The Indian agriculture sector has experienced buoyant growth in the past two years. A trend accompanying growing consumption and increasing production is the qualitative shift to special agriculture. There has been a marked shift in production from basic food grains to high value produce, especially fruits and vegetables. Specialty agriculture involves commercial agricultural operation, other than a confined feeding operation, which requires smaller tracts of land due to the intensive nature of the operation. It includes nurseries, greenhouses, mushroom farms, market gardens and apiaries. The specialty crop sector has been consistently growing over the last decade at national and international level.

1. Introduction Country has vast network of 20 river basins with utilizable surface and groundwater resources of 1123 billion cubic meter (BCM). With the rising population, the per capita availability of water in India has declined from 5178 m3/year in 1951 to 1441 m3/year in 2015. About 60% of Indian population have per capita water availability close to or lower than the water scarcity threshold of 1000 m3/year. The per capita water availability will further decline to 1139 m3/year with increase in population. On the demand side, the gross water requirement for all users in India is expected to grow up to 1447 BCM in 2050 (CWC, 2010, GoI, 2015). With the massive financial investment by the governments and the farmers, net irrigated area in the country increased from 20.85 million hectare (Mha) in 1950-51 to 68.38 Mha in 2014-15 (DES, 2019). Although India is a world leader in irrigation infrastructure, still half of the total cropped area (51%) remains rainfed. Further, many studies have flagged sustainability and equity concerns in irrigation development in the country (Selvarajan and Roy, 2004;

Globally saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is cultivated in regions spanning from the Mediterranean in the west to Kashmir in the east. Countries like Iran, Spain, Italy, India, Greece, Turkey, Afghanistan, Morocco and Azerbaijan harbour suitable climatic and soil conditions required for its growth and harvesting (Mehdi and Reza, 2012). However, the crop is also cultivated on small scales inFrance, Switzerland, Israel, Pakistan, China, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Japan. Recently its cultivation has been introduced in non-traditional countries like Australia, New Zealand, USA, Argentina and Chile (Fernandez, 2004). Globally, about 85 thousand hectares of land is under saffron cultivation, giving a produce of 288 MT. Iran leads with 90 per cent of total global share for saffron production (Baghalian et al., 2010) and 70% of global export earning a revenue of US$ 51million. India’s global share is about 4.5 per cent in production followed by Greece (2.5%), Morocco (0.9%), Spain (0.8%), Italy and China (0.3% each), Afghanistan (0.2%) and Azerbaijan (0.06%).

Introduction Agriculture sector has the most important role in Indian economy. Earlier, Indian farmers largely depend upon the human and animal power. But with time passage, implements viz. tractor and tractor driven have been introduced. During the last 10 years, It has been observed that the concept of farm mechanization and its importance has been well accepted and accordingly new farm implements/ equipments have been developed and commercialized. This has resulted in increase of productivity and production to feed the ever increasing population besides reduction in drudgery associated with farm operations. Farm mechanization has played a positive role in increasing employment in rural areas through generation of opportunities for operators, mechanics, salesmen etc. (Anonymous, 2018)

Introduction India is often criticized for the negative externalities to the ecology due to the largest livestock population of the country. Thus inspite of the fact that the integrated farming system followed in the country contributes towards not only saving the resources and improving the environment. This study quantifies the positive environmental externalities associated with the livestock production in the context of integrated farming system of rainfed areas. It included land saving due to recycling of agricultural by-products as animal feed and also due to use of dung- cake as domestic fuel, saving of chemical fertilizers due to use of dung as manure and prevention of carbon dioxide emission due to use of animal energy in agriculture.

Biofertilizers are products that contain microorganisms essential for soil fertility and plant growth when added to the soil. Biofertilizers consist of microbes and living bacteria that promote the fertility of the soil and the growth of plants. Biofertilizers are known to play a number of vital roles in soil fertility, crop productivityand production in agriculture as they are eco-friendly and cannot at any cost replacechemical fertilizers that are indispensable for getting maximum crop yields. Increasing useof chemical fertilizers in agriculture make country self-dependent in food production but itdeteriorate environment and cause harmful impacts on living beings. 

Introduction Seasonality in agriculture is a major determinant of poverty, food insecurity and hunger in areas having harvest only once or twice a year. Undiversified livelihoods survive on the crops that the households consume as food and sell for income. The risk being high, a single failed harvest can cause huge losses and can destitute a marginalized household with limited or no savings, increasing their dependence on borrowings leading to indebtedness later on. Punjab being one of the pioneer states in green revolution in country is facing lot of challenges due to monoculture i.e. paddy-wheat as the major crop rotation followed on 92% area of the state. The situation has led to serious repercussions in agriculture sector of the state along with social, financial, and ecological issues. 

