Indian Farming September 2019 3 Horti -Poultry model – A novel way for raising farmer’s income P A Reshi 1 , A A Khan 2 , J A Bhat 3 and Pragya Bhadauria 4 Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir 190 006 The J&K has 2.45 lakh ha of land under orchards, which has by and large remained underutilized. The utilization of these orchards under the integrated farming system, particularly through backyard poultry rearing under the innovative concept of Horti-Poultry model can tremendously raise the farmers, income, ensure optimum land and labour utilization, cause women empowerment, animal welfare, green agriculture, food security and disease management. Under the model it is envisaged to introduce backyard poultry birds of elite germplasm in phased manner to cover the available orchard land. A successful trial of rearing Vanraja (popular backyard bird strain) has been already conducted. Key words: Horti, Innovative, Orchard, Poultry, Vanraja Indian Farming 69(09): 03–06; September 2019 B ACKYARD poultry farming is not new and has been in practice since the time immemorial. However most of the backyard poultry production comprises rearing of indigenous birds with poor production performances. The potentiality of indigenous birds in terms of egg production is only 60 to 80 eggs/bird/year and meat production is also very less. However, the backyard poultry production can be easily boost up with improved varieties of chicken and can promise a better production of meat and egg (160-200 eggs/year). With the introduction of newly developed bird strains, backyard poultry farming is considered as the sure tool to improve the socio- economic status of the traditional farmers. Birds have certain inherent attributes and are a promising source of rural income like low input, short gestation period, and efficient production, better and quicker returns. J&K in general and Kashmir valley in particular with predominantly being non vegetarian society has a huge demand for chicken and eggs. Unlike other states of the country poultry sector failed to pickup in Kashmir due to multiple reasons. In J&K there is 69% shortfall in poultry meat production and 97% shortfall in poultry egg production. The gap between production and requirement is partially fulfilled by purchase of huge quantities of live broilers and eggs from neighboring states thus draining the state exchequer. According to a recent report J&K’s import bill for meat, poultry and eggs is approximately ` 2,000 crore/annum. While there has been some progress in commercial broiler production, commercial layer industry is virtually non-existent and there is limited egg production from backyard poultry which has witnessed some revival after the popularization of strains like Vanraja and other high technology birds. These birds particularly Vanraja has shown tremendous performance in Valley fields and has raised hope of transforming the economy of rural Kashmir. In Jammu and Kashmir horticultural sector has received tremendous attention and there are about 4.5 lakh families engaged in it with around 20% area of the state under horticultural crops. If this land is exploited doubly by introducing backyard poultry birds alongside horticulture under the concept of Horti-Poultry Model, there will be a tremendous revenue generation vis-à- vis organic farming and soil health management. Concept of Horti-Poultry Model Integrating poultry with horticulture (fruit crops) following a standard procedure is Horti-Poultry Model. According to one estimate in Kashmir valley alone 161,682 ha of land is under fresh fruits and 58,041 ha of land is under dry fruits. The land if exploited for integrated farming will yield better profitability. Under integrated farming concepts, the existing concepts of having cattle, sheep/goat and vegetables integrated with horticulture has not received much interest as large animals’ damage fruit crops and vegetables fail to grow satisfactorily under the shade of fruit trees. With this backdrop the rearing of high technology birds in orchards was thought of. To start with and to give concept a practical