Role of Farmwomen in Forage Based Livestock Production System in North-Western Himalaya

The main source of income and livelihood support to resource poor farmwomen in north-western Himalayan region is livestock-based agricultural activities. Activity analysis showed that 78% of the farmwomen were engaged in domestic activities followed by service (14%) and business (8%). The farmwomen spent about 4 hrs (<25 years), 5.04 hrs (25-50 yrs) and 4 hrs/day (>50 yrs) on animal husbandry activities indicating that middle age group of farmwomen spent more time on different animal husbandry activities. In animal husbandry activities, most of the time was spent on collection and feeding of fodder as they had to travel long distance for collection from grasslands followed by tending of the animals for grazing. Despite their substantial time contributions, women did not often have a say in important decisions within the household, especially in financial matters. Participation of rural farmwomen in decision making process in livestock rearing activities increased with their age. The benefit of their rich experience and age was thus fully utilized in taking decisions. The actual area under productive grassland /pasturelands is only 16.53 per cent of the total geographical area of Himachal Pradesh. The productivity of these grasslands is 4.82 t green and 1.65 t dry/ha. The grazing pressure has been estimated as 4.98, 7.86, 2.64 and 0.10 ACU/ ha of grasslands in Bilaspur, Kangra, Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti districts respectively, showing an alarming burden on farmwomen to feed their livestock