Volume-5, Issue-4, Oct-Dec-2015 Coden:IJPAJX-CAS-USA, Copyrights@2015 ISSN-2231-4490 Received: 14 th Sept-2015 Revised: 17 th Oct -2015 Accepted: 18 th Oct-2015 Research article LIVESTOCK CONCENTRATION AND ASSOCIATION IN HIGHLAND REGIONS: A GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF KASHMIR VALLEY Rafiq Hussain Andrabi 1 , Harmeet Singh 2 and Pervez Ahmed 3 Corresponding Email: andrabigeo@gmail.com Research Scholar Ph. D Department of Geography, University of Kashmir Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Kashmir Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Kashmir ABSTRACT: The integration of crops and livestock has always remained a way of life since the beginning of agriculture. It provides the major extra contribution to agriculture through manure as a fertilizer apart from wool, meat, milk and eggs that grant a regular supplementary income and employment not only to producers in the rural areas but also huge size of population engaged in secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. The Livestock sector has emerged as one of the key components of agriculture in Kashmir Valley in recent years. For a growing human population, the development of livestock sector is indispensable to address the requirement of fat and protein. From a livelihood perspective, livestock is considered as an important instrument in poverty alleviation. The present study has therefore been undertaken to explore the changes in spatial distribution and growth of livestock in Kashmir Valley from 2007 to 2012. An attempt has also been made to study the spatio- temporal changes in the livestock combinations in Kashmir Valley. The study reveals that the population of cattle and sheep has become steadily more important in the livestock economy of the study area during the past decade and show a relatively high growth rate between 2007 and 2012. The goat, yak, buffaloes and equines have recorded relatively low growth rate. The results of livestock combination depicts that more people in Kupwara still practise the traditional system of livestock rearing than in other districts of Kashmir Valley. Key Words: Livelihood, Livestock Combinations, Spatio-temporal, Equines, Traditional System. INTRODUCTION Livestock is socially and economically very significant sector due to its multi-functional outputs and socio- cultural security. Livestock as an economic activity constitute even more important part of agro-ecological and socio-economic system in the mountain areas, where crop production is constrained due to small land holdings, poor soil fertility, inclement weather and short growing season (Kumar, et al. 2009). Livestock are the best means to convert local vegetative biomass into useful products and work. Among all geographical factors that help to determine the development of livestock farming, climate plays a very significant role. It is primarily responsible for the formation of botanical environment. The suitability of particular breed of animal with its climate depends on the quality of feed and fodder which is available naturally or which can be grown in that climate quite as much as on physiological adaptations of the breed to the climate. Thus the importance of livestock in fragile ecosystems goes beyond its food production function (Birthal and Negi, 2012). Livestock has long been recognized as an important source of income and employment in the rural areas throughout the developing and under developed part of the world. The increase in the demand and supply of livestock and livestock products rose up exorbitantly at global level because of increasing urbanization, burgeoning population growth as also improved income levels, changing life styles and consumption of high calorie food. Various kinds of livestock species like cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, hen and pig etc. were reared as domestic and subsistence animals (Khan, 2012). Generally, the economy of Kashmir valley is mainly dependent on agriculture in lower and middle altitudes, and as the elevation increases, it mainly depends on animal (Singh, 2006).The Valley of Kashmir has a precious wealth of livestock in the form of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, equines etc. The cattle and sheep are considered the most important tool for the development of rural economy. So livestock plays a vital role for upliftment of livestock farmers in Kashmir Valley. Thus the present study attempted to explore the spatial distribution and combinations of livestock in Kashmir Valley. International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences Page: 261 Available online at www.ijpaes.com