Optimising cropping system for sustainable development of Kuhl irrigation system in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh

The present investigation was undertaken in Baijnath block of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh to identify the optimum cropping system for Kuhl irrigation system. Stratified two-stage random sampling was employed to select six villages and 60 sample farmers from the command area of Lower Baijnath Kuhl. Goal programming technique was employed to develop alternative profitable farming/cropping system plans under the existing and improved technologies. In existing situation, farmers patronized mostly cereal-based cropping systems. Paddywheat cropping system accounted for more than 80% of the cultivated area. The optimized plans with improved technology led to a decrease in area under paddy-wheat cropping system to around 49–60% from the existing 7580%. The remaining area was allocated to more profitable cropping systems, i.e. ginger-garlic, sorghum (chari)berseem and a polyhouse unit leading to substantial increase in return from fixed farm resources (RFFR). With the inclusion of a crossbred cow, more area was allocated to fodder-based cropping systems that led to 7- 8 fold increase in RFFR. However, capital requirement and labour employment also increased with optimized plans particularly after incorporating capital intensive ginger-garlic cropping system, polyhouse unit and a crossbred cow.