Enhancing Food Security through Sustainable Agriculture in Uttarakhand Himalaya

By : Vishwambhar Prasad Sati

Page No: 187-196

Abstract
Cultivating traditional subsistence cereals is the main occupation of the people in Uttarakhand Himalaya as about 70 per cent people are involved in its cultivation. Meanwhile, production and yield of cereals are considerably low and thus rural Uttarakhand Himalaya is suffering from the menace of food insecurity. This paper examines the scope of enhancing food security through practising sustainable agriculture in Uttarakhand Himalaya. We gathered data from both primary and secondary sources. Data on area, production and yield of cereals, fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices were gathered from the statistical diary of Uttarakhand (2010–11) and a descriptive statistical method was used to calculate minimum, maximum, mean values and standard deviation. A case study of 12 villages of Khanda Gad sub-watershed was conducted to analyze cost-benefit of crops. Our study shows that cost-benefit of cash crops is 434:1338 and subsistence crops is 2806:5021, which denotes that total benefit from growing cash crops is higher than that of subsistence crops. It is suggested that sustainable agriculture by means of cultivating cereals, fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices according to crop suitability, agro-climatic conditions and landscape can enhance food security.

Author :
Vishwambhar Prasad Sati : Department of Geography and Resource Management, School of Earth Sciences, Mizoram University, Aizawl, India