Diagnostic Survey of Existing Agroforestry Systems in Bharmour Tehsil of Chamba District, Himachal Pradesh
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Date
2023-02-21, 2023-02-21
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College of Horticulture and Forestry Neri, Hamirpur (H.P.)
Abstract
The present investigation entitled “Diagnostic Survey of Existing Agroforestry Systems in Bharmour Tehsil of Chamba
District, Himachal Pradesh” was carried out during the year 2021-22 in Bharmour Tehsil of Chamba District, Himachal
Pradesh. Bharmour Tehsil is located between 32º11’N to 32º41’N Latitude and 76º22’E to 76º53’E longitude. Study site was
selected through multi-stage random sampling technique in which Ten Gram Panchayats were chosen and from each panchayat
two villages were selected. In each village Farmers were divided into three different categories on the basis of their land
holdings i.e. marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha) and medium (2-5 ha) as per the classification of government of Himachal Pradesh.
Nine farmers were selected from each village which included three farmers from each category i.e. Marginal, small and medium
were taken as ultimate unit of study. Information about the different parameters ie. family structure, demographic features, animal
husbandry practices, livestock status, household income , land utilization pattern, agriculture production and tree inventory from
various agroforestry systems was collected through personal interviews with head of the households and field visits.The study
revealed that six agroforestry system types prevalent among different categories of farmers viz. AS, AH, AHS, SP, HP and
ASP.The functional units under different agroforestry systems are as follows: major agriculture component were Wheat, Maize,
Barley, Kidney bean, Pea, Potato, Tomato, Okra, Mustard, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Capsicum, Garlic and Brinjal while major
horticulture components were Apple, Walnut, Khumani, Peach and Pear while major silviculture components were Tosh, Deodar,
Chir pine, Kail pine, Ban oak, Moru oak and Black locust. The pastoral component were Setaria grass, Bari jhaan grass, Angleton
grass, Marvel grass, Spear grass and Makhan grass. Among all the agroforestry systems with respect to total biomass production,
maximum total biomass production was reported in AS (23.27 t ha־¹ yr־¹) while lowest in HP (4.94 t ha־¹ yr־¹) irrespective of
farmer categories. Maximum net return was indicated highest in HP (361278 Rs. ha־¹ yr־¹) and lowest in SP (27071 Rs. ha־¹ yr־¹)
irrespective of farmer categories. Lack of better quality roads and transport infrastructure, lack of irrigation facility, fragmented
landholdings, inadequate agricultural research and extension support services, use of local seeds, Communication gap between lab
to land, lack of effective marketing channels are some of the constraints observed in study area. Both the government and local
administrative entities should focus their attention on the constraints/gaps reported in study area. To better understand farmers and
encourage their successful adoption of agroforestry models, agroforestry models should be exhibited to farmers while taking into
consideration the social and technical aspects.