Risk Management and Rural Employment in Hill Farming - A Study of Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh

The study was carried out in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh during 2002-03 to examine the labour employment in hill agriculture under risk. Stratified two stage random sampling technique was adopted to select the sample. A total of 150 households were selected from different sub-ecological regions viz. Low Hills, Mid Hills and High Hills. The risk efficient farm plans were developed using the Minimisation of Total Absolute Deviation (MOTAD) Model. The plans were existing resources with existing technology,( Plan I) and existing technology with augmented resources (Plan IV). In addition, two plans in between these two were developed. The study revealed that the per farm as well as per hectare labour use was higher during kharif season as compared to rabi season, as more labour intensive crops (paddy and vegetables) were grown during kharif season. With the introduction of dairy, the human labour employment increased by 59 per cent in plan-I whereas in plan-IV, it increased by 60 per cent in low hill region. In mid hills, this increase was estimated as high as 162 and 148 per cent. The corresponding figures in high hills were to the extent of 74 and 58 per cent. This clearly indicates that crops + dairy farming provided higher farm labour employment than crops enterprise alone. It was important to examine that the dairy activity with crops enterprise also reduced the risk. Thus, to increase the employment and minimise the risk in hill agriculture, emphasis needs to be given to encourage mixed farming. The crossbred cows were found to be the best dairy animals in the study area in terms of profitability as well as employment generation. Vegetables were found to be important in the cropping pattern particularly in plan IV. Thus, there is a need to popularise cultivation of vegetable crops in which the role of the Department of Agriculture is crucial in promoting scientific cultivation and orderly marketing to reduce risk.