Protected cultivation as an option of livelihood in mountain region of central Himalaya, India

Protected farming is an alternative new technique for seasonal and off-seasonal vegetable cultivation, particularly in high-altitude region, and can be successfully employed for niche areas of agriculture. Experimentation on vegetable crops under protected conditions was carried out to see the feasibility of their farming at different altitudes in the central Himalayan region. For evaluating the suitable conditions required for the cultivation of vegetables, three treatments, viz., polyhouse, shade net, and plastic-mulch, were selected in comparison to open condition at both the altitudes. Capacity building through organizing training program was adopted for demonstration and dissemination of this technology to rural farmers of the region. The yield of selected vegetables was found to be significantly (P < 0.05) high under protected cultivation, and the productivity of vegetables has been observed to increase from 15.85% to 932.20% as compared to that in open field condition at both the altitudes. As a result of capacity building, a number of households (78) at high and low altitudes (41) adopted seasonal and off-seasonal vegetable cultivation through protected cultivation technology at various levels. This is the first study of its kind, and in the present case, we demonstrated that protected cultivation is an alternative and efficient technology for seasonal and off-seasonal vegetable cultivation, particularly at high-altitude region. The production of vegetable seedling is gradually changing from open field nurseries to protected raised bed or seedling tray production after obtaining technical know-how. It is hoped that the improved capacities of local farmers would help in spreading this technology through adoption of protected cultivation in the central Himalaya and other high-altitude region of other countries having similar environmental and socio-economic conditions.