Abstract :
This paper presents empirical evidence on the influence of economic factors on the adoption of agroforestry practices by the farmers in Haridwar, India. An exploratory survey was done to collect data from all three tehsils of Haridwar, one of the important farming regions of north India. Total 426 farmers were selected using random sampling at multistage level among which 365 were agroforestry adopters and rest 61 were non adopters. Data were analyzed using Chi2 test of independence. Results have shown that land holding, land ownership, farming as main occupation, sources of income, tree produces as fuel, monthly income status, importance of income from farm, sale of farm produces significantly influence while earning member in the family does not influence adoption of agroforestry. Overall agroforestry farmers were found in better economic conditions than that of non agroforestry farmers who were practicing agriculture alone. Research findings also indicated that farmers with low poor level of income could not invest in long term projects of tree plantation in agroforestry. They could be provided finance support from relevant authority side which could encourage them to adopt agroforestry. Since, the respondents had an agreed understanding of all studied economic parameters. Therefore, each of the studied variables should be addressed at both; more or less to positive or negative way to which they affect the farmers’ decision to adopt agroforestry practices.
Keyword :
Adoption, Agroforestry, Economic, Factors, Influence