ICAR RESEARCH COMPLEX FOR NEH REGION

UMROI ROAD, UMIAM, MEGHALAYA

JHUM IMPROVEMENT FOR SUSTAINING FARM LIVELIHOOD AND NATURAL RESOURCE
CONSERVATION IN NORTH EASTERN HILL REGION : VISTAS AND FRONTIERS
Compiled and Edited by
N. Prakash
S. S. Roy
M. A. Ansari
S. K. Sharma
Punitha P.
B. Sailo
I. M. Singh

Copyright © ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region. All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or

transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

November, 2017

Correct citation : Prakash N, Roy S S, Ansari M A, Sharma S K, Punitha P, Sailo B and Singh I M. 2017.
Jhum Improvement for Sustaining Farm Livelihood and Natural Resource
Conservation in North Eastern Hill Region : Vistas And Frontiers. 110 Pages,
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Meghalaya, India.

Published by :
Director
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region
Umroi Road, Umiam, Meghalaya

Printed at :
R.B. Printing House, Nagamapal, Imphal, Manipur
 CONTENT

CHAPTERS AND AUTHORS PAGES

1. STATUS OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION (JHUM) IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, 1-12

INDIA
H. Kalita, M. S. Baruah, D. Datta, D. Jini and R. A. Alone
2. STATUS OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN MANIPUR : AN OVERVIEW 13-19

I. M. Singh, Punitha P., M. A. Ansari, S. S. Roy, S. K. Sharma and N.

Prakash
3. SHIFTING CULTIVATION: SOME OPTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE 20-32
DEVELOPMENT IN MEGHALAYA
Anup Das, Jayanta Layek, KP Mohapatra, Subhash Babu, M Thoi Thoi
Devi, Gulab Singh R Krishnappa and Amit Kumar
4. SHIFTING CULTIVATION SYSTEM IN MIZORAM – STATUS, 33-41
DETERMINANTS AND STRATEGIES FOR VIABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
S. B. Singh, T. Boopathi, S. K. Dutta, A. R. Singh, Lungmuana, Saurav
Saha, V. Dayal
5. CHALLENGES, SCOPE, AND OPPORTUNITIES OF JHUM REJUVENATION IN 42-56
NAGALAND
D. J. Rajkhowa, L. [Link], Sanjoy Kr. Ray, Ph. Romen Sharma, J.
Barman and N. Khumdemo Ezung
6. SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN TRIPURA: CHALLENGES, PROSPECTS AND 57-72
ALTERNATIVES
B. K. Kandpal and S. N. Bhowmik
7. REJUVINATION OF JHUM LAND THROUGH AGROFORESTRY 73-88
INTERVENTIONS
K. P. Mohapatra and Puran Chandra
8. ROLE OF HORTICULTURE IN JHUM IMPROVEMENT AND 89-103
REHABILITATION
A.K. Jha, H. Rymbai, V.K. Verma, N.A. Deshmukh, H. Talang, S. Ruth
Assumi, and M.B. Devi
9. OPTIONS FOR NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION FOR JHUM 103-109
IMPROVEMENT IN NEH REGION
S. Hazarika
10. AUTHOR INDEX 110
 JHUM IMPROVEMENT FOR SUSTAINING FARM LIVELIHOOD AND NATURAL RESOURCE
CONSERVATION IN NORTH EASTERN HILL REGION : VISTAS AND FRONTIERS

STATUS OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION (JHUM) IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA

H. Kalita, M. S. Baruah, D. Datta, D. Jini and R. A. Alone
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh Centre, Basar-791101

Introduction
Traditional shifting cultivation or Jhum is the most important livelihood of farming
community of Arunachal Pradesh. Around 52 per cent of gross cropped area of Arunachal
Pradesh is under Jhum cultivation. The difficult topography, inhospitable terrain, incessant
rains and harsh climatic conditions in the hilly regions of Arunachal Pradesh led these
indigenous communities to adopt this age old practice of Jhuming. The traditional Jhum
cultivation was found to be economically and energetically efficient compared to other form
of agriculture (terrace or valley cultivation) in heavy rainfall areas of the hill tracts of
Arunachal Pradesh with average annual rainfall of above 3500 mm. Recently, the facet of
Jhum cultivation is changing towards a detrimental farming system with rise in human
population density in the hills and lowering of fallow period not giving ample time to restore
soil fertility and rejuvenate the lost of flora and fauna. The role of Jhum is being widely
recognized for ecologically sustainable and economically viable form of agriculture (FAO
2014). Though the practice is being considered to be major factor responsible for loss of
biodiversity and causing imbalance in the ecosystem, but the fact remains that the majority
of the world mega biodiversity area coincide with the area occupied by the indigenous
people practicing similar system of agriculture from ages. The entire Jhum system in
Arunachal Pradesh depends on the natural indicators and seasons that governs their stages
of activities like selection of land, clearance & burning, sowing, harvesting etc. Integrated
Farming System (IFS) is found to be a vital step for the improvement of Jhum cultivation. The
Jhumias traditionally follow the technique of crop diversification that should be encouraged
and promoted through planned research for suitable cropping sequence. Agri-horti-silvi-
pastoral system or multi-storey system and agroforestry will be more successful in hilly
areas to support Jhum farmers.
Total area under jhum cultivation in Arunachal Pradesh
Around 52 per cent of gross cropped area of Arunachal Pradesh is under Jhum cultivation.
According to 2010-11 Census the area under shifting cultivation in different districts is Tirap
(1956 ha), Changlang (1522 ha), Lohit (1244 ha), Lower Dibang Valley (1266 ha), East Siang
(2801 ha), West Siang (3211 ha), Upper Siang (1101 ha), Upper Subansiri (2987 ha), Lower
Subansiri (2566 ha), Kurung Kumey (789 ha), Papum Pare (3001 ha), East Kameng (1563 ha),
West Kameng (108 ha) and Tawang (373). Total Jhum area is 24488 ha.
Characteristic of jhum cultivation
The major characteristics of the traditional jhum cultivation are: site selection and clearing,
burning, sowing, weeding, protection, harvesting and storage. Special and crucial decision
concerning the location, scheduling, crops and the labour inputs needs to be taken in each

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stages of cultivation. This decision making process is very vital in the process and, though
needs to take care of the agro-climatic and environmental conditions, and are also moulded
by the social and cultural factors. The decision makers largely depend on the natural
indicators for making vital decisions. Each tribe has some location-specific traditional
calendar of events for jhum with different local names. A distinction is made by the native
tribes in the pattern of jhum based on the locality where it is undertaken. Even within the
same location, each site was found to have characterised by different time of sowing,
harvesting etc. depending upon altitude of the site and vicinity to habitat. Further the fellow
cycle is also very location-specific depending on nearby forest type and soil of the selected
site. jhum cycle has a very interesting and nature-scientific relation with the natural
indicators that worth further systematic study. Normally the jhum cycle begins in the month
of December-January with calls of some particular bird (Chou pou) or insects (Goi) or other
location specific indicators. This cycle involves selection of new plots based on
presence/absence of some selective vegetation. The selection criteria also depend on soil
type of the area and nature of crop planned to grow. Some sites are considered to be sacred
due to presence of some rare vegetation and likewise some areas nearby villages are
considered to be cursed and cutting of trees in such area is strictly prohibited. Some tribes
before felling of trees in common wastelands, they seek permission of deities. On one hand
their mercy is sought for felling the tree and on the other they are thanked for rearing the
tree for so long. During clearing of the forest they avoid cutting of some particular tree
species so as not to invoke the spirits of the woods. A particular mention may be made of
Sengri & Sengne (Ficus sp.), which are considered to be the abode of spirits and to cut them
or to use their wood as firewood is tabooed. It is followed by cutting and slashing of under
growth, shrubs, twigs and trees. Cutting and Slashing are done by a selected group of skilled
persons, and they use to cut trees of medium girth up to certain height keeping in mind the
crop variety that they are planning to grow at that particular site and keep the height of
slashed trees 6-8 inch lower than the expected height of the crop at its maturity. And also
they were found to be uniformly distributed throughout the field. The next cycle is in the
months of January-February with calls or coming of Pipiar birds or blooming of certain wild
flower like Bombax ceiba, and the cycle involves burning of slash and clearing of charred
remains. Very strict customs were followed while burning the slashed field in which the
persons responsible are not supposed to take full meal and the event is celebrated
overnight. The resulting ash was uniformly distributed throughout the field. This stage also
involves sowing of some early paddy and other location based crops. The months of
February-March are the third cycle that begins with singing of Pakyo tabo bird and flowering
of Mekahi (Phoebe Cooperiana). The main activities involve terracing of steep slopes and
higher areas, along with contours with half burnt old logs, weeds, stems, etc. Mainly sowing
of maize is done during this period. In March-April, sowing of some vegetables like
cucumber, cucurbits, chillies, ginger, beans, tapioca etc. are done randomly mainly in the
boundaries. Different tuber varieties are sown along the peripheries that act as live fence
for protection against animals. Mithuns (Bos frontalis), the most important domesticated

