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Conventional farming has significant contribution to India's food production, but its limited effects have become apparent, leading to the need for an alternative agriculture method/technology, which can sustainably operate in a healthy ecosystem while maintaining and increasing quality and productivity. The present study was conducted to elucidate the economic viability of organic vis-a-vis conventional crop production and shows the picture to optimize the resource use efficiency for sustainable crop production in the North Western Himalayas region. The findings showed that organic products had higher output-input ratios for tomato (2.65) and potato (2.56). However, ineffective resource management in terms of over-utilization of organic potato seed and under-utilization of fertilizer, labour and plant protection for organic tomato caused lower productivity. Thus, the optimal level of resource allocation and their effective management are the two basic requirements to minimize costs, and consequently, maximize net income in organic crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trend analysis helps predict future events based on past time-series behaviour. Therefore, trend analysis of five medicinal plants having high economic value (chilgoza, kala jeera, dhoop, karro and kuth) was done during the period 2011-12 to 2020-21. According to the study, growth rate in real terms was seen only in Dhoop species, while the other species were dribbling due to overexploitation as these were easily accessible to the local population. Growth rate was recorded highest for dhoop (18.37%/annum) and lowest for kala jeera (4.75%/annum). Nominal price elasticity for chilgoza, karro and kuth was greater than one, indicating that their quantity is changing faster than price, whereas nominal price elasticity for kala jeera and dhoop was less than one, demonstrating that these species possess inelastic properties, with their quantity changing slower than prices. In the case of real price elasticity, only kala jeera was elastic in nature in real value terms, while the remaining species were inelastic. Scarcity ratio was found to be positive only for kuth, which indicates that the availability of this species is dwindling in the forests daily. Therefore, it is necessary to educate the local population on how to grow key medicinal plants, and every household that depends on the forests for these plants should be provided with in-depth guidelines on how to continue using them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]