July 17, 2006	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 20, 1427

A MAJORITY of the NWFP farmers plant local maize varieties which are disease prone and low in fodder and grain yield. In Dareil Valley, farmers grow red beans in maize (inter-cropping) to get more production of both fodder and grain yields.

A study was designed to estimate the benefit and cost of red beans and maize grown individually and their intercropping.

Eleven villages were selected and 82 farmers interviewed. It showed that 95 per cent respondents owned land and the rest five were owner-cum-tenants. The data also revealed lack of pure tenant in the selected sample respondents.

About 93 per cent growers prepared land through bulls while two per cent used tractors, and five per cent exploited both.

All respondents practiced inter-cropping in which six and four farmers also grew red beans and maize, respectively as mono-crops. The average farm size of 8.83 acres was under red beans, 18.13 acres under maize and 5.24 acres under inter-cropping. Fertile and leveled land was used for inter-cropping using local seed varieties. Farmers cannot cultivate improved varieties as these are of long duration and due to free grazing, the crops are exposed to the livestock.

With the introduction of mechanization, most farmers have shifted from animal to tractor for tillage which has resulted in expansion of the cultivated area and farm productivity. In the research area bull traction is 93 per cent due to hilly land, unawareness, and the unavailability of mechanization at affordable prices. Farmers use both natural FYM and chemical fertilizers in varying quantities. Urea and nitrophose are the most commonly used chemical fertilizers. The fertility input costs are higher for inter-cropping than mono-cropping.

Labour is in abundance for carrying out agriculture activities due to the lack of alternate jobs, both for males and females. The cost involved in the study area was mainly the opportunity cost of the family labour.

In inter-cropping system, the type of plant inter-action is detrimental in influencing the final crop yield of the species involved. Most often yield advantages in inter-cropping are attributed to complementary inter-action between the component crops, resulting in more efficient use of environmental resources.

In Dareil Valley, the crop agriculture, livestock, rangelands and forests are inter-dependent. The fertile land is under the inter-cropping of red beans and maize for fodder and yield production. The marginal land is under red beans and maize as sole crop for fodder production as well as yield. The productivity of beans/maize inter-cropping as determined by the total LER is superior in resource use efficiency compared to sole cropping. An LER of 5.49 means the intercropped area would produce five times as much as the mono-cropped.

Farmers devote nearly all cultivated area for the production of field crops which are consumed by households and their livestock. The fertile and levelled area is under inter-cropping while those farmers having cultivatable rangeland (marginal land) are under red beans and maize (mono-cropping). Bulls are the main source of ploughing for land preparation while large farm size growers also use tractors.

The most expensive and laborious operation is irrigation in case of red beans (sole crop) and inter-cropping while harvesting in case of maize. It must also be noted that both mono-cropping and inter-cropping systems are labour-intensive as labour costs account 74 per cent for red beans and 59 per cent for maize of the total expenses in case of mono-cropping and 61 per cent in case of inter-cropping.

The over all results show that farming has no net profit due to extensive involvement of family labour and unproductive, low yielding seed verities. Inter-cropping is common mainly on marginal land. The area farmers prefer inter-cropping system due to the abundance of family labour, the need of fodder for their livestock and grain yield for home consumption. Keeping in view the above scenario, following recommendations are made.

* Farmers cultivate poor quality of local maize and red beans seeds; it is recommended that short-term improved varieties of maize and red beans suitable to the climatic condition of the area should be introduced.

* Improved varieties and other necessary inputs for farming should be made available at reasonable prices at proper time.

* More research work should be initiated to tackle the problems that limit the efficiency of mono-cropping and intercropping system such as population density, fertilizer requirements, seed type, seed rate etc.

* A time-frame should be evolved for free grazing so that the area farmers could cultivate improved varieties.

* As labour-intensive farming exists in the area, research should be initiated to introduce vegetable cultivation.