Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
5.2
Indian Himalayan Region
The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) occupies a special place in the mountain
ecosystems of the world. This vast mountain region, which encompasses a total
geographical area of about 530.795 km
2
(about 16.2 % of the country's total
geographical area), is inhabited by
64 million people (around 6.2 % of the
country's population) (SARDM Report
2006
). Like elsewhere in other mountain-
ous regions, most IHR people are marginalized and highly dependent on natural
resources, agriculture, and livestock. Agriculture is the basis of the livelihood of
over 80 % of the rural population in some areas of the IHR (FAO Report
2003
).
Food grain crops dominate the agriculture sector, despite a slight drop in area due to
diversification toward horticultural crops, but even the Green Revolution has failed
to climb the Himalayan heights (SARDM Report
2006
). For many people in the
IHR, which do not have the financial means to improve their yields, crop production
is just a matter of subsistence. A series of climatologic, topologic, pedologic, and
socioeconomic factors severely limit crop production in the IHR. For example,
many agroecosystems are poorly irrigated, subjected to soil erosion, and very often
inadequately managed. On the other hand, forest and cropped soils in the IHR are
frequently acidic (Rinu et al.
2013
) and characterized by poor availability of some
essential mineral nutrients. Finally, cold temperatures, sometimes reaching subzero
values, are not uncommon in these mountains. In some regions, snowfall is frequent
during the winter season, and hence, the soil may remain frozen for several days,
limiting growth of crops and increasing the risk of damage incurred by frost
and hail.
>
5.3 Tropical Andes
The Tropical Andes spans 1,542,644 km
2
, from western Venezuela to northern
Chile and Argentina, and includes large portions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and
Bolivia. This region is considered as the richest and most diverse region on Earth.
As in the IHR, the rural Andean population, particularly those inhabiting the
highlands (
2,500 m), depends largely on agriculture and related activities for
their livelihoods. Many agroecosystems, managed by smallholder farmers, are
characterized by the exploitation of a mix of old and new world crops including
potato, grains (e.g., maize, quinoa, barley, oats), legumes (e.g., fava beans, peas),
and a wide array of vegetables (e.g., carrots, garlic, onions, cabbage). In some
countries, it is common to find small plantations of native tubers like oca, mashwa,
and ullucu (Fonte et al.
2012
). Several of these cropping systems are pre-Columbian
and, in some cases, date back several millennia (Sandor and Eash
1995
; Stanish
2007
). However, many farmers in the Andean region have limited access to a
number of basic agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, improved crop
varieties, mechanized
>
tillage,
and
irrigation. Despite
the
diversity
of
