Conversion of upland open vacant areas for profitable cultivation of cardamom by agroforestry approaches

The trial was carried out at Kadagadal village, Madikeri, Coorg, Karnataka to study an agro-forestry approach in conversion of upland, open vacant by resorting to afforestation with silveroak for profitable cultivation of cardamom. It was observed that a total cost of Rs. 3546/ha was incurred on establishing silver oak for shade. About 55.9 per cent of men and remaining 44.1 per cent of women labourers were involved in pre bearing period amounting for total establishment cost of Rs. 11,685/ha. (material costs+labour+depreciation) for cardamom. An average of 681 kg/ha was the yield obtained for the four crop seasons, which is more than 4.5 times than the national average yield of 149 kg/ha. The labour costs was highest to an extent of 66.87 per cent (Rs. 29,294/ha) in bearing period. A total investment of Rs. 64,807/ha was made with an average of Rs. 1,25,466/ha as net returns. The discounting cash flow measures viz NPW (Rs. 2,72,029/ha); BCR (2.93); PBP (2.3 years), IRR (80.73) suggested the success of cultivation of cardamom in upland, open, vacant areas with agri-silviculture-agro-forestry approach (Table 8).