Agricultural Diversification in the Garhwal Himalaya: A Spatio-Temporal Analysis

The Garhwal Himalaya represents a traditional agricultural society where more than 74% population largely depends on the cultivation of subsistence cereal crops to run their livelihood. Over the time, with the increase in human population and decrease in per capita land, the traditional subsistence agriculture could not fulfill food requirement. This was resulted in food insecurity and thus agricultural diversification began with the cultivation of cash crops - fruits, off-season vegetables and also of medicinal plants. Although, agro-ecological condition favours diversification of crops and agro-biodiversity is very high in the Garhwal region, the pace of diversifying cash crops for commercialization is tremendously low. Diversity in crops varies spatially - horizontal and vertical and temporally - rabi and kharif seasons. The highlands characterize high agro-biodiversity in comparison to the mid-slopes and the valley regions. Crop diversification index (CDI) of cereals and cash crops was calculated separately from the secondary dada. A case study of six villages was done to calculate cost-benefit analysis of cereals and cash crops. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of diversification – cereals as well as cash crops for livelihood sustainability in the Garhwal Himalaya