Badrinath | Kedarnath | Gangotri | Yamunotri

Uttarakhand mountain farming system

1.Background

The perceptions about Mountain Development presented on this site are based largely from the experience of the three authors of work for about 10 to 12 years in the Western Himalayas, predominantly in Uttarakhand - the Himalayan portion earlier under the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.

Our analysis about constraints and opportunities in the Himalayan region are presented in table below :

The table above shows that while the Himalayan region provides immense opportunities for economic activities on the one hand, on the other, it is also plagued with many constraints.

2. Agriculture in Uttarakhand

The economy of Uttarakhand is predominantly agrarian. More than 4/5th of the working population is directly engaged in agriculture even though only 12.5% of the total land area of Uttarakhand is under agriculture. Only 11% of the total area is irrigated, almost 64% of which is fed by natural springs.

Agriculture in Uttarakhand is fraught with another peculiar characterisitic. The topography of the area is steep, the rainfall is high (1200-1600 mm) and the soils range from sandy to sandy loam. As a result of these factors, percolation losses of rainwater from individual farmers' terraced fields are very high. The soil does not hold water for long and in the absence of available soil moisture, agricultural crops would not do too well.

A traditional mechanism to combat this specific kind of problem has been the addition of large quantities of farmyard manure to the fields. While manuring is done in all parts of India, the important distinction in the Himalayas is that here, the farmers are more interested in the difference the addition of farmyard manure does to soil texture. Thus soil physics becomes more important than soil chemistry in this region. Farmers in almost all villages studied so far in Uttarakhand have said that holding of water is the single most important function addition of farmyard manure performs.

3. Composting method used in the region

To obtain the large amounts of biomass required for manuring, the standard method of preparing compost is as follows. Leaf litter from the forest floors is collected during one or two months in fall and stored in a heap near each cattle shed. A basketful or two of this leaf litter is scattered under the animals in the cowshed every day. This acts as sponge and absorbs the dung and urine of the animals.

After 2 or 3 days, the soaked leaf litter is removed and put either in a pit or in a heap. This is done day after day for a long period (varying from a month to 6 months for a single heap or pit). The manure is then left to decay. 

This compost is then put into the agriculture field at the start of the agriculture season. Although this compost is not fully decomposed, it is allowed to decay further in the fields. (See page on Leaf litter for further details).

Agriculture is thus heavily dependant on energy flows from uncultivated lands such as forests and grasslands recycled into manure through livestock. (Madhav Ashish therefore calls these lands "support lands"). Animals are thus reared mainly for their dung. A large proportion of the fodder for these animals also comes from the "support" lands. Thus forests, livestock and agriculture formed an interconnected and interlinked whole. Studies of energy transfers between agriculture, livestock and forests and other non-cultivated lands have shown that each hectare of agricultural land requires 7 to 14 ha of support lands. However, the forest and support lands available today in Uttarakhand per ha of agricultural land are in the ratio of only 1:2 or 1:3.

The flows between cultivated lands, support lands, livestock and the people of the region are graphically depicted in a flowchart in Figure 1 below.

Keeping this interlinked nature of the Farming System in mind is very important in understanding why a single intervention focusing only on one of the above components may not yield desired results.

 

4. Reasons for failure of Development Interventions in the Himalayas

Development interventions in the region generally start with only one particular sector-such as agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, forestry, etc. due to the sectoral nature of Government approach. As a result they end up focusing on one (or a few) aspect(s) of people's livelihood. Large sums of money are therefore pumped into these regions in the name of development but are wasted because of lack of a holistic outlook.

An example from the field will clarify the linkages further. Keeping in mind that the Himalayan region is very well suited for off-season vegetable promotion, it may be reasonable to assume that distribution of good quality seeds would lead to a significant jump in vegetable promotion among local farmers. However, considering that only 13% of the total agricultural area in Uttarakhand is irrigated, lack of irrigation may become a major constraint, for which low-cost irrigation tanks may need to be built. Vegetable cultivation also needs large quantities of compost, which is not available from current composting methods. It may therefore be necessary to introduce improved composting methods (such as NADEP compost). Increased composting also means increased fodder availability, which could be increased by techniques such as plantation of improved grasses on terrace risers or through plantation of multipurpose trees on private lands. Silaging of maize and mandua(local millet) stalks can also be taken up. Common lands may also have to be protected (and regenerated) for improved grass availability. Vegetables are also prone to damage through frost. The cold climate also leads to a slow growth rate of vegetable seedlings. Design and implementation of low cost polyhouses (that could be afforded by a majority of farmers) is thus essential for raising healthy seedlings. The producers also need to be organised into cooperatives for more effective marketing of their produce. We thus see that for effective promotion of vegetable cultivation in the region, a number of diverse activities need to be taken up, support for most of which is available from different Government departments. The conventional developmental approach has been to distribute improved seeds (probably coupled with a few pamphlets describing the method of cultivation) to the farmer. The farmer is expected to approach various Government departments so that he could meet the gap in the support from one Department. 

A better approach could be the identification and promotion of technologies that strengthen the linkages of the above Farming System. Such technologies (called Mountain Technologies) are defined in the next page.'

Definition of Mountain Technology

What are Mountain Technologies ?

The analysis presented on the Previous Page shows why the overall health of the Mountain Farming System is our primary concern. We therefore strongly subscribe to a development approach for the Himalayas that strengthens the linkages of the Mountain Farming System. 

