The future of mountain agriculture amidst continual farm-exit, livelihood diversification and outmigration in the Central Himalayan villages

Agrarian patterns in mountain ecosystems have seen a considerable change in the past decades with a vast proportion of the population abandoning traditional agriculture and diversifying their livelihood options, primarily through out-migration. This trend is especially common amongst the subsistence based family-farming communities in developing countries. This study aims at assessing methods of livelihood diversification and factors influencing farm-exit in Central Himalayan villages of Uttarakhand, India, while trying to understand local perspectives on challenges in pursuing agriculture as a viable livelihood option. We collected qualitative and quantitative data from 951 households across 60 villages evenly distributed across six hill districts of Uttarakhand, using key-person interviews and household surveys. The results of the study highlight that farm-exit is significantly influenced by livelihood diversification, number of migrants, number of female family members, and availability of irrigation facilities. In general, perception of the respondents towards agriculture as a viable livelihood option is rather unenthusiastic, with 87% of the respondents citing human wildlife conflict as the main challenge in pursuing farming, amongst several other challenges. Diversification is an integral component of present rural economy with 80.13% of the total population dependent on more than one source of income, to maintain their livelihoods. However, there is no statistically significant influence of livelihood diversification on annual income of the household. If agro-based entrepreneurial ventures are to be promoted in the region there is an urgent need for timely introduction of radical policy, institutional, and land-reforms. Economic uplifting of the local population through such efforts can also be a possible solution to the growing trends of out-migration in the state.

Effect of forest fire on soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activity in oak and pine forests of Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

Background:Forest fire incidences in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand,India are very common in summers.Pine and oak are the principal and dominant species of Himalayan subtropical forest and Himalayan temperate forest,respectively.Forest vegetation influences the physicochemical and biological properties of soil and forest fire in pine and oak forests may have a different effect on the physicochemical and biological properties of soil.Therefore,the present study was carried out to assess the impact of forest fire on soil microbial properties,enzymatic activity,and their relationship with soil physicochemical properties in the advent of forest fire in the pine and oak forests of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand Himalaya,India.Results:The soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen,soil basal respiration,and acid phosphatase activity decreased,whereas dehydrogenase activity increased at burnt sites of both forest types.The overall change in soil microbial biomass carbon was 63 and 40%at the burnt oak forest and burnt pine forest,respectively.Dehydrogenase activity and acid phosphatase activity showed a strong positive correlation with soil organic matter(r=0.8)and microbial indices,respectively.The ratio of soil microbial biomass carbon/nitrogen was reduced at burnt sites of both forest types.Factor analysis results showed that fire had a significant impact on soil characteristics.The soil basal respiration was linked with macro-and micronutrients at burnt sites,whereas at control sites,it was linked with physicochemical properties of soil along with nutrients.Conclusion:Forest fire had a significant impact on soil properties of both forest types.The impact of forest fire on soil microbial biomass carbon was stronger in the oak forest than in the pine forest.Forest type influenced soil enzymatic activity at burnt sites.The bacterial community was dominated over fungi in burnt sites of both forests.Soil microbial indices can be used as a selective measure to assess the impact of fire.Furthermore,forest type plays an important role in regulating the impact of forest fire on soil properties.