Struggle from subsistence to sustainability and threat to local biodiversity under changing climate: A case study on Ladakh folk agriculture

The traditional agroforestry system in Trans-Himalayan region is unique with very old history and the land-based economy in cold and arid tract, commonly known as Ladakh essentially comprised crop-tree/shrubs-livestockman continuum. Families rely essentially on subsistence agriculture on the basis of vegetables and principal crops like naked barley, wheat and potato. Although subsistenceoriented production remains the economic mainstay, livelihood strategies have diversified in the light of growing geostrategic relevance and significant socio-economic changes. The present study was carried out 15 to find out the crop production systems and their constraints under the changing climate and energy budget of different cropsin Saboo village of Leh, having 623.7 ha land cover with 20.6% of cultivated land with artificially created soils in agroforestry systems and being maintained with repeated manure application. This practice compensate with loss of organic matter due to frequent erosion and nutrient uptake by plants as the region faces fast winds blowing at 40–60 km/h mainly in the afternoon and experiences the combined condition of both arctic and desert climate. Agroforestry as a sustainable alternative is suitable to traditional subsistence farming practices and provide flexible and affordable model which combines tree and crop species using a number of techniques. Wheat and barley although assumed very low energy input (29.2 and 25.4×10⁵ kcal/ha/year, respectively) but from total energy point of view, staple crop production was found to be energy efficient. Small scale interventions by research institutes draw the attention of farming community to adopt for sustainable hike in productivity by saving-oriented energy.