Brij Bala

The land–river interface (LRI) is important for sustainable development. The environmental processes that define the LRI support the natural capital and ecosystem services that are linked directly to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, existing approaches to scale up or down SDG targets and link them to natural capital are insufficient for the two-way human–environment interactions that exist in the LRI. Therefore, this study proposes a place-based approach to interpret the SDG framework to support sustainable land/water management, by (i) identifying key priorities for sustainable development through a normative content analysis of the SDG targets, and (ii) illustrating these priorities and associated challenges within the LRI, based on a literature review and case-studies on human–environment interactions. The content analysis identifies three overarching sustainable development priorities: (i) ensuring improved access to resources and services provided by the ...

Agriculture i s the predominant sector and is the largeat source of income and employment in the Indian economy. About 80 par cent of the country's population resides in rural area. Agriculture provides employment and there by by contributes as a source of livelihood for over 70 per cent of the total population, The female population constituted nearly half of the total population.

The study has assessed the impact of extension programmes on the adoption level of improved technologies in agriculture and animal husbandry in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh for the agricultural year 2002-03. A significant difference has been observed in the knowledge and adoption levels among SHG-beneficiary and non-beneficiary groups. The study has revealed that the importance or ranking attached to various agricultural practices has been almost the same by both the groups, though with a significant gap in the extent of their adoption. In cereals, timely harvesting, followed by seed selection and seed treatment are the most adopted practices by beneficiary group while seed selection, followed by timely harvesting and timely sowing are the preferred practices by non-beneficiaries. Chemical weed control, pre-sowing soil treatment, sowing in lines at proper spacing have been the most ignored practices, although the level of their adoption has been found higher among benefici...

More than 80 per cent of the farmers in India are small and marginal. Polyhouse technology has emerged as a boon to such resource poor farmers. To assess the costs and benefits drawn by the farmers through crop cultivation in polyhouses, a study was conducted in Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh, India. A sample of about 50 polyhouse units of varied sizes was randomly selected in five developmental blocks of two districts. The total cost of construction was Rs. 100500, Rs. 216250 and Rs. 481600, respectively for polyhouses of 100 sq.m., 250 sq. m. and 500 sq. m. and farmers had to invest only 20% of the total cost. It was observed that about 85 per cent of the farmers grew capsicum, tomato or cucumber in their polyhouses as main crops and exotic vegetables like iceberg lettuce, pok choi and celery as covering crops. It was estimated that a farmer could have net returns up to Rs.1.42 lacs per annum from a 500 sq. m. polyhouse. Thus, the crop cultivation in polyhouses can ...

Studies on the cattle and buffalo population in Himachal Pradesh indicated that the population of former was almost three times the population of latter during the livestock census year 1992. As a source of draught, the male cattle were preferred, while, buffaloes were the major source of milk. In the total bovine population, the adult females outnumbered the adult males in all the districts thus resulting in the relatively dense distribution per hectare of gross cropped area. The young stock population showed a direct relationship with the population of adult females.

The studies were conducted to find out the trends in production and consumption of fertilizers and also to examine the effects of various factors viz., price, area under high yielding varieties, gross irrigated area and subsidy on its consumption. The time series data from 1975–76 to 1999–2000 was taken into account for the study. The results indicated that consumption of fertilizers increased at the rate of 11% over the period under report whereas the growth rate for fertilizer production was 10.6%. Among the factors affecting fertilizer consumption, subsidy emerged to be the most important factor followed by area under high yielding varieties and gross irrigated area. Farmers should be exhorted to go for balanced use of fertilizers, increasing area under high yielding varieties and harnessing avatIable irrigation potential.

With the changing food habits, the importance of vegetables in the human diet is increasingly realized. It has places vegetable farming in advantageous position. The agro-climatic conditions of hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh, India are such that they offer a unique opportunity for growing off-season vegetables. The present work has investigated into the various costs involved in the production and marketing of these vegetables, marketing channels, margins, price spread and the constraints faced by the producers. The costs of production varied from Rs. 28,633 to Rs. 54,775 per hectare for selected vegetables. The gross returns were highest for tomato. Three marketing channels were prevalent. Malpractices in the market place and lack of farmers’ organizations were the major circumscribing factors. The present investigation will help the policy makers, extension workers and research scientists to focus their efforts to minimize the constraints and problems of off-season vegetable pr...

The studies were conducted to estimate the magnitude of gaps in the adoption of recommended technology, knowledge level of farmers and constraints for adoption of recommended practices. Primary data were collected from 200 farmers selected through multistage random sampling technique. The findings revealed that 47% of the farmers had medium level of knowledge about the recommended maize practices. Among the various recommended technologies, the maximum gap was observed in micro-nutrient application (99.30%) followed by herbicidal application (90.75%), plant protection measures (84.35%) and balanced fertilizer use (78.33%). Limited knowledge about micro-nutrients, pesticides and fertilizer application and their advantages was the major reason for the chasm in the adoption of latest recommended practices. Lack of technical know how, non availability of desired variety seed, sub-standard and costly chemical fertilizers and plant nutrients, lack of purchasing power etc. limited the adop...

