Household Economic Dependence on Home Garden Forest Resources in Kashmir Himalaya, India

Abstract

The study reports the household economic dependence on home garden forest resources and the role of determinant socioeconomic factors modeling the income contribution in the Budgam district of Kashmir. The study administered a multistage random sampling procedure to withdraw the sample of 106 households from the sample villages having 10% sampling intensity. Secondary data were collected from all possible sources, and primary data were generated through field surveys. The primary data were collected by the personal interviews employing interview schedules and non-participant observations. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an analytical regression model. Results indicated that the home garden forest resources generated an annual income of 15031.35/ household; of which fruits contributed maximum share (45.33%) followed by wicker (17.88%), fodder (13.34%), fuelwood (10.93%), timber (7.98%), vegetable (2.66%), and medicine (1.88%). The average gross annual income was 95921.73/household which is differentiated as agriculture (37.60%), livestock (16.09%), business (20.75%), home garden forest resources (15.67%), service (6.90%), wage labor (2.38%), and others (0.61%). Nonetheless, the home garden forest resources are the 4th major contributor 352of household economy. Regression analysis showed that the socioeconomic factors, namely, education, family size, family labor, farm size, livestock possession, main occupation, wealth status, and gross annual income are the key determinants influencing significantly the home garden forest resources based income and dependency. The study suggested that the home garden forest resources are the key option for socioeconomic development, poverty reduction, and livelihood security; hence, policy must be directed towards the livelihood diversification through sustainable production/collection, extraction, and commercialization of these resources.