Comparative Performance of Traditional and Improved Integrated Farming Systems in the Hills of Jammu & Kashmir in the Era of Climate Change

Abstract

Higher agricultural production practices employing integrated farming methods remains the most profitable option for farmers and climatic change and market risks make it a good choice for far them. It is therefore vital to standardize and suggest location suitable IFS models through on farm testing programmes. With this aim a study was conducted to evaluate the performance of traditional and improved integrated farming systems in comparison to the existing conventional mono-cropping systems under three ecologies viz. lower plains, mid altitudes and high altitudes under Kashmir valley conditions, situated in the North western Himalayas. The impact analysis of these systems was carried out after five years of establishment of Improved Integrated Farming Systems (IIFS) at farmers’ field. Yields were higher in improved Integrated farming system in comparison to both conventional copping systems and traditional IFS. Horticulture based cropping systems were more profitable than agriculture based. Net profit ranged between ₹38312 to ₹271223 acre-1 in agriculture based cropping systems and between ₹184547 to ₹431722 acre-1 in horticulture based cropping systems. IIFS gave an additional income of ₹240043 acre-1 and ₹119725 acre-1 in comparison to the conventional farming and traditional IFS, respectively. Lower System Economic Efficiency (SEE) of ₹ 104.96 day-1 was recorded in agriculture based conventional farming system and highest SEE (₹1182.8 day-1) was registered in horticulture based Improved IFS. The present study shows that in hills integration of suitable animal component with fruit crops may help farmers to substantially improve their income.