Farm diversification options for ensuring livelihood security of peri-urban farmers in eastern plateau and hill region: Learnings from Farmer FIRST Project

Priya Ranjan Kumar; Sudarshan Maurya; Asit Chakrabarti; V K Yadav; Soumen Naskar; Sanju Gupta; Sonal Kumari; Arun Kumar Singh; B P Bhatt; Bikash Das

doi:10.56093/ijas.v90i3.101508

Authors

Priya Ranjan Kumar ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Sudarshan Maurya ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Asit Chakrabarti ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
V K Yadav ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Soumen Naskar ICAR Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Sanju Gupta ICAR Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Sonal Kumari ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Arun Kumar Singh ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
B P Bhatt ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Bikash Das ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Farming System Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, Ranchi, Jharkhand

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v90i3.101508

Keywords:

Eastern plateau, Farm diversification, Hill region, Livelihood security, Peri-urban farmers

Abstract

The research work was undertaken in four villages near Ranchi, Jharkhand under the Farmer FIRST Project to test the effectiveness of the technological options in improving the profitability of peri-urban agriculture system. Based on Principal Component Analysis of data on agri-economic conditions of farmers, the farm households could be classified into five broad typologies, viz. 1: Marginal farmers and landless labourers, 2: Cereal dominated small farmers, 3: IFS based small farmers, 4: Livestock based marginal farmers and 5: Cereal based medium farmers. Results of two years of experimentation indicated promising technological options like rainy season cultivation of solanaceous vegetables, cultivation of crops like wheat, chickpea and other rabi and summer season vegetables in rice fallow, management of ecto- and endo parasite in the animals and supplementation of area specific mineral mixture, cultivation of oyster mushroom for increasing income from agricultural production system. The project has resulted in increase in income of all typologies of farmers with a maximum increase in case of small farmers practising integrated farming and minimum increase in case of marginal farmers and landless labourers. Notably, income from non-farm sources saw a decrease in all five typologies.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Anonymous. 2018. Urban population (% of total population) – India. (In) United Nations Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects 2018 Revision. https://data. worldbank. org /indicator/SP.URB. TOTL .IN.ZS?locations=IN (as on date 22.12.2019).

Bhupal D S, Marshall F and te Lintelo, D. 2002. Peri-urban agriculture in Delhi, India. Food, Nutrition & Agriculture, 29: 4-13.

Cornish P S, Choudhury A, Kumar A, Das S, Kumbakar K, Norrish S and Kumar, S. 2015. Improving crop production for food security on the East India Plateau II. Crop options, alternative cropping systems and capacity building. Agricultural Systems, 137: 180–190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2015.02.011

Gebrehiwot T, van der Veen A and Van Der Veen A.2013. Farm level adaptation to climate change: The case of farmer’s in the Ethiopian highlands. Environmental Management 52: 29–44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0039-3

Guhathakurta P, Shreejith O P and Menon P . 2011. Impact of climate change on extreme rainfall events and flood risk in India. Journal of Earth System Sciences 120(3), 359–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-011-0082-5

Gupta R and Gangopadhyay S G. 2006. Peri-urban agriculture and aquaculture. Economic and Political Weekly 41 (18): 1757–60

Gurr G M, Wratten S D and Luna J M. 2003. Multi-function agricultural biodiversity: Pest management and other benefits. Basic and Applied Ecology 4: 107–16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1078/1439-1791-00122

Krupinsky J M, Bailey K L, McMullen M P, Gossen B D and Turkington T K.2002. Managing plant disease risk in diversified cropping systems. Agronomy Journal 94: 198–209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2002.1980

Lin B B. 2011. Resilience in agriculture through crop diversification: Adaptive management for environmental change. BioScience. 61(3): 183–93 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.3.4

Narain V and Nischal S. 2007. The peri-urban interface in Shahpur Khurd and Karnera, India. Environment and Urbanization 19 (1): 261–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247807076905

Singh A K, Das B, Mali S S, Bhavana P, Shinde R and Bhatt B P. 2019. Intensification of rice-fallow cropping systems in the Eastern Plateau region of India: diversifying cropping systems and climate risk mitigation. Climate and Development, DOI. 10.1080/17565529.2019.1696735. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2019.1696735

Smit B and Skinner M.2002. Adaptation options in agriculture to climate change: A typology. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 7: 85–114. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015862228270

Tesfaw A. 2014. Determinants of agricultural commodity market supply. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 5 (7): 55-62.