Introduction Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. There are a number of sub sectors in the agricultural sector such as sericulture, floriculture and horticulture. Among those fields horticulture has played a dominant role in the total agricultural output throughout India. The world market has provided a good opportunity for the development of the fresh and the processed fruits industry of India. From the point of view of domestic market also, horticulture products have provided food items of nutritional value. Their cultivation has generated higher employment opportunities and higher returns to the farmers than the cereals and other agricultural cash crops (Singhal, 1995). Mango (Mangifera indica) is a stone fruit belonging to family Anacardiaceae. It is a most important fruit of India and known as the “king of tropical fruits”. Mango is cultivated in many tropical regions and distributed widely in the world. 

Conservation agriculture (CA) has potential to changes soil physical, chemical and biological soil quality parameters compared to conventional tillage (CT) systems. CA can also affect the functional diversity of soil microbes that essential for improved soil quality, crop production and many ecosystem services. Conservation Agriculture is a farming system that promotes minimum soil disturbance (i.e. no tillage), maintenance of a permanent soil cover, and diversification of plant species. It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production. Three principles of Conservation Agriculture

Plant diseases create challenging problems in commercialagriculture and pose real economic threats to bothconventional and organic farming systems. Plantpathogens are difficult to manage for several reasons.First of all, plant pathogens are hard to identify becausethey are so small. The positive identification of apathogen often requires specialized equipment andtraining, and in some cases accurate diagnosis in thefield is difficult.Plant pathogens are constantly changing and mutating,resulting in new strains and new challenges togrowers. Disease management is complicated by the presenceof multiple types of pathogens. For any crop thegrower must deal with a variety of fungi, bacteria, viruses,and nematodes. This situation is even more complicatedfor organic crop production because they usuallyproduce a wide array of crops and are prohibitedfrom applying conventional synthetic fungicides.The world market continues to be extremely competitiveand continues to require that growers supplyhigh-quality, disease-free produce with an acceptableshelf life.

Irrigation Irrigation means the watering of land to make it ready for agriculture. It is the process of application of water to crops through artificial channels to grow them. Water is vital for the growth of plants. And, there can be no plants or crops if they do not have access to water in some form. It is, thus, crucial to supply water to crops and plants in time as per their need. The supply of water to plants comes from various water resources. For example, Wells Ponds Lakes Canals Dams and Reservoirs Importance of Irrigation Irrigation is necessary for agriculture and farming.

Introduction Mechanized agriculture is the process of using agricultural machinery to mechanize the work of agriculture, greatly increasing farm worker productivity. The effective mechanization contributes to increase production in two major ways: firstly the timeliness of operation and secondly the good quality of work. The requirement of power for certain operations like seedbed preparation, cultivation and harvesting becomes so great that the existing human and animal power in the country appears to be inadequate. As a result, the operations are either partially done or sometimes completely neglected, resulting in low yield due to poor growth or untimely harvesting or both.

Introduction Floriculture or flower farming is the study of growing and marketing flowers and foliage plants. Floriculture includes cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for direct sale or for use as raw materials in cosmetic and perfume industry and in the pharmaceutical sector. It also includes production of planting materials through seeds, cuttings, budding and grafting. In simpler terms floriculture can be defined as the art and knowledge of growing flowers to perfection. The persons associated with this field are called floriculturists. Worldwide more than 140 countries are involved in commercial Floriculture. The leading flower producing country in the world is Netherlands and Germany is the biggest importer of flowers. Countries involved in the import of flowers are Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Japan while those involved in export are Colombia, Israel, Spain and Kenya. USA and Japan continue to be the highest consumers.

troduction Indian economy depends on agriculture and the agriculture sector in India contributes about17 percent of country’s GDP and provides employment to approximately two third of the population (United Nation Development Programme Fact sheet 2011). India is the second most populous country in the world. With the increasing population, the cultivable land resource is shrinking day by day. To meet the food, fibre, fuel, fodder and other needs of the growing population, the productivity of agricultural land and soil health needs to be improved. Green Revolution ushered through use of modern agriculture technologies such as greater use of synthetic agrochemicals like fertilizers and pesticides, adoption of nutrient-responsive, high-yielding varieties of crops, greater exploitation of irrigation potentials, etc. undoubtedly has increased production and labour efficiency in the post-independence era and made our countries self-sufficient in food production. 

