Management Practices Vis-a-vis Agroforestry for the Improvement of Rangelands of Jammu and Kashmir in Northwestern Himalaya, India

The Northwestern Himalayan region exhibits a diverse climate, topography, ecology, plant community, and land use type. The average annual precipitation varies from 80 mm in Jammu and Kashmir (Ladakh) to 200 cm in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Livestock rearing is a substantial source of income for the people in this region, who practice both sedentary and migratory systems of livestock grazing. The livelihood of almost 25% of the population of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) including nomads and semi-nomads, namely, Gujjars, Bakerwals, Chopans, Changpas, and Gaddis, depends wholly or partly on rangelands. There are concerns about the sustainability of livestock grazing systems and the integrity of pastoral ecosystems. Controlling the time, duration, and intensity of grazing appears to be the key factor in grazing management. The forages like red clover, white clover, tall fescue, orchard grass, sain foin, lucerne as well as tree fodder are commonly used for feeding the livestock. Due to recent land use changes, the resource base of grazing and pasture lands have deteriorated causing an imbalance in the demand of fodder due to heavy livestock population and supply of various fodder species. Agroforestry systems including silvopastoral, agri-silvicultural, agri-horti-silvicultural, and horti-pastoral systems have recently been introduced to improve the degraded grasslands as well as to improve fodder availability. This chapter aimed to discuss the status of temperate rangelands/pastures and factors causing degradation of the grasslands and to suggest suitable management practices vis-a-vis agroforestry and other sustainable practices to improve the existing grasslands in western Himalaya with special reference to Jammu and Kashmir.