Jagadeeshwara K
University of Agricultural Sciences, India
Title: Comparative analysis and Up-scaling of integrated farming systems among resource poor farmers in peninsular India
Biography
Biography: Jagadeeshwara K
Abstract
Majority of resource poor farmers in India, generally practice subsistence farming though they require more production of food to get higher income and employment. Integrated Farming System (IFS) is the best option for them to overcome the problem of high degree of risk and uncertainty. This study was conducted to compare different types of integrated farming systems in peninsular India. Five major farming systems viz., Crop + Dairy, Crop + Sericulture + Dairy, Crop + Dairy + Sheep, Crop + Dairy + Sheep + Piggery and Crop + Dairy + Sheep + Sericulture, (C+D, C+S+D, C+D+SH, C+D+SH+PG, C+D+SH+S) were observed at the study area and selected for analyses. The data were collected from randomly selected 300 resource poor farmers through pretested interview schedule and analyzed by using Cobb-Douglas production function and interpreted. The study revealed that, the mean net income realized was highest in C+D+SH+P (1530$) compared to the net income realized from C+D (559$). However, farmers perusing C+D+SH+S farming systems were able to realize net annual income of 1254$. The study emphasises the need of promoting and supporting farmers to have more number of animal components along with crop cultivation so as to get higher income and employment throughout the year. Finally, the study identifyed the most accepted and profitable supplementary and complementary enterprises for resource poor farmers to get sustainable income throughout the year. The efforts and approaches employed for up- scaling integrated farming among resource poor farmers are discussed in the main paper.