Sewage Fed Farming Systems and Sustainable Livelihood in Peri-urban Kolkata Rahaman Sk. M.1,*, Haldar Surajit2 1Department of Agricultural Economics, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India 2College of Horticulture, Odisha Unniversity of Agriculture and Technology, Chiplima, Odisha, India *Corresponding author: skmahidur@gmail.com
Online published on 29 May, 2014. Abstract The study is an inquiry of prevailing farming systems in peri-urban mega city Kolkata. Due to lack of fresh water farmers are dependent on the domestic sewage water for cultivation of crops and running a pisciculture unit. The study revealed the pre-dominance of small farmers with abundant supply of workforce both male and female. Around 61.67% (74 no.) of farmers have a fishery unit (small or large) under their execution. Due to the availability of ample wastewater throughout the year, 61.67% (74 no.) of sampled farmers practices pisciculture and 59.17% (71no.) of sampled farmers have intensive vegetable production unit. In this context the study focuses on optimizing production with sustainability. The normative plan suggests that incorporation of a piggery or a poultry unit sufficiently increase the net income by 47 to 58% over existing earnings. Intensive vegetable cultivation along with a fishery unit also increase the net income significantly (47.29%). Top Keywords Farming system, urban farming, managing wastewater, wastewater productivity. Top |