Determinants of Diversification in Relation to Farm Size and other Socio-economic Characteristics for Sustainable Hill Farming in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Crop diversification is an important issue for agricultural development in the Himalayan region, where an abundant amount of natural resources are available. Diversification is a frequently used risk management strategy that involves participation in more than one activity. It has the advantage of mitigating diseases problem, weeds problem, insect-pest problems and price risk as well as fluctuations in output. The present investigation was an attempt to identify the empirical relationship within a static framework, between crop diversification and selected socio-economic variables and these relationships were sensitive to different diversification measures used. The study is based on primary data collected from the selected respondents with the help of multistage random sampling technique. The acreage and gross income diversification Index i.e., index of maximum proportion (0.45, 0.58), Herfindahl index (0.30, 0.42) and entropy index (0.64, 0.52) showed that farms were diversified. For determining the effect of different factors on diversification, a censored Tobit regression model was used. The results showed that distance from the market (Km), experience (years), cropping intensity, crop yield index, literacy rate, literacy index, farm size and dependency ratio the to family size was significantly affecting the diversification index. It is the present need to motivate the farmers to diversify farming through providing facilities such as price policy, proper market and disseminating market information at the appropriate time and providing low-cost agricultural technology, etc. in order to get benefited by diversifying the farm.