Siddura Rajeswari Mallegowda, Shaik Zakir Hussain, Markus Hanisch:
Economics of Different Farming Systems- Impact on Income, Nutrition and Health Security

SIDDURA RAJESWARI MALLEGOWDA, SHAIK ZAKIR HUSSAIN, MARKUS HANISCH
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Social Sciences, Germany

Indian agriculture is dominated by large number of small holders with scattered fragmented holdings. Lack of adequate capital for investment has been the major constraint contributing to the decline in growth of agriculture. The consumption basket in India is changing towards high value agriculture due to rise in income, urbanisation, changing tastes and preferences of consumers. Thus, the move is towards diversification of agriculture with high value commodities such as milk, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. In view of risk and uncertainty in agriculture especially of high value commodities, adoption of farming system approach integrating rising of crops, livestock and agro-forestry has become important and been an effective strategy for Indian farmers. This would internalise the complementarities of all the natural resources to realise high productivity, sustainability, profitability, better nutrition and low cost of production. With this backdrop, efforts were made to analyse the farmer's strategy to mitigate the predicament in south eastern dry zone of Karnataka. The main focus of the study was to analyse the economics of different farming systems and its importance in enhancing the nutrition of rural households and impact on income with an emphasis on finding out the gap in nutritional security and inequity in general. Personal interview method with farmers was followed to collect the primary data using pre- tested questionnaire. The data was analysed using measures of central tendency and regression analysis. Results have indicated that diversified farming system (agriculture+ horticulture+ sericulture+ livestock) was found to be one of the best alternative solutions in upliftment of rural economy in terms of income levels and nutritional status.

Keywords: Farming systems, health, income, Karnataka, nutrition, regression

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Contact Address: Siddura Rajeswari Mallegowda, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Social SciencesBerlin, Germany, e-mail: ranjuhcpgmail.com