An economic evaluation of agroforestry systems- A case study in mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted on the economic evaluation of agro-forestry systems in Sirmaur district of mid-hill zone of Himachal Pradesh. Agroforestry system was designated as Agri-Pastoral-Horti-Silviculture (APHS) system on the basis of income generated from different sub-sectors of the system.The net income of the system turned out to  2.38lacs, agriculture being the major contributor followed by pastures, horticulture and forestry. Inventory of forest trees maintained in cultivated land and grassland was found 100 trees per farm in existing agroforestry system, out of which 45% were on cultivated land and 55% in grassland. The number of forestry trees was positively related with size of farm. The primary purpose of maintaining forest trees on the farm was to augment the income, to meet out the fodder, fuel and small timber. Wild Pomegranate was found as dominant tree species (31.6%) of total tree population. The comparative economics of existing and new agroforestry technology showed that there exist a scope of increasing  29722 per ha as an incremental income from new agroforestry technology over existing practice for pasture/grassland areas under an average situation. The analysis of factors influencing tree plantation activities revealed that farm size, family size, literacy, number of fragments were found statistically significant indicating thereby that these variables have significant impact on growth of agroforestry plantation on farmers land.