Deep Roots

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] 105

Family and smallholder farming

in Himalayan communities

R.C. Sundriyal, G.C.S. Negi, R.K. Maikhuri, D.S. Rawat, R.S. Rawal and P.P. Dhyani,

Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, India

DR 2817

griculture forms the world’s largest commerce sector;

with growing population and increased per capita

consumption it is strongly felt that more produc-

tive agriculture is required to sustain the need of the people

along with protection of its ecological integrity.

Across the

globe a large share of traditional societies’ needs are met

from family farming practices that comprise agricultural,

forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production

activities, operated and managed by family labour.

Family farming systems are quite prevalent in India, more

so in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) that comprises

nearly 18 per cent area of the country, and varies between

4 and 48 per cent among the 12 mountainous states of the

IHR. Agriculture is the major livelihood activity for over 70

per cent of people in IHR. There are diverse agroclimatic

zones in the region that support varied crops, cropping

patterns and crop productivity. In this region family

farming is the predominant form of agriculture for food

production, which is mainly dependent on land, livestock,

forest and traditional knowledge.

The majority of prevalent family farming systems are subsist-

ence types, though there are commercial farming systems as well.

Diversity in physiographic, land, climate and other factors has

caused great variations in the traditional agricultural practices

which provide a range of products to support livelihood. Farmers

maintain crop varieties and livestock according to social needs

and environmental conditions, and mostly follow indigenous

management practices for crop, field, soil fertility and moisture

conservation evolved over the years based on trial and error. In

the northeast region of the IHR shifting cultivation (locally called

jhum) is the most dominant form of family farming, whereas the

northwest region comprises the settled farming systems. Within

these two types there are diverse site-specific variations. A key

feature of IHR agricultural landscapes is that they are managed

for multiple services rather than just for grain production.

Nearly 86 per cent of farmers in the IHR are marginal and

smallholders, and family farming is clearly distinguishable

An agricultural landscape in north-west Himalaya depicting kharif season crops (with standing crops) and field preparation for the rabi season

Image: G.B. Pant Institute

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