Agriculture

Conventional Himalayan agriculture is being destroyed by market stresses, introducing both economic and cultural modifications in Uttarakhand. Ancient self-sufficiency has been replaced by dependency on imports from the plains, with their pesticide or chemical fertilizer-enhanced products. Cultural domination from the plains also poses a threat to the usual foods as an increasing preference for mill-polished rice is triumphing over mountain crops. Activists in the hills have responded with a 'Save the Seeds' campaign and are generating awareness about the necessity for biodiversity in agriculture.

Agriculture takes place in the river valleys of Uttarakhand (a meagre 10-15% of the total land area). Over time, several slopes have been shaped into field terraces, a common trend in mountain agriculture everywhere. The Uttarakhand farmers have also developed advanced manure, crop rotation, and inter-cropping practices. Most land along the slopes remains unirrigated. Three types of agriculture are traced to these river valleys adapting to the type of land:

Katil (forest edge land)
Hoe cultivation, rotation of 3 crops in 5 years
Important crops: millets, amaranth

Upraon ( hillside land)
Always terraced, but unirrigated
Important crops: mandua, jhangora, chaulai

Talaon (valley bottom land )
paddy cultivation, low-lying, irrigated, double cropped
Important crops: wheat, rice, sugarcane, etc.

Ecological sub-region	Altitude(m)	Chief Crops
Lower Dun, Terai	300-600	wheat, rice, sugarcane
Upper Dun, Bhabar, lower Shivaliks	600-1,200	wheat, rice, mandua, jhangora, chaulai, maize
Middle Garhwal-Kumaon	1,200-1,800	wheat,rice,mandua,jhangora,"cheena",potato, barley
Upper Garhwal-Kumaon	1,800-2,400	wheat, barley, potato, chaulai, cheena, "phaphra"
Cold Zone	2,400-3,600	wheat,barley,potato,phaphra,chaulai,"kauni","ogal"

Different pulses are inter-cropped during the two harvest periods -

• early winter after the rainy season (millet)
• midsummer before the hot dry season (barley-wheat)

Dry and wet rice, taro, pumpkins, beans, corn, ginger, chili, cucumbers, leafy vegetables and tobacco are also cultivated. Potatoes have developed into a principal cash crop growing in areas unpropitious for other plants.

Agriculture comprises an important factor contributing to the economy of Uttarakhand.