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CONSERVATION IN NORTH EASTERN HILL REGION : VISTAS AND FRONTIERS

herbivore animal is generally kept under temporary community confinement called Lura
during the growing season. Chirping of Tuk pipipi and pinching birds starts the next cycle
during the months of April-May that goes on till the time the frog starts croaking. Here the
main activities involve weeding in pervious crops and sowing of paddy. The paddy is sown
by dibbling techniques where farmers make a small hole with the help of a sharpen stick and
drops two-three seed into the hole with expertise that they gain with years of experience
and practice. Sowing of paddy in some place also coincide with flowering of Gynocardia
odorata known locally with different names. The sowing is mainly done by women folks and
it involves minimum disturbance of soil. Almost all their festivals and rituals revolve around
Jhum and they keep close monitoring over their field for weeding and other activities. The
harvesting is done generally in the months of October-November in which the women plug
the head of rice bunch and carry them in bamboo basket called Egin. The dried grains are
stored in specially built rodent free granary called Nehu. Before using the new grains for
food, they very religiously keep some portion of grains separately for future seed purpose.
Mixing seed of different variety is tabooed.
The main crop grown in the jhum field is rice for their own consumption. Paddy is their
staple food and is also used to prepare their local beer apong. There are wide varieties of
local rice produced by the Galos in their jhum fields. Other important food crops grown are
the maize and millet as traditional substitutes and complementary to paddy. Since most of
the farmers produce for their own consumption, they grow different vegetables, fruits and
tuber crops, spices in the same land. Various crops are grown on the contour bunds where
the wooden poles are laid along the contour for soil conservation.
Vegetables grown include cucumber, pumpkin, beans, chilli, soybeans, gourds, tomato,
cabbage, brinjal, etc. Root crops are sown near tree stump or on the slope. These crops help
in soil conservation from erosion. Potato, sweet potato, root potato, turnip, beets, radish,
Yam, Cassava, Tapioca, Elephant’s foot yam, etc are some root crops grown in the jhum
fields. Usually creepers like cucumber, pumpkin, beans, etc are grown as margin crops as
they tend to disturb other crops and to demarcate field boundaries. Apple, orange, kiwi,
pineapple, banana, passion fruit are some of the fruits grown by the jhum farmers. Some
farmers have started cultivating Cash Crops like turmeric, ginger and large cardamom for
commercial purpose.
Impact of jhum cultivation on natural resources
Jhum was widely condemned as threat to biodiversity: both natural and agricultural. The
indigenous Jhumias maintain natural biological asset balance (the assets whose initial form
was determined by ecosystem of the location) rather than giving more priority to some
selected groups of biological assets. During the site selection for Jhum they strictly avoid
those locations that are dominated by rare or/and medicinally important plants. They avoid
felling certain big trees (regarding them as abode of spirit) as they knew its significance to
immediate ecosystem and its sustainability. Such big trees also provide habitat to
innumerable birds, animals and insects who are their guide in agricultural activities.

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Associating such practices with rituals and customs make them moral and spiritual
responsibility of the society and individual. Jhum is concerned not only with the
preservation of flora-fauna, but those culture and traditions that evolved as a result of
interdependence of the inhabitant with their immediate environment. It also induces
understanding of nature and its phenomenon and their impact on society today and
tomorrow. They have very cordial relationship with the seasonal birds, insects and animals;
and are considered to be messenger of weather and fertility god, thus indiscriminate killing
is strictly prohibited. The indigenous community socialize the natural phenomenon and
social phenomenons are described in ecological terms. The Jhumias consider themselves
inside the system (ecosystem) which is by its nature a diverse system. Biodiversity is the
major source of information and people gathers information by interacting with their
immediate biological environment. In the biologist’s sense of the world, biological diversity
is the natural stock of genetic material within an ecosystem. The importance of genes lies on
the fact that they determine the particular characteristics of a given organism and encode
the information which determines the specific capabilities of that organism. Greater the
varieties in the gene pool, greater are the variety of organisms, characteristics and traits.
Beside forest biodiversity, agricultural bio-diversity is maintained by Jhumias. They preserve
their original crop varieties in a very religious way. They also use to grow diverse crops or
varieties as per land location and possible weather conditions. They have a huge repository
of germplasm which they maintain as per their culture and tradition. Under the given
environmental condition, a species is best to its own niche. The region under investigation is
the centre of origin of important crops like citrus, rice, etc. The crop wild relatives and
landraces maintained by indigenous community have been considered to be essential to
future viability of global food production irrespective of climate change. It is the people and
the practices associated with them, not the landscapes, conserve agricultural diversity. The
hesitation of indigenous Jhumias in adopting foreign varieties is a great step towards
biodiversity conservation because the uniform cultivated varieties that are now substituted
for the resident diversity worldwide is posing major threat to biodiversity. Studies found
that the lake of adequate stock of the species from which it might regenerate itself has been
the major reason behind any species being endangered. Traditional management system
like use of more varieties, species and landscape patches helps in conservation of
biodiversity as found in several studies across the globe. Grazing management through Lura
is another innovative technique of biodiversity conservation of Jhumias, in which during the
cropping and growing seasons all the Mithuns (Bos frontalis) of the community are
temporarily confined in a sufficiently large selected site (that provide adequate food and
water) which is changed every year. The confinement checks Mithuns from continuous, free
and random grazing of forest vegetation during the growing season, besides protecting
Jhum fields. During the growing and rainy season the confinement of Mithuns in Lura avoid
disturbance of soil surface due to treading that check soil erosion and compaction; and
allow free regeneration of grazed vegetations as well as seedling germination throughout
the forest. Jhum is mainly targeted as threat to climate change as it relies on fire, thus

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emitting carbon dioxide into atmosphere enhancing atmospheric concentration of

greenhouse gases. Fire and land & natural resource management are indispensible for
indigenous people. Indigenous people promote diversity of habitat by regular burning of
parts of ecosystem thereby increase stability and sustainability. In fact fire has been used by
the indigenous people as a tool to manage diverse ecosystem. The Jhumias never go for
reckless burning of slashed area. They know the science to control the fire and the
ceremony keep them awake whole night so to avoid spread of fire. They avoid full meal
during the time which may help them to avoid sleep. Also the ash increases the fertility of
soil and help to lower the acidity of the soil which is the major constraints in the soils of hilly
regions having high rainfall. Previous studies indicated that ash addition to the soil after
burning mitigates the soil acidity and increases fertility. Jhum is considered to be one of the
major factors of deforestation and forest degradation. But deforestation implies long-term
(>10 years) or permanent loss of forest cover. As per the definition of deforestation by FAO,
the clearing of forest for Jhum is not deforestation but it is “forest modification”. The GHG
emission (which is mainly carbon dioxide) during Jhum is not at all a luxury emission. Also if
we consider whole budget of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission of Jhum, the net emission is
negligible. Whatever is emitted during burning is nullified by land use, chemical-free
managements, almost permanent land cover with alternate crops, non-flooded fields, forest
regeneration in left out sites etc. The forest clearing for shifting cultivation releases less
carbon than permanent forest clearing because fallow period allow forest re-growth. It was
found in the previous studies that if the fallow periods are long enough, shifting cultivation
can be carbon neutral maintaining soil fertility. Tillage can cause loss of significant amounts
of carbon (lost as CO2 bursts) immediately after tillage. Reduced tillage or zero-tillage
practices were found to decrease net emissions of carbon dioxide from soil also retaining
plant residue on the soil surface. The dibbling method of sowing by Jhumias is zero tillage
emitting practically no carbon dioxide and retains soil organic matter. Minimum disturbance
of soil also lowers soil erosion and surface runoff. Soil erosion is also controlled by placing
the half burn logs across the slopes of the field that lowers the speed of running rain water
and retain the top soil. Thus, Jhum also reduce CO2 emission by avoiding soil erosion. Studies
found that exposure of soil organic carbon to aeration during soil erosion increases CO2
emissions. Soil erosion and degradation never been an issue with Jhum cultivation though
highlighted widely. An over-emphasis on sequestering carbon in soil as a means of climate
change mitigation may eclipse other issues that are at least as significant. One such issue is
to identify ways to decrease emissions of non-CO2 gases from agricultural practices, in view
of the estimate by the IPCC that 70% of the total GHG emissions from agriculture are
associated with nitrogen fertilizer that released N2O which has many times GHG potential
compared to carbon dioxide. Chemical free cultivation and management practices results
almost no emission of such gases during Jhum. Their system of cultivation is absolutely
organic and natural, using only farm residues, animal wastes etc. Most of their insect and
pest management strategies are based on performing field activities with natural
phenomenon and indicators. They have very good understanding of insect pest and disease

