Integrated Poultry-Fish Farming Systems for Sustainable Rural Livelihood Security in Kumaon Hills of Uttarakhand

The study has analyzed socio-economic impact of poultry based farming system on farmers for their livelihood security and women empowerment. The analysis is based on the data collected from 95 poultry farmers selected from three hill districts of Kumaon region for two production years, 2011-12 and 2012- 13. It has been observed that the farmers’ access to day-old chicks (DOCs)/fish seed/fingerlings plays the key role in popularization of integrated poultry-fish farming. The economics of prevailing poultry production systems has been worked out and it has been found that cost on rearing of chicks up to 3-5 weeks is nearly ` 46 per chick and a small unit of 10-15 birds in backyard poultry gives a net income of ` 11470/ annum. The chicken broilers could be reared successfully by farmers in the remote hills villages. The feed cost has a lion’s share (72%), followed by DOCs cost in the total cost. The study has revealed that poultry could be successfully reared in backyard as well as intensive broiler farming. The adoption of integrated poultry-fish farming provides fetch additional income of ` 4000-5000 and employment opportunities for 45-50 human days. Additionally, the consumption of eggs/fish and meat adds to food quality and livelihood security of the resource-poor family. High costs of feed and chicks have been identified as the major constraints of integrated poultry farming. The study has concluded that the integrated poultry-fish system could address issues of sustainability, women empowerment and livelihood security effectively. The government should offer subsidy on feed and other inputs as incentives to the BPL families for adoption of integrated poultry-cum-fish farming which would lead to women empowerment and livelihood security in the region.