Diversification of Agriculture and Impact of Industrial Applications on Farmer Income
Hemant Bhanawat, Hridaya Raj Bharti, Ambar Srivastava
Abstract
A study carried out with a random sample of 105 beneficiary households under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project in Himachal Pradesh mainly to examine the extent of diversification and increase in income of the farmers reveals that on average about 68% of operational holding in the possession of farmers was covered under the culturable command area of the total cropped area of 0.88 ha per household, and around 47% was diversified to the cultivation of vegetable crops. On the whole, the implementation of JICA project in different sites under study has led to an increase in income of the target income of Rs 125000 to be accomplished by the end of the project. Furthermore, the detailed analysis carried out reveals that gross average annual farm income is expected to rise based on findings, and the study strongly suggests diversification towards vegetable crops to reduce risk since per hectare income from vegetable crops is expected to increase further as the process of diversification gains momentum in the next two years of the project.