“Diagnostic Survey of Agroforestry Systems in Barsar Tehsil of Hamirpur District, Himachal Pradesh.”
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Date
2021-12-23
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College of Horticulture and Forestry Neri, Hamirpur (H.P.)
Abstract
The present study entitled “Diagnostic Survey of Agroforestry Systems in Barsar Tehsil of
Hamirpur District, Himachal Pradesh.” was carried out during the year 2020-21. The tehsil is located
between 31°31'35" N latitude and 76°27'37" E longitude. To study the socio-economic status and vegetation
composition of the land-use systems twelve panchayats were selected. A representative sample of two villages
was selected from each panchayat and from each village a sample of nine farmers was selected and categorized
as marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha) and medium (2-5 ha) on the basis of the land holding. The data was collected
through pre-structured schedule for the purpose through personal interviews with head of the each household
and visit to the fields. Socioeconomic status of farmers has been analysed taking into consideration their average
family structure, sex- ratio, educational status, literacy rate, livestock status, off-farm employment status and
land holding size. The study revealed that six agroforestry systems types were prevalent among different
categories of farmers in the study area viz., AS, ASH, AH, ASP, PS and SP. The most predominant AFS was
AS, followed by ASH. The functional units recorded under different agroforestry system types in the study area
under agriculture component were Wheat, Maize, Mustard, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Tomato, Potato, Okra,
Brinjal, Turmeric, Arbi and Fennel. The functional units under Silviculture component were Beul, toona,
shisham, mulberry, kachnar, chir pine, khair etc. for horticulture component mango, papaya, banana, litchi,
citrus etc. were recorded. Whereas, for grass species elephant grass, setaria, nut grass and natural grasses were
recorded. Among all the existing agroforestry systems, irrespective of the farmer’s category the highest
biological yield and net returns were recorded under agrisilvihorticulture (ASH) system i.e. 25.09 t/ha and
1,35,699 Rs./ha/yr., respectively. While, the lowest biological yield and net returns were recorded under
pastoralsilviculture (PS) system i.e. 16.61 t/ha and 6,589 Rs./ha/yr., respectively. Fragmented landholdings, lack
of irrigation facilities, non-availability of market, lack of awareness about high yielding variety seeds of crops
and promising agroforestry tree species, low yielding varieties of horticultural plants, communication gap
between lab to land and ineffective implementation of government sponsored schemes for the benefits of
farming communities were some of the constraints found in the study area. Relevant agroforestry solutions can
be conducting location specific diagnostic survey, strengthening of agro-processing facilities, voluntarily
adoption of some villages by state agriculture universities and other related institutions and opening of govt.
authorized sale centres at accessible places etc.