Relationship between Crop Diversification and Farm Income in Himachal Pradesh: An Agro-Climatic Zone-wise Empirical Analysis

The study examines the relationship between crop diversification and farm-income outcomes in Himachal Pradesh by adapting the analytical architecture of the Odisha diversification study to a mountain economy. The empirical base comprises 386 horticulturists drawn through a multistage stratified design from four agro-climatic zones: Low Hill (Kangra), Mid Hill (Chamba), High Hill (Shimla) and Cold Dry (Lahaul-Spiti). Diversification is measured by the Simpson Index of Diversification (SID) and its complementary Herfindahl concentration index (HI). The Mid Hill Zone records the highest survey-based SID (0.74), followed by the High Hill (0.72) and Low Hill (0.69) zones, while the Cold Dry Zone records 0.58. About 38.3 per cent of respondents report a shift from traditional cereal-based agriculture toward horticulture, motivated primarily by higher income prospects, market demand, government support and agro-climatic suitability. Income-related evidence shows that beneficiaries of horticulture schemes have a mean annual horticultural income of ₹4.85 lakh compared with ₹3.10 lakh among non-beneficiaries, along with higher productivity, irrigation access and use of improved varieties. Correlation and regression evidence from the survey further indicates that profitability, marketing facilities, government support, irrigation and training are central to farmers' willingness to continue horticulture. The findings suggest that diversification is most strongly associated with better income prospects when it is directed toward high-value horticultural crops and supported by infrastructure and institutions. The paper also identifies a data limitation: the currently compiled thesis tables do not provide respondent-level income-by-SID observations; therefore, the final causal income regression should be re-estimated from the original microdata before journal submission rather than inferred from grouped statistics.