Assessment of mid-himalayan watershed development project for improving agriculture and socio-economic structure of farmers in Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project has been implemented with the objectives of the improvement of the incomes of the rural farmers and conservation of Himalayan natural resources. We have worked on SD-4E micro watershed of Satluj catchment area, Himachal Pradesh. Results showed that the change in the area under vegetables crop has been found to be increased by 44.93% followed by fruits (29.66%) and cereals (6.4%). Furthermore, productivity of maize and wheat have been found to be hampered by 29.95 and 27.78 q/ha and also found higher amongst beneficiary farmers as compared to non-beneficiary farmers. However, the% change in the productivity of vegetables crops was found higher under beneficiary farms i.e. tomato (16.32%) and capsicum (14.86%) followed by garlic (11.77%) cabbage (10.83%), pea (10.61%), onion (10.49%), cauliflower (9.74%), beans (9.74%) and ginger (3.15%). Moreover, beneficiary farmers has significantly increased their net returns per hectare, which was highest in tomato (Rs. 4.29 lakhs) followed by garlic (Rs. 3.48 lakhs), pea (Rs. 2.27 lakhs), cauliflower (Rs. 2.08 lakhs) and capsicum (Rs. 1.89 lakhs), respectively.