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 JHUM IMPROVEMENT FOR SUSTAINING FARM LIVELIHOOD AND NATURAL RESOURCE
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dynamics through ages of observations. They lower incidence of insect and pest by proper
selection of date of sowing and other cultural management depending on lunar cycle.
Sowing during the days in the vicinity of Full Moon found to lower insect attack and favour
germination. Slashing medium girth plants to a certain height depending on the expected
height of the crop to be shown is a unique insect control technique of Jhumias. During initial
growth of the crop especially rice, the stumps acts as platform for birds to sit and feed on
the insects in the leaf of crop, but when the plant grow to maturity it outgrow the stumps
and avoid birds from feeding on its grains. Burning of vegetations at Jhum sites besides
adding carbon to the soil, also help neutralization of soil acidity. Soil acidity may be one of
the main reasons of prevalence of diseases and pests in these areas, but burning not only
control soil acidity but also help to get rid of spores of pests in the soil. The Jhumias are very
particular about fallow period and 15 years fallow was found to be sufficient for
regeneration of vegetation and rejuvenation of soil. For the tropical forest the fallow period
of minimum 10 years is generally sufficient for the recovery of the vegetation, but it
depends on the nature of soil and vegetation. The inspection of stem diameters of the
recovered plants indicates the rejuvenation of the soil and the vegetation. The approach of
Jhumias reflects that their culture coevolved with environment to create a sustainable food
procurement system.
Socio-cultural aspect of jhum cultivation
According to the oxford dictionaries shifting or jhum cultivation is defined as a form of
agriculture, in which an area of ground is cleared of vegetation and cultivated for a few
years and then abandoned for a new area until its fertility has been naturally restored.
Shifting cultivation is an age old practice that occupies a distinct place in the tribal
agriculture and its economy. It constitutes a vital part of the socio-economic framework of
the tribal life. Shifting cultivation is conventionally still prolonged by the people in the north
east region due to the difficult topography, inexorable rains and harsh climatic conditions.
Due to poor acidic content of the soil in the undulating terrain and the diversified flora and
fauna it creates difficulties in establishing an agro-ecosystem. Though shifting cultivation is
also considered to be an exploitative system which is destroying the nature by the optimal
use of its natural resources, deforestation and ecological exploitation it is considered to be
the major source of production in this parts of India i.e. the North-East India. Jhum
cultivation is not just a source of livelihood in the north east but is traditionally allied to the
culture, customs and ethnicity but to sum it up, entire tribal civilization and their life
envelops around it. In jhum both men and women are involved but women’s responsibility
is the most prominent of them all. In the entire process of jhum cycle while the men folk
performs the more laborious and scrupulous work which ranges from slashing and burning
of the woods from the jhum land, big and straight logs being sorted out and removed and
fencing being done, the women bag the task of clearing of undergrowth, big creepers and
climbers, the important jobs like field preparation, sowing, weeding, harvesting, husking,
thrashing, and the storage of crops.

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In view of the fact that jhum fulfills their wholesome consumption needs for the entire jhum
year hence the farmers can be termed as self sufficient. They just depend on the market for
basic needs like salt, oil etc. But some economically more viable farmers also grows cash
crops like ginger, turmeric, large cardamom, etc and fruits like orange, kiwi, passion fruit,
apple etc in large scale. They have a great demand for these organic products in the national
market. Hence the prosperous and affluent farmers also become wholesale dealers and
employ several small scale production farmers who gains from such a business.
Ongoing schemes/projects of State and central government on Jhum improvement in
Arunachal Pradesh
S. Name of the Date of Facilities supposed to have Name of
N. scheme/project sanction been created/activities implementing
undertaken as per the agency
scheme/ project

1. Flagship programme on 2012 to Five different modules have ICAR

“Improvement of Jhum 2017 been evaluated and
through Horticulture identified three effective
Interventions” modules for jhum areas.
2. Integrated Community 08.01.201 Covering four jhuming sites Director of
Large Cardamom and 0/ across which 200 ha and 300 Horticulture,
Orange Plantation in Jhum March, ha. (total 500 ha.) would be Govt. of Arunachal
land at Restaring, Korapu, 2012 brought under large Pradesh
Tarak Langdi and Galang cardamom and orange
Putung Villages under plantation respectively.
Tarak Circle of Kurung
Kumey District
3. Establishment of Large 20.01.201 The concerned state Govt. Director of
Cardamom Garden at Rissi 0/ has taken up this project to Horticulture,
village under Palin Circle of March, encourage commercial Govt. of Arunachal
Kurung Kumey District 2012 plantation of large Pradesh
cardamom so as to provide
avenues for economic
upliftment of the farmers.
Plantation in 89 ha area of
land.
4. Establishment of Orange 05.02.201 Orange Cultivation in 98 ha Director of
and Cardamom at Chesing 0/ & Large Cardamon Horticulture,
Rijo (Magria) village of March, Cultivation in 34 ha. Govt. of Arunachal
Eastern Circle, Upper 2013 Pradesh
Subansiri District
5. Cultivation of Hi-Tech 22.03.201 The concerned state Govt. Department of
Orange Garden at Logyi 0/ Deptt. has taken up this Horticulture,
area of Karbak village of March, project to encourage Govt. of Arunachal
Kambang Circle, West 2012 commercial plantation of Pradesh
Siang District of Arunachal orange so as to provide
Pradesh avenues for economic
upliftment of the farmers.

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Cultivation of Orange
plantation in 30 acres 5area.
6. Establishment of 23.05.201 Establishment of Bio Department of
Biotechnology Training and 1/ Technology Research Horticulture, Govt.
Development Centre at March, Training and Development of
Ziro 2013 centre at Ziro for taking Arunachal Pradesh
advantage of the
Bio diversity in the State.
7. Organic Cultivation of Kiwi 05.09.201 Kiwi cultivation in 72 ha., Department of
and Large Cardamom at 1/ with expected yield going Horticulture, Govt.
Ziro, Lower Subansiri August, upto 15 MT per ha. in the of
District, Arunachal Pradesh 2013 9th year of the project and Arunachal Pradesh
cardamom cultivation in 35
ha., with expected yield
going upto 3.54 MT per ha.
in the 9th year of the
project.
8. Establishment of Orange 26.03.201 Plantation of Orange over a Department of
Garden at Rantiwa of 2/ gross area of 288 ha. With an Horticulture, Govt.
Mebua-III Village, Seppa March, expected return (on of
Circle of East Kameng 2015 completion of the project of Arunachal Pradesh
District, Arunachal Pradesh 5540 kgs
of Orange per ha
9. Cultivation of Hi-Tech 26.03.201 Hi-Tech Orange plantaion in Department of
Orange Garden at Lutak 2/ 30 ha. area of community Horticulture, Govt.
Area of Gensi Circle, West March, land along with security of
Siang District, Arunachal 2013 fencing Khasi Mandarin Arunachal Pradesh
Pradesh orange is
to be cultivated. It is
supposed to have yields over
30 years period.
10. Compact Area Horticulture 26.03.201 The wasteland in the form of Department of
Garden with Orange, 2/ Jhumlands/abandoned Horticulture, Govt.
Pineapple and Banana March, jhuming sites under of
Cultivation at Radum 2015 optimum utilisation to Arunachal Pradesh
(Nyoya) Village under mitigate adverse ecological
Kamporijo Circle in Lower degradation and generate
Subansiri District, self
Arunachal Pradesh employment for rural people
to achieve sustainable
11. Establishment of Kiwi 23.03.201 The project will evolve a Department of
Garden at Dora Morey of 2/ holistic approach for Horticulture, Govt.
Hija Village under March, technology of
Lower Subansiri District, 2014 demonstration for Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh reclamation of settled
cultivation areas
horti-silvi model.
12. Estt. Of orange/Large 7.09.2012 To establish orange & large Department of
Cardemom Horticulture / cardamom in 84 ha land. Horticulture, Govt.
Garden at Rikung Sept., Cultivation in 70 Ha area. of
village under Chetam circle 2015 Arunachal Pradesh

