Agricultural Economics Research Review
Year : 2013, Volume : 26, Issue : conf
First page : ( 233) Last page : ( 233)
Print ISSN : 0971-3441. Online ISSN : 0974-0279.

Livestock Livelihood Ramifications in Milieu of Conservation Agriculture for Sustainability in Punjab

Grover D.K.

Agro – Economic Research Centre, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab

Online published on 10 September, 2013.

Abstract

The paper has studied the adoption of farm resource conservation technologies (RCT) and their impact on the livestock and milk production and associated implications for livelihood strategies in rural Punjab. The study is based on the data collected from 118 samples households (45 RCT-adopters, 45 non-RCT adopters and 24 landless) through personal interview at six locations in Punjab during 2008–09. The study has revealed that socio-economic status of RCT-adopter households was better than of non-RCT-adopter households in terms of bigger landholdings, larger family-size, better education level and more farm machinery. In respect of crop residue management, the study has observed that though RCT demands that more and more crop residue should be left on the soils, in practice the RCT-adopter farmers use the crop residue, especially of wheat, as feed for their own livestock and/or sell in the market for earning livelihoods. Under such crop residues handling practices, the farmers faced trade-off among well competing alternate uses like retaining soil fertility or livestock feeding or earning their livelihood, putting the adoption of RCT under the question mark. The study has revealed that there was more dairying dynamism among non- RCT farmers than RCT adopters in the state.

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Keywords

Conservation agriculture, livestock livelihood, crop–livestock trade-offs, Punjab.

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