Impact of Economic Assessment of Crop Production along with Agroforestry Adoption in Bundelkhand Region

Abstract

Background: Bundelkhand region is far behind in the availability of soil and water both natural resources due to erratic rainfall and hard rock terrains (Tyagi, 1997). Conservation of such type of natural resources for livelihood security with a strong commitment would be the foremost challenge of the 21st century. The home of over 15.62 million humans and 8.36 million livestock, suffers from water scarcity, natural resource degradation, low crop productivity (1-1.5 Mg/ha), low rainwater use efficiency (35-45%), poor soil fertility, frequent droughts, poor irrigation facilities, inadequate vegetation cover and frequent crop failure resulting in scarcity of food, fodder and fuel (Palsaniya et al. 2008). Under such circumstances, the goal of doubling farmer’s income by the year 2022 has been dubbed as impossible and unrealistic by some experts (Gulati and Saini, 2016). Hence, this study was conducted to assess the impact of agroforestry based crop production for provide an economic feasibility as well as perfect diet. Methods: The study was conducted at Garhkundar-Dabar (GKD) watershed located between 78° 52' 39" to 78° 54' 44" E longitude and 25° 26' 23" to 25° 28' 32" N latitude with an altitude varying from 208 to 285 m above mean sea level in Bundelkhand region of central India. The net return was calculated by subtracting the cost of cultivation incurred from sowing to harvesting, for each crop from the gross return and then benefit-cost ratio was estimated by dividing the net returns with cost of cultivation. Result: The study has revealed that after watershed interventions and agroforestry based Crop cultivation, the expenses on irrigation and labour will decrease, crop productivity will improve as well as benefit-cost ratio.