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of Upper Subhansiri Dist

Arunachal Pradesh
13. Cultivation of Citronell a in 23.11.201 To cultivate the citronella District
Pongchau and Wakka 2/ plants and to extract Horticulture
circles Tirap District, Nov., citronella oil. Officer, Tirap
Arunachal Pradesh 2015 District,
Department of
Horticulture, Govt.
of
Arunachal Pradesh
Constraints and challenges in improving the jhum cultivation system
Jhuming lies in the fact that the land can produce crops only once in several years (5 to 19
years) depending on the jhum cycle. But under settled farming, the same field can be
brought under multiple cropping with scientific management under irrigation, which can
produce two or more crops. Thus, productivity per ha under jhum cultivation is significantly
lower than the settled cultivation. As a result of low productivity on jhum land, the average
earning per family is trifling among the farm households. Jhum land is free and capital
investment is insignificant. Seeds, the main capital inputs are all domestically produced.
Keeping these facts in mind, the productivity and value products per hectare and return per
man-day is very low. Thus, the level of income from jhuming appears to be very poor
compared to prevailing wage rates. So both in respect of productivity of land and return of
labour, jhuming suffered from disadvantages of a primitive technology. Since such lands are
free and there is no private ownership, this does not encourage the farmers to take
adequate soil conservation and improvement measures. Due to low productivity, there is no
surplus, which can be ploughed back. The growing population has brought about a vicious
circle of more area being jhum leading to shortening of fallow period and consequent
deterioration of soil fertility, which requires bringing more plots under jhuming.
Significant achievement of ICAR AP Centre, Basar in the area of jhum improvement
Under flagship programme on jhum improvement through horticultural interventions the
ICAR AP Centre, Basar evaluated five different modules in different jhum areas. The
objective was to increase the overall productivity of jhum, improve the livelihood
opportunities of jhum cultivators, provide the year round employment opportunity in
jhum, silent conversion of jhum towards profit earning settled cultivationand study the
dynamics and sustainability parameters of soil-water-plant quality in jhum land. Different
modules were Rice based jhum system, Khasi mandarin based cropping system, Banana
based cropping system, Pineapple based cropping system and Tuber crops based cropping
system. Some common interventions in all the modules were Intercropping: Maize,
legumes, vegetables, spices, Agroforestry trees, Water harvesting structures, Site specific
soil and water conservation measures, Polyhouse for production of seedlings and high value
crops, Vermicomposting and In-situ nutrient management, Bamboosetum and livestock
interventions: Pigs. During 2012 to 2017 total 123.22 hectare had been covered through
different modules. Among these banana based cropping system, colocasia based cropping

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system and pineapple based cropping system were found most profitable with benefit cost
ratios of 3.68:1, 3.30:1 and 2.24:1, respectively.
Success stories of jhum improvement
Under NAIP-lll project of ICAR AP Centre, Basar Ms. Yalom Lida of Lida village of Gusar circle
of Daporijo started activities under the guidance of of ICAR scientists. She had 1.2 ha under
jhum land and her earnings were just enough to feed her family. Under NAIP intervention it
was targeted to convert her jhum land to settled cultivation by integrating livestock and
crops with fish farming. With her own cultivation practices she was harvesting the cereals
1.14 t/ha, vegetables 3.45 t/ha and tuber crops 5 t/ha with the respective area. The total
return from her traditional way of cultivation was 13896/- only. However, after integrating
the various components she has increased her production and productivity of cereals by
2.71 t/ha, vegetables 5.25 t/ha and started earning Rs. 73,800/- from the same area and
components. She mostly earned the said amount from livestock and fish.
Strategies and action points for jhum improvement in the state
Integrated Farming System (IFS) is found to be a vital step for the improvement of Jhum
cultivation. The basis behind IFS is direct use of by-product of one system as the input to
other production system for efficient use of resources and resource recycling within the
systems. The approach proved to be location specific, technically skill based, play multi-
dimensional role in fulfilling the domestic requirements, generate new employment
avenues, enable rational and sustainable use of resources, rejuvenation of resources and
increase resilience of the farming system. The system includes suitable combination of
agricultural crops, horticultural crops, multi-purpose trees and shrubs, livestock and
fisheries enabling resource poor farmers to become self-sufficient and economically
competitive by producing quality edible products from various enterprises with minimum
external inputs. The development of horticultural land use system with mixed horticultural
crops including fruits, vegetables, root crops, spices and ornamentals grown under optimum
management conditions is another crucial step for restoration of left Jhum and could be
remunerative on long term basis with least gestation cycle. Arunachal Pradesh has its
potential advantage and strength of surplus production of fruits, vegetables and spices
because of its climate, soils and interest of growers in managing orchards. Climatically,
Arunachal Pradesh has three distinct regions for growing temperate, subtropical and
tropical horticulture and different zone specific crops are grown. Apple, kiwi, walnut,
peanut, peach, plum, pear, saffron, large cardamom, star anise etc are grown in temperate
zone; orange, pineapple, straw berry, passion fruit, ginger, turmeric, tuber crops in
subtropical zone whereas mango, arecanut, coconut, jackfruit and guava are leading crops
of tropical horticulture of the state. Crop diversification is prime area of cropping system.
The Jhumias traditionally follow the technique of crop diversification that should be
encouraged and promoted through planned research for suitable cropping sequence.
Growing leguminous vegetables like cowpea, pea, French bean etc with heavy nutrient
feeder crop like ginger and turmeric proved beneficial for maintaining the fertility of the

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soil. Agri-horti-suilvi-pastoral system or multi-storey system and agroforestry will be more

successful in hilly areas to support Jhum farmers. Organic farming is a sustainable crop and
soil management practice especially for the Jhum farmers who are resource poor and are
organic by tradition and wisdom. It promotes soil health and carbon sequestration and
provides multiple ecosystem services including mitigation of climate change. The Jhumias
generally are using locally available organic materials for their cropping system and are
reluctant in using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore, there is need for
standardization of dosages of different organic fertilizers like FYM, green manures, vermin-
compost, neem cake, biofertilizers etc in different crops to enable farmers to judiciously use
the products. The botanicals to control insect pest and disease should be encouraged and
promoted. Introduction and development of secondary agriculture is very important for
livelihood improvement especially for extra income and source of earning during failure of
major crop due to climate extremes. Mushroom cultivation, honey bee rearing, and
backyard poultry befitted their culture and food habits and widely accepted especially by
the women farmers of Arunachal Pradesh. Vermicomposting unit is also profitable
enterprise accepted and established by the farmers in the state. The state is especially
lacking in post harvest management of produce leading to loss of harvest and poor income
of the farmers creating lack of interest for large scale commercial production. Need-based
research and demonstration was done on value addition of bamboo through processing,
maturity indices and value addition of indigenous fruits like Taktir (Gracinia lancifolia),
packaging and storage condition of Khasi Mandarin/pineapple and preparation of various
products of available fruits. There is also need for integrated research for post-harvest
handling, packaging, transportation, storage and quality control of perishable commodities.
There is need to establish processing units in Arunachal Pradesh to formulate value addition
products of excess produce and market intelligence and facilitation of marketing of produce.
Arunachal Pradesh is also regarded as nature’s repository of medicinal plants where around
500 medicinal plants were identified during preliminary survey. The traditional Jhumias have
extensive knowledge of the medicinal plants from generations and they are already in the
habit of growing these plants/crops in their Jhum field. Research should specially focus on
identification and utilities of such crops. The farmers should be encouraged and supported
to grow such crops in commercial mode. Since these crops do not require much attention or
care and no serious disease or insect damages are observed, they get preference as risk
aversion crops in this difficult regions and climate. It the biologist’s sense of the world,
biological diversity is the natural stock of genetic materials within an ecosystem. The
importance of genes lies on the fact that they determine the particular characteristics of a
given organism and encode the information which determines the specific capabilities of
that organism. Greater the varieties in the gene pool, greater are the variety of organisms,
characteristics and traits. Agricultural-biodiversity is always been in the forefront agenda of
indigenous community practicing Jhum. They preserve their original crop varieties in a very
religious way. They also grow diverse crops or varieties as per land location and weather
conditions. They have huge repository of indigenous germplasm which they maintain as per

