Uk. Behera et Ic. Mahapatra, Income and employment generation for small and marginal farmers through integrated farming systems, I J AGRON, 44(3), 1999, pp. 431-439
Pond-based farming system research studies comprising enterprises like fiel
d and horticultural crops, fishery, poultry, duckery, apiary, mushroom, dai
ry and agroforestry were undertaken at Bhubaneshwar during 1992-94, with a
view to generate income and employment opportunities for small and marginal
farmers. Among the above mentioned enterprises, apiculture produced the hi
ghest return of Rs 7.94/ rupee invested. Multilayer pisciculture stood next
, fetching Rs 5.46/ rupee invested. Among the crops, the best returns were
obtained with multistoried cropping involving pumpkin, ridge gourd and poi
as ground storey; pineapple, colocasia, ginger and turmeric as first storey
; and coconut as second storey. Poultry, duckery and mushroom enterprises f
etched low returns. The highest level of employment (180 man days/year) was
achieved in mushroom cultivation. Integrated farming system, comprising ab
ove enterprises generated net income of Rs 58,360 and employment for 573 ma
n days, on a small piece of land (1.25 ha), ensuring high standard of livin
g for small and marginal farmers.