The study attempts to make a comparative study between the hill regions of Darjeeling district of West Bengal and the state itself based on secondary data as well as primary data collected from different sources in relation to demography, work participation rate (WPR), sector and sub-sector wise distribution of workers, number of holding size along with operational holding, cropping pattern, cropping sequence with economics of crop cultivation etc. The study on the demographic assessment revealed that the population has grown in all regions over a successive census period, but with a differential decadal growth rate. Over the entire study period the decadal growth rate has dropped down drastically in the hilly regions and West Bengal as a whole, but the Darjeeling district showed a marginal increase which may be due to the influx of population into Siliguri the lone sub-division of the Darjeeling district in the plains. Work participation rate in West Bengal and the hilly region has...

The study carried out in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh has examined the extent of changes in cropping pattern and their effect on income and employment over the period 1990-91 to 2002-03. Data collected through the three-stage stratified random sampling technique have been used to analyze the impact of diversification and commercialization over time. The average farm-size has reduced from 0.80 hectares to 0.59 hectares during this period. The cereal-dominated cropping pattern has been replaced by vegetable-based cropping pattern, the area under cereal crops being declined from 59 per cent to 5 per cent. The cropping intensity has increased from 197 to 225 per cent. Cauliflower, cabbage and tomato are the major crops occupying the total cropped area. As the vegetable crops are highly labour-intensive, the annual labour requirement has increased by about 49 per cent. The labour requirement during kharif, rabi and zaid seasons has increased from 98.9, 90.0 and 10.0 mandays in ...

The studies on the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in solanaceous vegetables revealed that majority of the growers used them to control the various harmful insects and diseases and increase the soil fertility and productivity. However they opined that the usage of these agrochemicals was their coercion and they were not happy particularly with the extreme usage of pesticides. The respondents apprehended that these agrochemicals had poisoned the soil system and have degraded the quality and the taste of the vegetable produce. These were responsible for the induction of the disease and disorders in plants, animals, human beings and had ill effect on the biodiversity, ecological food chain, soil fertility and soil micro-organisms. These agrochemicals polluted the air, ground water and irrigation water. Scientists of local Research Institutes launched a campaign in training and guiding farmers from some of the villages like Jarad, Suibraw, Kalheli, Haat and Targali regarding ...

The studies were conducted to find out the trends in production and consumption of fertilizers and also to examine the effects of various factors viz., price, area under high yielding varieties, gross irrigated area and subsidy on its consumption. The time series data from 1975-76 to 19992000 was taken into account for the study. The results indicated that consumption of fertilizers increased at the rate of 11% over the period under report whereas the growth rate for fertilizer production was 10.6%. Among the factors affecting fertilizer consumption, subsidy emerged to be the most important factor followed by area under high yielding varieties and gross irrigated area. Farmers should be exhorted to go for balanced use of fertilizers, increasing area under high yielding varieties and harnessing avatIable irrigation potential. INTRODUCTION contributed to generating growth in fertilizer In India fertilizer consumption demand. To meet the rising demand, Govt. increased from less than 50...

Among, five IPM modules tested against tomato fruit borer and fruit rot on tomato, the IPM module (M3) consisting of use of pheromone traps (@ 12 traps/ha) just after transplanting the tomato crop , Lycopersicon esculentum Miller for monitoring the population of Helicoverpa armigera . followed by three foliar sprays commencing with a mixture of lamba-cyhalothrin 5EC @ 0.8ml/L(0.04%) and Dithane Z-78 (Zineb) @ 2.5g/L (0.25%) after 10 days of appearance of moths in the traps (after 30 days of transplanting) followed by spray with a mixture of Helicide (Ha NPV) 100 LE @ 0.5ml/L+ Indofil M-45 @ 2.5g/L (0.25%) + Gur (0.05%) + Tween 80 (0.05%) after 15 days of first spray followed by spray with a mixture of lamba-cyhalothrin 5EC @ 0.8ml/L(0.04%) and moximate (cymoxanil + mancozeb) @ 0.25% after 15 days of the second spray was found to be most effective in minimizing the infestation of fruit borer and fruit rot diseases with 50.00% and 63.45% reduction over control, respectively. This modu...

The study has assessed the impact of extension programmes on the adoption level of improved technologies in agriculture and animal husbandry in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh for the agricultural year 2002-03. A significant difference has been observed in the ...

The costs and returns structure has been reported for the production of major off-season vegetables, viz. tomato, cabbage cauliflower and peas in two vegetable-dominated developmental blocks of the district Kullu. Primary data have been collected through ...

The study carried out in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh has examined the extent of changes in cropping pattern and their effect on income and employment over the period 1990-91 to 2002-03. Data collected through the three-stage stratified random sampling technique have been used to analyze the impact of diversification and commercialization over time. The average farm-size has reduced from 0.80 hectares to 0.59 hectares during this period. The cereal-dominated cropping pattern has been replaced by vegetable-based cropping pattern, the area under cereal crops being declined from 59 per cent to 5 per cent. The cropping intensity has increased from 197 to 225 per cent. Cauliflower, cabbage and tomato are the major crops occupying the total cropped area. As the vegetable crops are highly labour-intensive, the annual labour requirement has increased by about 49 per cent. The labour requirement during kharif, rabi and zaid seasons has increased from 98.9, 90.0 and 10.0 mandays in ...