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their culture and tradition. Under the given environmental condition, a species is best to its
own niche. The crop wild relatives and landraces maintained by indigenous community have
been considered to be essential to future viability of global food production irrespective of
climate change. It is the people and the practices associated with them, not the landscapes,
conserve agricultural diversity. It is the uniform cultivated varieties that are now
substituting for the resident diversity worldwide is posing major threat to biodiversity. The
lack of adequate stock of the species from which it might regenerate itself has been the
major reason behind any species being endangered. Some of the species in mixed
cultivation system practiced by indigenous Jhumias help maintain ecosystem structure and
function. There is need for extensive survey of the region and collection of all the
germplasm available in the region for bioprospecting which in turn help in the search for
previously unknown compounds in organisms that have never been used. These germplasm
should be utilized in strategic breeding programme involving high yielding national/exotic
varieties to make it more resilient to biotic-abiotic stress and economical profitable. Shifting
cultivation can be improved to obtain higher production, economic returns and check
deteriorative in soil fertility by growing pineapple, turmeric, ginger, chillis, rice, maize,
sesame and cotton across the slope in the centre
In a nut shell to ensure sustainable maintenance of the environment and productivity of
Jhum cultivation some suggestions are pertinent:
1. Introducing of Alder trees (Alnus nepalenis).
2. Encouraged settled cultivation.
3. Topography of the district is undulating, use of broom grass on contours as vegetative
barriers to reduce soil erosion.
4. Use of salt to control weeds must be banned as it loosens the soil which leads to soil
erosion.
5. Introduction of leguminous crops in Jhum fields during cropping years to enhance land
productivity and crop yields.
6. Afforestation must be encouraged under the guidance of village councils, district
authorities along with forest department, NGO’s and other agencies.
7. Organic farming must be encouraged.
8. Balanced use of fertilizer to maintain soil fertility.

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STATUS OF SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN MANIPUR : AN OVERVIEW

I. M. Singh, Punitha P., M. A. Ansari, S. S. Roy., S. K. Sharma and N. Prakash
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Manipur Centre, Imphal

Introduction
Shifting cultivation or Jhum is a traditional landuse system cultivated predominantly in
North Eastern Hill region. Our neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and
Bhutan have various nomenclature for this practice. In Bangladesh, it is called as ‘Jhum’,
'taungya’ or hill crop land in Myanmar, ‘khoriya’ and ‘basme’ in Nepal, "tseri" in lower
elevation and "phangzing" in higher elevation in Bhutan (Kherkhoff and Sharma, 2006). In
India, this cultivation is practiced predominantly by the tribals of NEI and in some parts of
Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. In India, the different tribes call
shifting cultivation by different names. It is called as Jhum by Naga, penda by Maria of
bastar, podu by Khond, and bewar by Baiga (Saraogi, 2013). Shifting cultivation was
classified into four types: traditional, distorted, innovated and modified (Tiwari, 2005). The
traditional shifting cultivation is mostly found in villages which have not experienced much
pressure of population increase. The distorted shifting cultivation is the result of population
increase, reduced fallow period and cultivation in steep slopes. The innovated shifting
cultivation is the outcome of switching to newer methods of cultivation by traditional
shifting cultivators. Modified shifting agriculture was introduced during the past decade
with implementation of two developmental projects in shifting cultivation area. One is
Nagaland Environmental Protection and Economic Development (NEPED) and another is
North East Region Community Resource and Management Project (NERCORMP) which have
been instrumental in developing Jhum farmers with microfinance and human resource
development activities in Meghalaya, Manipur and hill districts of Assam.
Status on statistics of Jhum
"The actual number of shifting cultivators in South East Asia varies between 14 and 34
million" (Mertz et al., 2009). "There were 5 million tribal families in India who are involved
in shifting cultivation on 4.37 million hectares of land "(Sahu et al., 2005). The total
estimated area under the shifting cultivation in India is 0.9 million ha which includes both
current Jhum (53%) and abandon Jhum (47%). The North Eastern Region (NER) occupies 83
per cent of the total shifting cultivation in India (GoI, 2011). Of the total schedule tribe rural
population of Manipur, Jhumias contribute 36.46 per cent (GoM, 2015). Hence, there are
sizable number of people who depend on Jhum for their livelihood in Manipur. Adding to
the above, among the NEI, compared to 2005-06, the reduction of current Jhum was
observed during 2008-09 (GoI, 2011). The reduction is higher (64%) in Manipur followed by
Tripura (62%), Assam (61%), Mizoram (40.42%), Nagaland (22%), Meghalaya (6.62%) and
Arunachal Pradesh (6.24%) calculated based on the data of Wasteland Atlas of India. The
reasons of reductions might be due to shifting cultivators dependence on other sources of
livelihood. The area of shifting cultivation in Manipur for the year 2014-15 was reported as

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1,35,000 ha whereas, the shifting cultivation area in the wasteland atlas for the year 2005-
06 is 85,220 ha and 2008-09 is 47,163 ha and Jhum area for the year 2017 reported by
Manipur Remote Sensing Application centre (MARSAC) found to be 1,22,147 ha (Table 1).
Table 2. Distribution of Shifting Cultivation Area in Manipur
Shifting Cultivation
S.N. Districts
Current Jhum (Ha) Current Jhum (Ha)
1. Senapati 4714.77 27611.40
2. Tamenglong 5736.02 14826.09
3. Ukhrul 5342.50 13384.89
4. Chandel 6354.90 25630.90
5. Churachandpur 10091.55 8454.40
TOTAL 32239.74 89907.68
It is stated that, “Country by country analysis shows that both area under swidden and the
number of people dependent on swidden are largely unknown and the data from each
country are highly variable.” (Mertz et al., 2009). Similarly, the above data of wasteland
atlas gives a decreasing trend whereas, the data of Department of Agriculture shows
increasing trend in shifting cultivation area. Hence, the data of the national remote sensing
centre and the data portrayed by the Department of Agriculture, Manipur is highly variable.
The above data set describes that there is a need to have proper documentation for the
shifting cultivation area and the Jhumias population in India and NEI in particular. The
number of households and the population who are dependent on Jhum in Manipur are
described in Table 2. The above observation was supported by the document which
portrayed that database on shifting cultivation area need to be updated (NAAS, 2016).
Table 2. Distribution of households depending on Jhum in Manipur
S.N. District Household (No.) Population (No.)
1. Churachandpur 25830 99185 (34.37)
2. Ukhrul 23972 47857 (16.58)
3. Chandel 15870 30450 (10.55)
4. Tamenglong 27858 83574 (29.02)
5. Senapati 9150 27450 (9.51)
Total 1,02,680 2,88,516 (100)
Note : Figure in the parenthesis are per cent to total Jhum population in the state
Characteristics of Jhum
The shifting cultivation practice invariably involves slashing of woody vegetation, burning,
clearing including debris followed by cultivation of crops and sowing of various crops in
which upland paddy was the predominant crop (Bhattacharjee, 2016). Both private and
common property tenure found in the shifting cultivation system. The practice varies from
place to place. However, the selection of Jhum block starts in the month of January. In the
Khasom Khullen block, the Jhum land is hereditary. Felling of trees takes place in the month

