Satellite Symposium 3: Pastoral Systems
Description
Tropical India harbours numerous pasturelands across small landholdings ranging up to few hectares which are covered with grass that is suitable as fodder. These grazing lands are commonly known as ‘Gairan’ in urbanised northern Western Ghats mountain tract in Western India). Such grasslands comprise about 20% of the total area of a village (Jodha, 1986), support livestock and supplement the agro-economy of the village. These pasturelands are being replaced by fenced ‘farmhouses’ of the urban elite, resulting in land use changes that caused drastic qualitative and quantitative changes in terms of area, fodder species composition and livestock they support (Patwardhan et al., 2003). The study area has faced large changes in the last few decades with increases in the area under settlement by 240%s as well as a decrease in the area of agriculture land and grasslands-scrub vegetation by 31 % and 39 % respectively (Nalavade, 2003). The present paper documents socio-cultural, economic and environmental changes in private village pastures across the Mumbai-Pune urban belt.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Modelling the Encroachment of Farmhouse Culture on Private Village Pastures and Its Environmental Fall-Out in Northern Western Ghats, India
Tropical India harbours numerous pasturelands across small landholdings ranging up to few hectares which are covered with grass that is suitable as fodder. These grazing lands are commonly known as ‘Gairan’ in urbanised northern Western Ghats mountain tract in Western India). Such grasslands comprise about 20% of the total area of a village (Jodha, 1986), support livestock and supplement the agro-economy of the village. These pasturelands are being replaced by fenced ‘farmhouses’ of the urban elite, resulting in land use changes that caused drastic qualitative and quantitative changes in terms of area, fodder species composition and livestock they support (Patwardhan et al., 2003). The study area has faced large changes in the last few decades with increases in the area under settlement by 240%s as well as a decrease in the area of agriculture land and grasslands-scrub vegetation by 31 % and 39 % respectively (Nalavade, 2003). The present paper documents socio-cultural, economic and environmental changes in private village pastures across the Mumbai-Pune urban belt.