Pest A pest is any animal or plant detrimental to crops, livestock and forestry. The term is also used of organisms that cause a nuisance, such as in the home. An older usage is of a deadly epidemic disease, specifically plague. In its broadest sense, a pest is a competitor of humanity, means disease causing microbes, plant devouring insects, macro-fauna like rats and moles, weeds, off type plants and even human beings are pests in perspective of plants. IPM IPM is a pest management system that in the context of associated environment and population dynamics, utilizes all the appropriate techniques to minimize the pest population levels below those causing economic injury. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) includes cultural Practices, Host Plant Residence, Mechanical control, Biological control, Use of Bio-pesticides, botanicals and Chemical control.

ntroduction The marketing systems and post-harvest marketing infrastructure have not been able to keep pace with the growing production and marketable surplus. This has brought to the fore, the need for providing farmers with access to competitive markets with adequate infrastructure including cold chain logistics, to enable them to realise better prices on the one hand and providing nutritious food to consumers at stable and affordable prices on the other. With this objective in view, the Government of India on 13th November, 2013 approved the proposal of Department of Agriculture & Cooperation for continuation and integration of ongoing Central Sector Schemes as Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM) during the XII Plan (2012-2017). The ISAM have the following five sub schemes: (i) Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) [the existing schemes of Grameen Bhandaran Yojana (GBY) and Development/Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization (AMIGS) will be merged as AMI] (ii) Marketing Research and Information Network (MRIN) (iii) Strengthening of Agmark Grading Facilities (SAGF), (iv) 

Introduction The quest for data and analysis of the economics of zoonoses control is now in its fifth decade: The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board having passed a resolution, recommending that a group of experts meet and discuss the subject and commission some pilot studies. (a) The health economics recognised as a sub-discipline of economics (b), the cost–benefit analysis established a notion for long enough to merit the writing of a survey article (c) and the difficulties of putting a monetary value on human life (d) the alternative non-monetary approaches being developed. The development of veterinary or animal health economics, partly spurred on by the gathering of experts initiated by that same WHO resolution. The International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics held its first meeting marking the formal launching of the fraternity.

1. Introduction Uttarakhand is extremely vulnerableto climate-related changes due to its varied geography and rich glacier mass. The relationship between climate change and agriculture is not a new phenomenon. In the last 50 years, there has been a lot of academic focus on dealing with climate change issues in agriculture. Climate change is believed to affect agriculture by inducing changes in farmer’s behaviour, quantity, quality, cost of production, changes in production, consumption, prices & trade patterns; changes in market responses at global & local levels and these changes not only depend on the domestic and international adaptive capacity their economic impacts also vary by region, by sector, and by stakeholders’ groups. Climate change is a major global environmental problem and also an issue of great concern to all countries, irrespective of their size or level of development. It is established that adverse impacts are likely from increased frequency of extreme weather, floods & droughts, and submergence of coastal areas due to sea level rise and extreme climate variability. It is considered that mountain regions are vulnerable to climate change & it will have direct impacts on livelihoods as most of the economic & livelihood sectors are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Introduction Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 per cent of Indian population. Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture, forestry and fishing was estimated at Rs. 19.48 lakh crore in FY2020. Growth in GVA in agriculture and allied sectors stood at 4 per cent in FY2020. Share of agriculture and allied sectors in gross value added (GVA) in Indian economy at current prices stood at 17.8 per cent in FY20. Consumer spending in India will return to growth in 2021 post pandemic-led contraction, expanding by as much as 6.6 per cent (Anonymous, 2021). Total food grains production for 2020-21 is set at a record 298.30 million tonnes (MT), comprising 149.92 MT in Kharif season and 148.40 MT during Rabi season. In 2019-20, production was 291.95 MT, against the target of 291.10 MT (Anonymous, 2020b).

Introduction Agriculture is one of the most important sector of the Indian economy Indian agriculture sector accounts for 18 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides employment to 50 per cent of its workforce India is the world’s largest producer of wheat, rice, pulses and spices product and second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world The food grains production for the year 2019-2020 (291 95 million tonnes) as compared to the previous year 2018-2019 (285 21 million tonnes) was higher by 6 74 million tonnes (Anonymous, 2020). Currently, India is Asia’s largest pesticide manufacturer, and ranks twelfth in the world for pesticide use (Abhilash and Singh, 2009) Conventional agricultural practices have a major impact on the environment Some of the issues related to agriculture are climate change, soil depletion, deforestation, pollution, irrigation problems and waste Excessive use of fertilizers such as urea, nitrogen and pesticides has affected air, water, and soil quality 