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of last week of January to February. The villagers celebrate the festival called as "Ramtho
Phanit" local Thangkhul dialect. "Ram" means land, "tho" means starting and "Phanit"
means festival. The drying of felled trees will take place from February and March and then
at the end of march and April, a day is fixed for burning of felled trees. The dibbling of rice
and other crops takes place from last week of April to first week of June. This is followed by
first weeding and second weeding of the crop. The harvesting of rice takes place in the
month of October. The harvesting is accompanied with festival celebrating and enjoying
with the community members.
Schemes in shifting cultivation area
Since 1994-95, Watershed Development Project in Shifting Cultivation Area (WDPSCA) was
implemented in all the North East India. The WDPSCA scheme was purely a central
government sponsored scheme implemented by Government of India since 1stapril 1995 to
31st march 2012. The Department of Horticulture and Soil conservation were the nodal
department for implementation of the scheme. The main aim of the scheme was to develop
the Jhum areas on watershed basis and to improve the socio economic condition of the
Jhumias. The eligibility criteria for implementation of the scheme were as follows. A
minimum of 25 per cent of watershed area is under shifting cultivation; more than 50
percent of the population is dependent on shifting cultivation as a means of livelihood; the
willingness of Jhumias to opt for improvement of Jhum. The scheme was implemented on
watershed basis with a cost of H 12,000 per ha in plain areas and H 15,000 per ha in difficult
and hilly areas. The common guidelines for watershed development projects (GoI, 2015)
included were ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment with a combination of
vegetative and engineering structures, development of water harvesting structures such as
low cost farm ponds, check dams, percolation tanks, nursery raising for fodder, fuel, timber
and horticultural species with special emphasis on local importance, land development
including in-situ soil and moisture conservation, bench terracing, contour bunding, crop
demonstrations for popularising new crops and varieties, pasture development, sericulture,
bee keeping, backyard poultry, small ruminant, other livestocks and micro-enterprises,
fisheries development and promotion and propagation of energy saving devices, bio-fuel
plantations etc. After 2012, this scheme were merged under Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.
Determinants and livelihood of Jhum
The causes of continuance of shifting cultivation was studied by Rahman et al. (2011) who
stated that older and non educated farmers due to their tradition have the tendency to
practice shifting cultivation. Large family size and lack of opportunities of off-farm earnings
significantly increase the farmers’ possibility to opt for shifting cultivation. The younger
farmer with small household size decreases the probability to practice shifting cultivation.
The farmers practice shifting cultivation as it gives relatively stable net cash flow each year.
Further his logistic regression analysis reveals that, tradition and custom, still play a decisive
role for the continuance of shifting cultivation. Gupta (1994) studied Jhumias of Tripura,
which revealed that 50.47 per cent of the Jhumias households continue Jhum as a way of

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life. While inadequacy of government assistance for giving up the practice was reported by
73.77 per cent, 60.46 per cent of the Jhumias were expressive of the need to find a
supplementary source of income if the practice of Jhum had to be given up.
Tripura and Chand (2015) did a case study in a Tripura Jhumia community. He observed that
tribes of Tripura had occupational change over the recent years. The study revealed that, of
the primary occupation, 50 per cent Jhumias pursue occupation as wage laborers followed
by 31 per cent in bari agriculture, 10 per cent in government job, 2 per cent in weaving,
Jhuming, business and herding. He further opined that earlier whole community undertake
Jhum as a livelihood option but now Jhum as a secondary occupation occupy only 12 per
cent. Education, shortage of family labour, less availability of forest product and shortage of
food grain made their occupational change of Jhum only to other sources of livelihood.
Datta et al. (2014) studied the perception of Tripura Jhumias on the livelihood status. It
revealed the following findings. 54.29 per cent of farmers perceive that returns from selling
Jhum products gives satisfactory income, 72.86 per cent satisfied that livestock provide
guaranteed additional income.100 per cent of Jhumias were highly satisfied on the access
and benefits from common property resources, 82.14 per cent were less satisfied with the
returns from forest and NTFP, 52.85 per cent and 47 per cent were less satisfied and
satisfied respectively for the family members that they were engaged in Jhuming and
livestock rearing occupation and 100 per cent of the Jhumias were highly satisfied by the
quality of labour available at household level. More than 80 per cent of Jhumias were highly
satisfied on the ability to call friends on crisis situation and the assurance of community
support during crisis situation. 72.86 per cent of the respondents were less satisfied with
the stock of money or savings they own.
Socio-economic condition of Jhumias
The study by Punitha et al., ( 2016 ) in Jhumias of Manipur revealed that 71 percentage of
Jhumias family members had completed matriculation. It was also found that, 48
percentage of Jhumias household had completed higher secondary and above level. Further
study in Jhumias of Tripura revealed that education was found to be positively and
significantly related with livelihood status of tribal people. The family size was found to be
averaging 6.7 and the standard deviation was 2.14. It was found that 71.72 percentage of
the respondents found to belong to the category of 5-7 number of family size. Similar
findings with an average family size of 7 were found reported in the study in Ri bhoi district
in Meghalaya (Deb et al., 2013). The mean Jhum experience of the respondents were 21
years with a standard deviation of 11 years. The variable exposure to number of mass media
revealed that 77 percentage of the respondents had access to two to three sources of mass
media. Further, it was found that 84 percentage of the respondents had no access to any
form of extension contact. Another 16 percentage of the respondents had extension contact
because of the access to Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) near to the village at Tamenglong and
also because of the intervention through North East Regional Community Resource
Management Project (NERCORMP) staffs through International Fund for Agricultural
Development assistance at Ukhrul and Senapati districts. It was found that 71 percentage of
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the respondents family members had not migrated either within or outside the state.
Hence, most of them were pursuing Jhum as a livelihood. 29 percentage of the respondents’
family members had migrated within the state for education and employment purpose. 91
percentage of the respondents received power supply in their villages. It is increasingly said
that Jhumias were giving pressure to their land and the fallow period were getting reduced
day by day (Arunachalam, 2002). Interestingly in the study area of Manipur, the average
fallow period was 10.7 years.
Intervention under Jhum farming
Inclusion of pulses in shifting cultivation: The continuance of Jhum in the state is closely
linked to ecological, socio-economic, cultural and land tenure systems of tribal communities.
Since the community owns the lands the village council or elders divide the Jhum land
among families for their subsistence on a rotational basis. The dry broadcast or ‘punghul’
method involves sowing in the month of March/April and harvesting in August/September.
Wet sowing or ‘pamphel’ is done in the month of May/June and harvested during
October/November. Transplanted paddy or ‘aringba’ is also sown in the month of May/June
and harvested in the month of October/November. In the hilly areas of Manipur, shifting
cultivation is widely practiced, with settled terrace farming in foothill or low slope areas,
above the adjacent rivers and streams. Depending on the slope, wet broadcast on bunded
fields or dry broadcast on unbunded fields is practiced.
The technology demonstrated like Pigeonpea (UPAS-120), Ricebean (Local), Rajma (Chitra)-
Potato, Ricebean (Local), Rajma (Chitra)- Potato, Rajma (Chitra)- Pea (Rachna), Ricebean
(Local)-Pea (Azad pea), Groundnut (ICGS-76)-Lentil (HUL-57). The farmers produced 1.2 to
1.76 tonnes of pigeonpea/ha, 1.3 to 1.7 tonnes ricebean/ha, 1.4 to 1.9 tonnes Rajma/ha, 1.4
to 1.8 tonnes pea/ha and 0.85 tonne lentil/ha. They have earned net returns varied from.
The beneficiaries especially from Jhum cultivated areas received net returns of Rs 56000 to
105000/ha, where, rice mixed farming is dominant with low productivity (0.5 to 0.9 ha-1)
and less economical (Ansari et al. 2017).

