Forest, Fodder and Hill Agriculture: an Analysis of Inter-dependence in Uttar Pradesh Himalayan Region

Forests as source of fodder, fuel and timber not only affect the economic activity of the people in tbe hill region but play a dominant role in shaping their social and cultural life. The livestock which is so essential for the hill agriculture can not be maintained without tbe fudder coming from forest. The quantity of the fodder brought from the forest depends on the size of the stock, the nature of feeding and the quantity of the fodder available from the agriculture. Forests serve as source of fodder, in varying degrees for 83.71% of the households in U.P. Himalayan region. It is also observed that the dependence on forest for rudder requirement increases with increase in the altitude. On the whole above 50% of the households collect more than 50% of their fodder requirement from the forest. This work is invariably done by women who on an average spend 215 days in a year to fulfill the fodder need of a single household.