Introduction Being a global agricultural powerhouse, agriculture sector’s importance in India’s economy goes well beyond imagination. As, our nation have second-largest agricultural land in the world, with around 60% rural Indian households making their living from agriculture. In India, the agriculture sector employs half of country’s growing population and rest of the population is greatly dependent on the farmers for subsistence. It has been the primary sector of India serving people from times immemorial till now. Budget experts of India have estimated the agricultural growth rate to be near to 3.9 per cent in FY 2022-23, surpassing the 2021-22 growth rate of 3.6 percent approximately. The government of India’s priority shall continue on doubling farmers’ income by 2022-23 and becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

Introduction Organic farming is an inclusive system of producing high-quality products through such processes which have the least impairment on the environment, humans, plants, or animal health. Thus, the term in its essence concentrates on sustainability in the farm management practices and food production system. Chopra et al. (2013) in their study defined organic farming as a management & ecological production system that not only promotes biodiversity but also benefits biological cycles and soil nutrition activities. It focuses on minimal use of pesticides and encourages those farm practices that restore balance, and increase ecological harmony. 

The Himalayas, which cover 594 400 km2, run for about 2 500 km from west to east, between Nanga Parbat (8126 m) in the west and Namcha Barwa (7756 m) in the east with three parallel ranges namely The Great or Inner Himalayas, The Lesser Himalaya or Himachal and TheShiwaliks (Fig.1).The fish species distribution in the Himalayan streams depends on the flow rate, nature and substratum, water temperature, and the availability of food.This region has a dense net of rivers and streams, as well as numerous lakes, manmade reservoirs, floodplains and swamps, man-made ponds and irrigation canals of cold-water character. These water resources have a diverse fish fauna that support the livelihoods of rural communities within the region. They also provide various opportunities for development of cold-water fisheries and aquaculture.

Introduction Agriculture is the foundation of India’s economy, as it provides food to people, feed to cattle, raw materials to primary and secondary industries, contributes upto 19 percent of GDP and employs 54.6 percent of the workforce (Kirti and Prasad, 2016). Due to diverse soil and climate conditions, vast varieties of crops such as cereals, pulses, spices , millets, oilseeds, flowers and fruits are being grown in India. Among these crops grown, India is among the leading producers of pulses, cereals and spices in the world (Mishra et al., 2021). India is the fourth largest oilseed economy in the world. Among oilseeds, there are nine crops that are the primary sources of oils in the country, out of which seven are edible oils (soybean, rapeseed-mustard , groundnut, sunflower, sesame, niger and safflower) and two are non-edible (linseed and castor).

Introduction There are forty different edible oilseeds which can be used for edible and non-edible purposes. Out of which nine oilseeds are extensively used for edible and non edible purposes. The oilseeds such as groundnut (peanut), sunflower, sesame, soybean, rapeseed-mustard, niger and safflower are generally used for edible purposes and castor and linseed are used for non-edible purposes. Plants are the main source for 71 percent of edible oil. Some oil crops such as groundnut (peanut) and sesame can be used directly as food and edible oil, but others are mainly processed to obtain oil, and oil cake or meal (Hetje, 1989). The oil crops are grown all over the world (Girish Kumar, 2012). Area under cultivation of edible oilseeds in 2020 was 27.14 million hectares. The total production was 33.22 million tonnes with the productivity i.e. yield per hectare of 1025 kilogram per hectare in India (Ministry of Statistics). India is the world’s largest importer of edible oil (Santosha, et. al., 2017) and the import of edible oil in 2020 was 93.37 million tonnes.

Introduction India is an agricultural economy and the agriculture sector contributes 18.40 per cent to the Indian Gross Domestic Product (National Accounts Statistics, 2020-21). It is considered to be a major sector for its contribution to the Indian GDP. Agriculture is the source of income for 65 per cent population of the country. This sector is becoming innately insecure due to several reasons such as production, lack of financial resources, climate conditions and personal attitude of the young generation towards agriculture. It is right to say that agriculture is the “Gamble of Monsoon’’ because lack of precipitation can lead to drought and excessive precipitation can leads to floods.

Biodiversity Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the scientific term for the variety of life on Earth. It refers not just to species but also to ecosystems and differences in genes within a single species. Everywhere on the planet, species live together and depend on one another. Every living thing, including man, is involved in these complex networks of interdependent relationships, which are called ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, regulate the climate, recycle nutrients and provide us with food. They provide raw materials and resources for medicines and other purposes. They are at the foundation of all civilisation and sustain our economies. It’s that simple: we could not live without these “ecosystem services”. They are what we call our natural capital.