Figure 1. Diversified the rice mixed farming with legumes and pulses at
Haochong Village, Tamenglong District, Manipur

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When considering economic returns, the legumes can be a valuable alternative crop for
replacing rice from Jhum areas. Besides that, pulses crop fixed the atmospheric nitrogen in
soil, improved the soil health, and reduced the soil loss, conserve the soil and water and
suppress the weed growth through smothering effects. Pulses production in hill agriculture
plays a significant role in nutritional security and used for various purposes and as well as
for second cycle produce in livestock farming. There is tremendous opportunity to enhance
pulses production especially in Jhum areas, where farmers are growing crops in mixed
cropping on rotational basis. There are some potential pulses for Jhum areas are pigeonpea,
ricebean, soybean, mungbean/urdbean, broadbean, Makhyatmubi, winged bean, cowpea,
lima bean and tree bean either as sole cropping or intercropping or agro forestry system.
Conclusion
The statistics of Jhum population is highly variable. Hence suitable strategy has to be find
out the exact population who are depending on Jhum. For that, inserting a question " are
you depending on Jhum " in the census will be a more appropriate strategy. Short Message
Service (SMS) should be sent to farmers in advance related to agricultural and allied
activities which will create awareness on training programme and make Jhumias more
informed. The KVK in each district should be motivated to collect few contact numbers of
village head man and other Jhum farmers in each village. These contact numbers should be
utilised by KVK to disseminate training schedule through SMS so that interested farmers
could attend training either in KVK of the respective districts or at ICAR or Central
Agricultural university at Imphal conducted time to time on various agriculture, horticulture
and allied activities. To maintain statusquo of fallow period and to reduce the dependency
on Jhum, location specific suitable livelihood activities should be promoted so that
dependency on Jhum would be reduced in the future. Further, diversification of the rice
mixed farming with legumes and pulses has to promoted among the Jhumias for Jhum
improvement. Social participation by the Jhumia households was found to be less in the
study area due to non existence of social groups like Self Help Groups. Notably, NERCORMP
through International Fund for Agricultural Development is promoting Natural Resource
Management Group (NRMG) in Ukhrul and Senapati districts of Manipur. The policy makers
while thinking about Jhumias and Jhum should take into consideration the socio-cultural
aspects before intervention in Jhum and their livelihood.
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Ramakrishna Y, Das Anup, Hazarika S and Ngachan SV (2017). Changing from
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CONSERVATION IN NORTH EASTERN HILL REGION : VISTAS AND FRONTIERS

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Sensing Centre. http//:[Link]..in/dolr/wasteland_atlas.asp. Accessed 31
March 2015.
GoM. (2015). District wise number of jhumia household and number of population engaged
in jhuming cultivation. Department of [Link] of Manipur, Imphal.
Kherkhoff, E. and Sharma, E. (2006). Debating shifting cultivation in the Eastern Himalayas
farmers’ innovations as lessons for policy. International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development. [Link] Accessed 13
February 2015.
Mertz, O., Padoch, C., Fox, J., Cramb, R.A., Leitsz, S.J., Lam, N.T., and Vien, T.D. (2009).
Swidden change in South East Asia: understanding causes and consequences. Hum.
Ecol., doi 10.1007/s10745-009-9245-2.
NAAS.(2016). Policy paper No.83 issues and challenges in shifting cultivation and its
relevance in the present context. National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. New
Delhi. [Link] Accessed 3 March, 2017.
NAAS.(2016). Policy paper No.83 issues and challenges in shifting cultivation and its
relevance in the present context. National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. New
Delhi. [Link] Accessed 3 March, 2017.
Punitha, P., Pandey, D.K., Feroze, S.M., Singh, R.J., Ram, D., Singh, N.O., Jyothi, S.S.P. and
Monika, A. 2016. Socio-economic profile and perceived livelihood diversification
choice of Jhumias of Manipur in North East India. Progressive Research- An
international Journal. 11 (VI):4314-4319.
Sahu, S.K., Nayak, R.K., and Sarangi, D. (2005). Sustainable soil and land management under
shifting cultivation in Orissa. [Link] review/
jan2005/.../Sustainable_soil.pdf. Accessed 22 February 2015.
Saorogi, A.(2013). Shifting cultivation in India. http:/ /www. important india. com/9442/
shifting-cultivation-in-india/. Accessed 23 September 2016.
Tiwari, B.K.(2005). Shifting agriculture in North Eastern India: some insights in
spatiotemporal patterns and processes. Proceedings of workshop on shifting
agriculture, environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods of marginal
mountain societies, October 6-10, 2005, Guwhathi, India.

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 JHUM IMPROVEMENT FOR SUSTAINING FARM LIVELIHOOD AND NATURAL RESOURCE
CONSERVATION IN NORTH EASTERN HILL REGION : VISTAS AND FRONTIERS

SHIFTING CULTIVATION: SOME OPTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT IN MEGHALAYA
Anup Das, Jayanta Layek, KP Mohapatra, Subhash Babu, M Thoi Thoi Devi,
Gulab Singh R Krishnappa and Amit Kumar
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam-793 103, Meghalaya

Introduction
Shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture locally known as “jhuming” is a widely
practiced farming system in the hills of North Eastern India consisting of Assam, Tripura,
Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. It has been
estimated that about 500 million peoples practice shifting cultivation in 410 m ha area
(forest land) in the world. In Asia alone, about 80 m people spread over nearly 120 m ha are
involved in shifting cultivation (Haokip, 2003). The shifting cultivation is a time-tested
system of agricultural practice, most often evolved indigenously and strongly based on
traditional knowledge. It is considered to be an appropriate and sustainable land use
practice in diverse socio-economic setup, where the dependent human population was
within the carrying capacity of a 10-15 year jhum cycle. Today the shifting cultivation
became unsustainable due to reduced jhum cycle of 3-6 years owing to the increase in
population that led to increase in food demand. Because of reduced jhum cycle at present
the average jhum land per family is about 1.3 ha while the jhum cycle is of four years
(Anonymous, 1987). This has caused decrease in productivity necessitated in bringing more
virgin forest area under jhuming.
It’s a tribe specific cultivation practice and varies widely in different parts of North East
India. The system involves cultivation of crops in steep slopes. Land is cleared by cutting of
forests, bushes, etc up to the stump level in December – January, leaving the cut materials
for drying and finally burning to make the land ready for sowing of seeds of different crops
before the onset of rains. The cultivation is confined to a village boundary and often after
two or three years the cultivated area is abandoned and a new site is selected to repeat the
process. The hutments of the village remain at the same place. Earlier whole village used to
shift to the new site. After 2 – 3 years of cropping when the land losses its fertility farmers
shift to another piece of virgin forestland for cultivation. After 3 – 15 years, when the
vegetation in deserted land regenerates during fallow period, the farmer again come back
for farming to the same piece of land, which he left fallow a few years back. Thus, the cycle
of cropping and fallow continues. With rising population, the jhum cycle in most areas,
which used to be 10 – 15 years earlier, now reducing to 2 – 3 years only. In this system,
generally all the agricultural operations are performed manually, using only a few traditional
and primitive tools. Regeneration of forest and soil fertility within farming system are also
achieved cost-free and effortlessly. Munda et al. (1996) described some common features of
shifting cultivation as follows:
 Done for food items (rice, maize, yam, tapioca, ginger, sesame etc)
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 Performed on hill slopes

 Fire used for clearing cut forests
 Rotation of fields
 Slash and burn operation of vegetative species
 Keeping the land fallow for a number of years for regeneration of forests
 Overuse of human labour for farm operation
 Under-employment of drought animals.
All essential crops viz., rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays), tapioca (Manihot esculenta),
colocasia (Colocasia esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), ginger (Zingiber officinale),
finger millet (Eleusine coracana), cotton (Gossypium spp), tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and
many other grown on the same field as mixed land use system resembling latest cafeteria
system of cultivation. The multiple cropping with as many as 30 or more crop species on a
plot of about 2 hectare would meet the varied needs of the family of an isolated
community.
Jhum is an efficient system of agriculture from the viewpoint of energy efficiency. Unlike
mechanized agricultural systems which consume five to ten units of fuel energy to produce
a single unit of food energy (Steinhard and Steinhard, 1974) 17 to 20 times energy is
obtained during first year cropping, and 13 to 15 times energy is obtained during second
year cropping of rice. The energy efficiency may still be higher, 41 to 48 (Toky and
Ramakrishnan, 1982), or from 18 to 55 (Maikhuri and Ramakrishnan, 1991) under mixed
cropping system.
Munda et. al., (1996) described the short-term benefits from shifting cultivation as follows:
 The jhum fire quickly render dense forests and foliage fit for growing crops.
 Jhum fire is a great labour saving device.
 Jhum soils of hill slopes receiving high rainfall are generally acidic. The ashes correct
the soil acidity and make the soil more fertile.
 Fire clears the area of extensive preponderance of fungi, insects and pests along with
their larvae and eggs and acts as sterilizer.
 Fire also retards the weed growth in the jhum cleared by destroying the roots, tubers
and seeds of weeds.
 Fire improves soil temperature regimes. Seeds in the fired warmed hill soils sprout
early, i.e., in the first fortnight of April.
 Upland rice is grown as the principal food crop under jhuming and is also mixed with
other priority crops such as maize, finger millet, foxtail millet, beans, sesame, sweet
potato, ginger, turmeric, cotton, chillies and leafy vegetables. This provides jhum
cultivators almost everything they need for their daily use.
 Less labour input/day is required over and extended period of time.

