day will change in the income 0.29%, 0.49%, 0.13% and 0.12%, respectively among sampled households per day.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMICS OF FARMING SYSTEMS IN MANDI DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) RAWAT, BHUSHAN; GULERIA, CHANDRESHABSTRACT The present Study entitled “Economics of Farming System in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2020-21. Multistage random sampling design was adopted to select the ultimate sample of the farmer. The district was divided into two parts, the first part ranging from 651-1500m altitudinal rang while the second part ranging from 1500-4500m. The selection of sampled households was done by selecting one block from each range. In the next stage, five panchayats were selected randomly from each block. In the last stage 8 farmers were selected from each selected panchayat. Thus, a sample of 80 farmers was selected for the collection of data. The socio- economic analysis of data revealed that at an overall level, the average family size was found 5.19 person per households, out of which the percentage of male (51.50 %) was higher than the female (48.50%). The overall literacy rate was found 88.39 per cent. Agriculture was found the main occupation of the farmers, at an overall level about 57.59 per cent of farmers depends on it. The average size of land holding at an overall level was 0.61 hectare with 70.41 per cent of cultivated area. The highest value of livestock per household was found in Sadar followed by Seraj block Rs.53,290.77 and Rs. 30,200.21 respectively. The six farming systems were found in the study area viz., C+P+D, C+P+V+ D, V+D, F+V+D, C+V+D and C+V+O+D at overall level. The most profitable farming system found in Seraj block were V+D (2.07), F+V+D (2.05), C+P+V+D (2.03) and C+P+D (1.69) output input ratio per hectare, whereas C+V+O+D and C+V+D farming system was most profitable in Sadar block with 2.03 and 1.93 output input ratio. The increasing return to scale were found in F+V+D (1.20), C+V+D (1.16), V+D (1.13), C+V+O+D (1.09) farming system indicating that doubling of inputs in these farming systems will result in output enhancement more than double. In case of C+P+V+D (0.92) and C+P+D (0.83) farming system decreasing return to scale were found which indicated that doubling the inputs results in output enhancement less than double. The major constraints faced by farmers at an overall level were lack of training lack of field demonstration, lack of irrigation facilities, non- availability of good quality seed and Wild/Stray animal menace. The policy should be developed in the study area were investment on farm technology and machinery, development of market access and better transport connectivity along with the accessibility of farm inputs in farms and rural markets.ThesisItem Open Access IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE IN SIRMAUR DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) RAJAT; GULERIA, CHANDRESHABSTRACT The present study entitled “Impact Assessment of Climate Change on Agriculture in Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh” was carried out in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. A sample of 60 farmers was selected using multistage stratified sampling. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. Analysis of vulnerability index revealed that Una district was found most vulnerable district and Kinnaur was found least vulnerable to climate change in 2020. The sensitivity and exposure indicators were found to be the highest contributors towards vulnerability, which accounted for 77.92 per cent and 37.23 per cent respectively. Sirmaur ranked 8th position for climate change vulnerability index for the year 2020. Analysis of trends and pattern in rainfall and temperature at district level showed a significant warming trend of 0.220C/year and decreasing trend of 0.08950C/year during the period 1990-2020. Amongst the blocks, Rajgarh block was found to be the highly vulnerable and Sangrah was found to be the least vulnerable during 2000. Again, Rajgarh was found to be the most vulnerable block and Pachhad was the least vulnerable block during 2010. In 2020, Rajgarh was still the most vulnerable block and Paonta Sahib was the least vulnerable block. Exposure component was found to be most crucial for the high vulnerability of the Rajgarh area, where it contributed to the tune of 68.76 per cent in 2000, 73.40 per cent in 2010 and 78.56 per cent 2020. Weather parameters like minimum temperature, maximum temperature and rainfall showed medium impact on various agriculture crops as Sirmaur district comes under moderately vulnerable category. These variables had an impact up to 18 per cent, 11 per cent and 44 per cent on major cereals crops wheat, maize and paddy respectively. In case of major vegetables like pea, tomato and garlic the impact of weather parameters was found to be 60 per cent, 31 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. The results of the study revealed that overall average size of family in selected blocks was around 5 persons in sample households. The overall literacy rate in study area was 84.42 per cent and agriculture was the main occupation as 72.53 per cent of family members were involved in agricultural practices. The average size of the land holding per household was 1 ha. The cropping intensity was found to be 187.22 per cent in Paonta Sahib and 173.16 per cent in Rajgarh, indicating the possibility of improving it if irrigation infrastructure is developed. Potato in Rabi season and tomato in Kharif season were the predominant vegetable crops grown by the farmers. On an average, the productivity of potato was found 124.84 q/ha and of tomato 165.38 q/ha. The demographic factors, land use and land use pattern, better irrigation and crop productivity in the study area is helpful in improving adaptive capacity of Sirmaur district which lie in a moderately vulnerable district of the state. Lack of access to early warning information, lack of awareness about climate change, high cost of adoption etc. were the key problems in adopting various farmer’s strategies to cope up with climate change. According to experts, awareness towards climate change should be created through extension workers, training programmes/camps related to agriculture at village level. Investments should be made in constructing water harvesting structures like tanks etc. to conserve the scarce moisture. Improving the access of farmers to more accurate weather information and framing farmer friendly policies in this regard can help farmers in securing their livelihood in challenging situationsThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF NATURAL FARMING IN MANDI DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH(UHF,NAUNI, 2021-12) THAKUR, RIYA; SHARMA, SUBHASHABSTRACT For the present study entitled “Economic Analysis of Natural Farming in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh” a sample of 60 farmers practicing natural farming was selected from Gopalpur and Balh blocks using simple random sampling technique. The study revealed that average literacy rate of the sampled farmers was 94.14 per cent indicating majority of farmers were educated but the quality of education was poor. 38.46 per cent of the farmers were rearing local cow as a major livestock on their farm. The average land holding was 0.80 ha out of which area under natural farming was 0.31ha. Under natural farming major crop combinations adopted by farmers were Cereal-Vegetables (0.14 ha) followed by Cereals-Vegetables-Pulses (0.13ha), Cereals-Pulses (0.03ha) and Vegetables-Pulses (0.01ha). The cost of cultivation under natural farming for Cereal-Pulses, Cereal-vegetables, Vegetables-Pulses and Cereal-Vegetables-Pulses crop combinations was Rs. 42,617/ha, Rs. 48,958/ha, Rs. 50,318/ha and Rs. 45,607/ha in Rabi season and Rs. 41,857/ha, Rs. 51,001/ha, Rs. 48,343/ha and Rs. 52,966/ha in Kharif season, respectively. The yield observed in different crop combinations under natural farming was less as compared to conventional farming system except Cereal-Vegetables-Pulses crop combination. The percentage reduction in yield under natural farming over conventional farming ranged from 1.90 to 23.44 % in Rabi season and 0.70 to 15.93 % in Kharif season. The net returns under natural farming were more in all crop combinations as compared to conventional farming except Cereal-pulses crop combination in Rabi season. The percentage increase in relative economic efficiency under natural farming over conventional farming ranged from 15.87 to 22.73 % in Rabi season and 2.57 to 12.31 % in Kharif season. The output-input ratio was also higher under natural farming as compared to conventional farming system. 43.33 per cent of the sampled farmers had adopted the complete SPNF model. Reduced insect-pest attack, high chemical fertilizers cost, quality output, health benefits were the factors responsible for the adoption of natural farming. Labour intensive farming followed by lack of premium prices, lack of consumer awareness for SPNF produce and low yield were the major problems reported by the farmers.