Exploration of the socioeconomic conditions of forestry farmers in Leh Himalaya, India

The adoption process of forestry interventions in the Indian arid region, particularly in cold deserts, necessitates a thorough understanding of the underlying socioeconomic conditions. This study investigated the socioeconomic conditions of forestry farmers to predict the psychological behaviours guiding the adoption of forestry interventions in Leh Himalaya, India. The data were collected from 185 sample households drawn from nine selected villages and five blocks, employing a multi-stage random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents were middle-aged (51.36%), low-literate up to middle-level (64.85%), Schedule Tribe (71.35%), had no membership in or membership in only one organization (50.26%), and belonged to large-sized (71.89%) nuclear (69.18%) families. The size of land holdings among most (90.08%) of the respondents was either marginal or small, engaged mainly in cultivation, wage labour, or caste occupation (58.91%), having mixed houses (55.13%) with up to three rooms (67.01%), up to 10 livestock (64.33%), medium wealth status (51.35%), and gross annual income up to ? 60000/year (52.96%). The study concluded that socioeconomic upliftment and livelihood diversification through forestry resources should be given top priority as an important strategy for poverty reduction among backward people. The characterization of socioeconomic conditions of forestry farmers will be a basis for planning and implementation of forestry programmes for forest resource production and livelihood diversification in the Leh district of Ladakh.