Crop production, animal husbandry, and forestry are the 3 main components of the farming system in hill areas and are closely interlinked and interdependent forest are an integral part of the system. They supply fuelwood, fodder, compost, timbers, staking, fencing materials and food.The no. of livestock kept per household is mainly determined by the available forest and grazing land.The forest contributes almost half the total cost of production of livestock in the form of feed and bobbing material and 19, 20 and 21% respectively of the total cost of production of food grain, fruits, and vegetables.An average household collects13,250 kg of dry weight fodder in the form of grass and leaves from forest land annually, 70% of this by grazing. Forest fulfill more than 90% of the domestic energy requirement of hill people of which public forest provide 50%.
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