During the course of work in the region in the past ten years, we have identified a number of such interventions that can contribute to the overall health of the entire Mountain Farming System. We are calling these interventions "Mountain Technologies". 

We realise that many a times an organisation or a programme implementation agency may not have the resources to ensure that ALL the technologies listed here be incorporated into their programme. For this we have adopted a multi-pronged strategy :

• 1. Identify enterprising and hardworking farmers with whom most of the important technologies are demonstrated. This ensures that poorer and not-so-enterprising families in the village see the use of these technologies in real life and their willingness to take the risk of adopting the technology improves with the knowledge they have gained by observing the demonstration farmer.

• 2. Constantly insure that the cost of the technologies is kept low so that when the poor farmer decides to go in for a technology, he can afford it.

• 3. If for some reason the cost of the technology is still beyond poor farmers, initiate a mechanism of credit or loaning for the technology.

• 4. Always train local village people, artisans and craftsmen (Mistries)  in building the technology. This insures that when the demand of the technology rises, there are local craftsmen to provide technical support.

Some of these technologies are presented in Figure 2 below as blue boxes that fit into the traditional Farming System shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2 : Interventions (Blue Boxes) that are possible for strengthening the overall Mountain Farming System 

 

A detailed list of Mountain interventions is presented herunder. Please feel free to tell us about any other interventions (or about any modifications in the ones presented here) that could further strengthen the Mountain Farming System.

List of some important Mountain Technologies

1. Background

Based on our experience in Uttarakhand and Himachal, a number of traditional and modern technologies are available which, if supported, can play a vital role in strengthening of the weakening linkages of Mountain Farming Systems.

Given below is a very brief list of interventions (that we call "Mountain technologies") grouped into some major categories. Over the coming months, we will update these pages and try to provide cost, construction/  installation/ implementation details, economics, case studies and photographs on most of the technologies listed here. You may also send in details of a new technology or a different design for a technology listed here. 

2. Note on organising of People's Groups

While you go through this site, we may give the impression that we are focusing only on technologies but are ignoring the social aspects – in short, the people of the Himalayan region. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We wish to underline the fact that village communities are at the very core of the Mountain Farming System. No technology (or intervention) can be taken up without organising village people and developing forward and backward linkages. 

Thus each of the technologies presented below needs intensive work on identification of user groups, analysis of their diverse interests and requirements and organising them into a sustainable institution. However, we are not going into lengthy details of this aspect. We are assuming that persons visiting this site are interested in a quick reference to Mountain technologies rather than into discourses on social mobilisation.

3. List of Mountain Technologies

We present below what we feel are the most urgently required technologies required in most of the Western Himalayan Mountains- especially Uttarakhand.

1. rovement of Agricultural productivity (other than irrigation):

•  roved compost Pits 

•  Low-cost Polyhouses 

•  Low-cost LDPE irrigation tank 

•  Usage of Bio-pesticides & Bio-Herbicides 

•  Vegetable seed production 

•  Floriculture 

•  Fruit and vegetable processing 

•  True Potato Seed production 

•  Production of other vegetable seeds

2. Small-scale Irrigation : 

• Regeneration and renovation of springs and Traditional Water Harvesting Systems 

•  Management of recharge zone. 

•  Subsurface Infiltration Hand Pumps 

•  Roof run-off water harvesting tanks 

•  Low Density Poly Ethylene Tanks 

•  Brick lined tanks 

•  Stone lined tanks 

•  Water Diversion Channels (Gools or Kuhls)

3. Protection/regeneration of Forest areas: 

•  Social fencing 

•  Planting of multipurpose grasses and shrubs 

•  Gap filling in degraded patches 

•  Staggered Contour trenches 

•  Continuous Contour trenches

4. Soil and Water Conservation: Soil and water conservation is a separate field by itself. We present below only technologies that we have tried out and in which we have succeeded : 

4.a. Private lands : 

•  Infiltration/ recharging channels 

•  Mulching 

•  Field bunding, terracing and grass planting along the terraces 

•  Drought resistant varieties of crops 

4.b. Common lands : 

•  Small water conservation structures such as low cost farm ponds, nala bunds, check dams, percolation tanks etc. 

•  Structural works along the nalas followed by vegetative measures

5. Energy production and conservation: 

•  Smokeless chulhas 

•  Biogas plants 

•  Solar Cooker 

•  Microhydels 

•  Solar Photovoltaic 

•  Solar Thermal 

•  Solar passive heating

6. Environmental sanitation : 

• roved Toilets 

• Soak Pits.

7. Fuelwood and Fodder : 

• Grassland protection, development and seeding 

• Stall feeding-improved cattle sheds. 

• Grass production on terrace risers 

• Silage 

• Agro-forestry for fodder and fuelwood.

8. Access improvement technologies : 

• Low Cost Ropeway trolleys 

• Low cost ropeway bridges 

• Low cost Frame structure bridges

• Fruit processing 

• Medicinal plant cultivation and processing 

• Bee-keeping 

• Credit Groups 

• Off-season vegetable cash crops (such as Broccoli).

• Aromatic Oils Ornamental flowers and plants

• Pyrolysis of Pine needles 

• Briquetting of pine needles 

• Basket and furniture making from Lantana camara, a weed

11. Animal Health : 

• Dangar Dai (Para veterinary workers) 

• Medicinal Plants for animal health

Sources