RESULTS

The cultivated land/household was (0.35 ha) while uncultivated land was 0.075 ha. Most of the land (11.8 ha) was rainfed, compare to irrigated (4.06 ha). Livestock population was also very less and it was only 1.8/household (Table 1). The entire population was categorized into two groups of household’s viz., native and migrant.

Table 1:	Profile of the study site

Table 2:	Population of Langasu-Uttaron village

Table 3:	Categories of farmer on the basis of cultivation of land

About 67% of the village population was migrant households while native families were only 33% (Table 2). Migrant families were involved only in government jobs, business and other labour works. Migrated families were present in study site, due to the employment opportunities, education of their children and other primary requirements. Agriculture was done only by native households. Income source of the native families were mainly from agriculture and secondary sources i.e., business, labour and also from rent obtained by letting out their houses to migrant families.

On the basis of land cultivation, farmers were divided in three categories i.e., large, medium and small. Majority of the farmers were placed in medium (69.56%) group followed by large (19.57) and small (10.87%) respectively (Table 3). The large farmer group consisted of those having cultivated land (0.4), medium (0.2-0.4) and small having (>0.2). Almost all categories of the farmers practiced mixed farming which is inherent to the hill-farming system to enhance the productivity of crop and lower risk on crop failure due to unpredictable weather. Farmers of this region evolved various mixed cropping and crop rotation strategies with agronomic, fodder requirements and availability of rain water.

Table 4:	Livestock population in Langasu-Uttaron

Table 5:	Livelihood analysis of selected households

Livestock population is not so much varied from medium to large family, however, people having Bullock (38%) followed by local calves (14%) and (12%) local cows (Table 4).

The share of cultivating agriculture land was 66% for medium farmers followed by 32% for larger farmers and only 2% for smaller of farmers (Table 5). Major share of the expenditure for all the categories of farmers is on food and it varied from lower to higher farmer’s category. The expenditure on education increased with the increase in income. Saving was highest for smaller group i.e., low depending on agriculture. Home garden cultivation was predominated by vegetable crops mainly green leafy vegetables and spices (Table 6). An important characteristic of home garden is their multifaceted usefulness. The fruit trees produced in home garden are, Mangifera indica (mango), Psidium guajava (guava), Citrus medica (lemon), Punica granatum (pomegranate), Musa balbisiana (banana), Citrus sinensis (orange), Juglans regia (apricot) and Artocarpus lakoocha (jackfruit) that served as either subsistence food (Table 6) or as cash crop and also provided a varied diet balanced in form of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals (Gopalan et al., 2004). Labour was utilized for looking after the animals, feeding, grazing, cleaning of gothes (animal shed) and milking of animals.

Table 6:	Vegetable crops in home garden of Langasu-Uttaron

Table 7:	Farmer’s assessment (%) in different agricultural land use types

Soil fertility and crop productivity was highest 65 and 85% under irrigated agroecosystem; however, the labour requirement was highest (94%) under home garden. On the basis of inputs given by farmers highest (85%) weed infection was reported in rainfed agroecosystem (Table 7).

DISCUSSION

In this study, it was observed that there is a change of preference from joint to nuclear families. The females contributed to about 80-90% in families. Women have been food growers, processor and storers from the beginning of recorded history (Eneh and Nkamnebe, 2011). The lifestyle and major activities of the people to sustain their livelihood in the region revolve around their animal husbandry and the traditional livestock-based farming system. This is closely linked to the surrounding resource/forests. Livestock also play a crucial role in food security and as risk aversion mechanisms for sustaining families when there is crop failure. Livestock generate income in rural areas and also form a part of nature’s chain for recycling nutrients, converting low quality and other agro byproducts into good quality and organic fertilizer, the latter being important for retaining soil fertility.

With increasing emphasis on market economy and 'maximization of profit' motive, agrobiodiversity and agroecosystem management have changed and there has been a significant decline in both domesticated and wild biodiversity. Because farmers in the Central Himalayas have limited access to purchased inputs, they have developed mixed combinations that are adapted to low external input managements (Saxena et al., 2005). The expenditure incurred on fodder and concentrate was highest in all the categories of families. Fodder mainly consisted of green grass and tree leaves (imputed value of labor for bringing the leaves and grasses from the forest as well as agricultural land was considered for this purpose). Increase in livestock population and reduction in fodder production from farmland with changing cropping patterns implies more intensive grazing in forests. Due to deforestation fuelwood is also become scare at the study site.

A significant proportion of fodder energy ends as manure in the crop field, helping to maintain soil fertility and water retention capacity (Tripathi and Sah, 2001). The animals were fed small amount of concentrates like mustard-cake, wheat flour, finger millet and barley seed, depending upon availability. New livestock husbandry practices have been promoted by the government by giving subsidy for buffaloes and cross-breeds of cows. Increase in livestock population and changes in composition of livestock population are a common trend (Sharma and Shaw, 1993). Naturally these hybrid cows and buffaloes provide more amount of milk and cow dung as compared to the indigenous breeds (Singh, 1993).

As agriculture is an important occupation in the hill area it is necessary to find out the expenditure pattern among the farmers in this sector. The agrodiversity maintained for low dependency on market, economically poor society and no other income sources were mostly nondescript in nature. Agrodiversity also play multiple roles in rural systems economy and has a strong human dimension, as manifested through sociocultural link and involvement of women (Maki-Hokkonens, 1996). Agricultural lands were divided into a number of small plots due to the slope of hill. In the irrigated land mainly two crops are grown in one year, in rainfed systems, three crops are grown every two years and in the home garden multiple crops are grown per one year. Highest percentage of land ownership and cultivated areas were under medium size farmers compare to small size.

Home garden in the present case could be described as a land use located near the dwelling place having a high species diversity, high tree density, presence of fruit trees and cultivation of vegetable in at least one growing season. It more carefully tended, protected from animals and utilized for diverse products, therefore multiple crops in a year. Whenever, two or more crops are grown together in the same cropping system, the resulting interactions can have mutually beneficial effects as they effectively reduce the need for external inputs (Chandra, 2007). The Central Himalayas is known for most successful mixed cropping systems where a high percentage of agricultural land is still under mixed cropping (Maikhuri, 1996; Maikhuri et al., 1999, 2001; Nautiyal et al., 2002). Such changes have benefited local people in economic terms but at the same time increased their vulnerability to environmental and economic risks. Some cultivars use tree as a base for some cucurbits as agrisilvicultaral practices. Due to the mixture of trees and vegetable species and their variability in flowering time and fruit maturity, sources of food or income was insured throughout the year (Maikhuri et al., 1999; Gopalan et al., 2004).

CONCLUSIONS

From the present study, it was observed that when questioned about the advantages of complex cropping pattern and crop system diversity, the respondents could not come out with distinct reasons by them. This indicates that articulation on expressions of ideas could deviate from the actual perception held when the aspects being discussed involved strategies that have become almost an instinctive and natural response to a given situation. The apparent difference in response given could arise due to either the enhanced understanding of the families or abilities to relate to ideas or due to their attempt to go down favorably with the researcher as a knowledgeable individual. Families are search of job and other livelihood options migrating towards town. However, in the villages the migrant families were involved only in government jobs, business and other labour works. Agriculture was done only by native households and old people as youth having less interest in agriculture. Therefore, a sound policy and government support is required for enhancing the agricultural biodiversity including value of the traditional crops, promotion of elite landraces selected on the basis of urban consumption needs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to Director, G.B. Pant, Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora and TSBF/UNEP/GEF for partial financial support. Views expressed here are of the authors and not of the organizations that they are affiliated to or the funding agencies.