LOCATION SPECIFIC AND RISK EFFICIENT FARM PLANS FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN MANDI DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Abstract

newline ABSTRACT newlineAn attempt was made in this study to develop location-specific and risk efficient farm plans in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The study was based upon both primary and secondary data. The study is based upon 150 randomly selected households in three different sub-ecological regions of the district. Frontier production function was used to examine the efficiency and MOTAD was used to work out risk efficient farm plans. The study revealed small size of family. The literacy level was higher for males as compared to females in all the three regions. Agriculture was the main occupation in all the three regions. The average size of holdings (owned land) was 0.96 ha in low, 0.53 ha in mid and 1.21 ha in high hills out of which 85, 90 and 65 per cent area was operational in low, mid and high hills, respectively. Maize in kharif and wheat in rabi season were the major crops in all the three regions. Cropping intensity decreased from low hills to high hills. The average yield of maize and wheat was higher in mid hills. Among other crops the average yield was high in low hills due to suitable climatic conditions. It was found that farmers in low hills in general used more inputs as compared to mid and high hills. Human labour in case of paddy in low hills; seed, FYM and bullock labour for maize and FYM and fertilizer for wheat in mid hills; FYM for maize and fertilizer for wheat in high hills had significant and positive influence on productivity. Majority of farmers were in medium range of efficiency. The total cost i.e. cost D was high in case of vegetables as compared to other crops due to high cost of hybrid seeds and intensive use of manure in all the regions. In some crops (maize+mash, kodo, wheat and barley) grown under unirrigated conditions, negative net returns were observed. The cross-bred cows were more common in low and mid hills. The yield as well as net returns of cross-bred cow was relatively higher than buffalo and local cow. The magnitude of risk revealed that the cereals were found to be less risky than the vegetable crops in respect of area, productivity, prices and gross returns. The risk efficient farm plans formulated on different regions with crop farming revealed that the expected level of returns to fixed farm resources (RFFR) over the existing level could be increased by 47 per cent in low hills, 43 per cent in mid hills and 32 per cent in high hills. The introduction of dairy into product-mix increased the expected level of RFFR by 12 per cent in low hills, 37 per cent in mid hills and 18 per cent in high hills in plan-I. The introduction of dairy activity reduced the coefficient of variation associated with each level of RFFR thereby indicating its role in stabilizing farm income. The optimum farm production strategy chalked out for different regions with crop as well as crop-dairy farming showed that the area under cereals was only up to minimum restriction imposed in the model The production strategy with crop farming revealed that brinjal and pea unirrigated in low hills, soybean and mustard in mid hills and rajmash and mustard in high hills were less risky but less remunerative crops also during the kharif and rabi seasons, respectively. The area under these crops was replaced by tomato and radish in low hills, mash and pea in mid hills and potato and garlic in high hills with increasing profit and risk. The introduction of dairy created additional employment opportunities in different regions .The analysis of working capital on different hill situations revealed that crop-dairy farming was more capital intensive than crop farming. The mean absolute deviation increased with the increase in RFFR. Non-availability of inputs, high cost of inputs, lack of well established market in the area, extension staff not visiting the farmers field and unfavourable weather conditions were the major problems faced by the farmers in the study area. Based upon the findings it could be claimed input use and technology available is not being utilized efficiently by the farmers. In general the efficiency of the farmers was also in the medium range. Thus there is need to improve extension as well as infrastructural services in the area. Variability was found to be high in area and productivity mainly due to irregular climatic conditions. Thus there is need to implement the watershed schemes and rain water harvest techniques to enhance irrigation facilities. To reduce the risk in agriculture different risk efficient farm plans needs to be adopted by farmers through officials of department of agriculture. Emphasis must be given to maintain cross-bred cows for stabilizing farm income. For this, there is need to establish fodder storage for adequate supply. In addition and constraints were found to be different among different situations. Hence there is need for separate strategies for different regions. newline newline