A case study of multilayer farming in Muradnagar Block of Ghaziabad: An approach for better yield and increased farm income

Abstract

India has over 17% of world’s population living on 2.4% the world’s geographical area. In India, primarily farmers (about 85%) come under small and marginal farmers who practice contemporary agricultural methods with extensive use of fertilizers. The amount of arable land is lessening as a result of rapid population growth along with fast urbanization, land degradation due to soil erosion, and soil salinity. An innovative farming technique is the need of the hour not only to enhance crop productivity but also provide greater economic return per unit area. Multilayer farming is one such viable option to boost aggregate farm production and thus increase in farm income. Multilayer farming means growing and cultivating more than two crop at different heights on the same field at the same time. A study was undertaken in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh with the objective to demonstrate and create awareness among farming community about the benefits of multilayer farming and increase in farm profit. A pilot scale field experiment was conducted for consecutive two years in Ghaziabad district involving 8 farmers with one acre of land each growing various vegetable and fruit crops through multilayer farming technique. Various parameters like land equivalent ratio as an indicator of yield advantage of multi-crop farms over sole-crop farms, analysis of economics (benefit-cost ratio), impact of soil organic carbon and water on multilayer farming were investigated. The study effectively demonstrated effective utilization of vertical space and the participant farmers successfully cultivated three to four crops each season with LER value greater than unity. The study revealed increase in organic carbon percentage along with 30 percent less water consumption and benefit cost ratio of 2: 1 which was obtained on an average from one acre of land. Due to presence of more than two crops in the field helped farmers mitigate the risk of crop failure due to sudden change in weather conditions. Crops on bamboo structure had better quality produce which increased farm income. The paper highlights the benefits of cultivating multi-tier crop species for effective utilization of vertical space and different crop choices for higher monetary advantages.