Enhancing farm profitability and sustainability through integrated farming systems: A case study of coastal Karnataka, India

India's west coast region is unique due to the co-existence of abundant natural resources and continuous agricultural production. In this region, arecanut is a dominant crop, but due to many factors such as unstable markets, price fluctuations, diseases, etc., the risk faced by farmers has increased. The integrated farming system (IFS) is a viable option for reducing risks and improving productivity and income while also offering multiple benefits to the farm family. Considering these, we collected data from ten farmers' fields in coastal Karnataka, India for the period 2013–2022, to compare arecanut farming with IFS systems where coconut, nutmeg and banana were intercrops with livestock component. Results indicated that IFS had diverse plant species such as plantation crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, and forest trees offering multiple benefits to the farm families. Various plant species found on the IFS farms were primarily utilized for culinary, ornamental, and religious purposes (benefits worth US$ 421 year⁻¹). The arecanut equivalent yield in IFS farms was consistently and significantly higher during the last ten years. The mean net return derived from IFS farms (US$ 7857) was also significantly higher than the arecanut farming (US$ 3990). Energy budgeting indicated that, in IFS, significantly higher direct and renewable energy and lower indirect and non-renewable energy was utilized. Energy output (192,202 ​MJ ​ha⁻¹), net energy (120,477 ​MJ ​ha⁻¹), energy use efficiency (2.68), and energy profitability (1.68) were significantly higher under the IFS farm compared to the arecanut farming. Employment generation was also significantly higher in IFS (1236.7 mandays year⁻¹) than in control farms (755.2 mandays year⁻¹), especially for female laborers (2.05 times higher). This study concludes that the adoption of IFS helps in enhancing farm profitability and generating employment opportunities while improving energy use efficiency. Considering these benefits, promoting IFS through subsidy and policy support would help in sustainable development of agriculture sector in this region.