Land Use Management for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Himachal Pradesh A Temporal and Spatial Analysis

Abstract

newline ABSTRACT newlineThe study was based on 200 randomly selected households from all the four zones of Himachal Pradesh to study the land use pattern and find out the factors responsible for land degradation. Component and LOGIT analysis was used to find out the factors determining the land degradation. The study revealed that during 2003-04, forest land, land for non-agricultural uses, barren land and other fallow land observed an increase from 1972-73, whereas, in other categories of land a decrease was observed. In culturable waste land and net area sown a decrease was observed. The instability was highest in barren land followed by non-agricultural uses in the entire state. During 2001-03, the concentration of land for non-agricultural uses and culturable waste was highest in Una, current fallow in Hamirpur and Kullu and other fallow in Hamirpur, Una and Shimla. At the household level the results showed that the average family size varied between 5.38 in Zone IV to 7.50 in Zone I. The literacy rate of population varied between 82.40%in Zone I to 87.93% in Zone III. Total investment/ ha was highest in Zone II followed by Zone IV. Total household income was highest in Zone IV (Rs. 1.78 lakh / annum) followed by Zone III (Rs. 1.43 lakhs). A decrease in the operational holding was observed from 1.02 ha/farm during 1995-96 to 0.88 ha/farm in 2004-05 in Zone I. the respective figures for Zone II were 0.43 ha/farm and 0.25 ha/farm, whereas, in Zone III and Zone IV it remained almost same. Yield of all the crops increased in Zone I, Zone III and Zone IV during 2004-05 over 1995-96, whereas, in Zone II, a decrease was seen for all the crops. The share of waste land to total owned land was 21% in Zone I, 43% in Zone II but only 8% in both Zone III and Zone IV. Among the waste land the share of long term fallow was highest in all the zones except Zone IV. The increase in waste land per farm was highest in Zone II followed by Zone I over a period of ten years (1995-2005). It was very less in Zone III and was nil in Zone IV. Weeds, animal menace and nearby fallow land were quoted as the main reasons for the waste land by the farmers. Monoculture, migration, high off-farm income, and low farm income were the main reasons for the land degradation in the study area. The results of component analysis showed that in Zone I all the factors had positive effect on extent of land degradation, whereas, labour scarcity, leasing-out of land and highest education in the family in Zone II, labour scarcity, off-farm income and the highest education in Zone III and off-farm income in Zone IV had negative effect on land degradation. The results of LOGIT analysis showed that total owned land and highest education in the family in Zone I, labour scarcity and off-farm income in Zone II and farm income in Zone IV had probability that the households would move towards land degradation whereas farm income in Zone I and Zone II, off-farm income and highest education in the family in Zone III and off-farm income in Zone IV had showed an inverse relationship. newline