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Resource degradation, low productivity, tendency to encourage large family size and little or
practically no scope for adoption of modern agricultural technology are some of the
drawbacks in this system (Christanty, 1986).
Earlier it was agreed at one point that shifting cultivation being a way of life had become
integral part of the socio-cultural system of the tribal people and it should be disturbed as
minimum as possible. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has established an
Agricultural Research Complex for North Eastern Hills Region at Shillong, Meghalaya with
the subsequent set up of its centers in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, with the major objective to study the shifting cultivation
systems in details and to suggest viable and socially acceptable alternatives to
replace/improve the age old practice. Since then various concepts have been developed
which have brought a number of interesting facts.
According to the estimates by the various agencies, shifting cultivation in North Eastern
States varies between 2.80 – 7.40 million hectare. According to task force on the shifting
cultivation, Ministry of Agriculture 1983, the area under shifting cultivation is estimated at
3.869 square km and number of families that depends on shifting cultivation for their
livelihood is estimated at 4,43,3361. According to Waste Land Atlas of India (2010), the area
under shifting cultivation in NE India is about 0.76 m ha. It is not only the source of
livelihood but also has high cultural importance among the people of the North East.
According to a survey of Government of Meghalaya, the average jhum area cultivated per
family for both clean felling and Bun cultivation had been estimated at 0.8 hectares. The
extent of such cultivation is maximum in Nagaland, accounting for 38.18% of its
geographical area, followed by Mizoram and Manipur. Ethnic groups practicing shifting
cultivation in different parts of the country has been indicated by Mahapatra (1983).
Problems related to shifting cultivation
Haokip (2003) outlined the basic problems related to shifting cultivation as –
 Lack of basic information
 Ineffective implementing machinery
 Lack of proper monitoring system
 Complex land tenure system (Farmers has no legal right /ownership over his land)
 Lack of transport and marketing infrastructure
 Lack of improved varieties of crops and livestocks
 Lack of scope for appropriate modern technology due to poor technical and financial
backup. Illiteracy/ignorance of jhumias for any change from traditional jhuming to
scientifically sound technologies.
 Increasing population reduced jhum cycle to less than 5 years
 Lack of coordination among the implementing agencies.
Shifting cultivation was thought to be good for the time when it emerged. Least disturbance
to soil, mixed cropping on slopes under purely rainfed conditions and dependence on local

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resources were some of its merits. But with passes of time the pressure on land increases
and the progressive degradation of the product base has become prominent today. Munda
et. al., (1996) stated that shifting cultivation causes mass scale destruction of forests
resources, degradation of lands, losses of valuable flora and fauna and animal resources
besides creation of ecological environment non-conducive for crop production. In this
section various adverse effects of shifting cultivation is discussed.
In fact unsustainability of shifting cultivation begins with the reduction in jhuming cycle,
accelerating both on- and off-site degradation due to erosion, runoff, nutrient losses, loss of
biodiversity and deterioration in watershed hydrology. Ill effects of jhum on the
environment are well-established facts. Such conclusions are based on the scientific data
and experiments conducted world-wide including north-east India (Ghosh et al. 2009).
Sharma (1998), stated that shifting cultivation played a major role in the rapid deforestation
in the region.
Extent of soil erosion and nutrient loss due to shifting cultivation
Soil erosion under shifting cultivation is highly erratic from year to year depending on
rainfall characteristics. Studies on steep slopes (44 - 53 %) have indicated the soil loss to the
tune of 40.9 tons per hectare and the corresponding nutrient losses per hectare are 702.9
kg of organic carbon, 145.5 kg of P2O5 and 7.1 kg of K2O (Munna Ram and Singh, 1993). The
soil loss from hill slopes (60 – 79 %) under first year, second year and abandoned jhum was
estimated to be 147, 170 and 30 t/ha/year (Singh and Singh, 1981). During first few years of
clearing, carbon and nitrogen levels decrease rapidly. According to one estimate annual loss
of topsoil, N, P and K due to shifting cultivation is 88346, 10669, 0.372 and 6051 thousand
tones in the region (Sharma, 1998). Consequently the total production from this cultivation
is pitifully low: the per hectare paddy yield in Khasi hills (Meghalaya), Garo hills (Meghalaya),
Khonsa (Arunachal Pradesh), Siang (Arunachal Pradesh) are reported to be 0.13, 0.5.0, 0.4.1
and 0.83 t/ha respectively. The serious adverse effect of jhuming is soil erosion, which is
mainly of splash and wash types. As the soil in the upper reaches in a ridge are exhausted in
the process, the cultivator’s move to the adjoining lower elevation. The process continues
till the entire ridge is exhausted. Singh et. al., (1996), reported nutrient loss to the tune of
6.0 million tons of organic carbon, 9.7 tons of available phosphorus and 5690 tons of potash
from the NEH region. Nutrient losses from the jhum field through runoff and percolation are
rather heavy during cropping. The data for N, P and K loss are given in Table.1, for a low
elevation system (Toky and Ramakrishnan, 1981a). Similar conclusions apply to the high
elevation jhum too (Mishra and Ramakrishnan, 1983a).
Table 1. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium losses (kg/ha/year) through runoff under
different jhum cycles at lower elevation and in fallows.
Runoff losses Infiltration losses
Site
NO3 -N PO4 –P K NO3 -N PO4 -P K
5 year jhum cycle 5.3 0.9 51.0 9.2 0.1 13.7
10 year jhum cycle 4.2 1.3 91.2 10.7 0.1 21.2
30 year jhum cycle 3.7 1.1 64.7 9.8 0.1 15.1

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Singh and Singh, 1981, described the magnitude of soil loss associated with different
practices of shifting cultivation and established a comprehensive soil erosion calendar of
shifting cultivation. Although from bun cultivation of several crops have been obtained, yet
it leads to a larger amount of soil erosion. It was observed that for every one tone of potato
produced by the system, the soil loss was 2 tones (Singh and Singh, 1981). It has been
observed that as the time advances the horizontal spacing between the two beds goes on
increasing due to loss of soil and the land is abandoned when soil is almost exhausted and
even green grasses fail to grow some time exposing the bed rocks (Borthakur, 1992).
Cultivation of tuber and rhizomatous crops cause soil erosion to the tune of 40 – 50 t/ha
while pineapple cultivation along slopes eroded 24 to 62.6 t/ha/yr (Singh and Singh, 1981).
The entire area in and around shillong (Shillong plateau), Meghalaya is denuded by this
system of jhum cultivation.
Strategy for Sustainable Development/Alternatives of Shifting Cultivation Areas with
respect to Meghalaya
Sustainable agriculture in respect of North East region should entail development of
managements systems that ensure adequate supply of food, fibre and fuel to the growing
population. These systems must simultaneously ensure improving living standard of people
by efficient utilization of all natural resources including land and water and external inputs
in a practical and profitable manner while enhancing the environmental safety.
The concept of development of sustainable agriculture take cognizance of the geophysical
and environmental factors, which greatly govern and regulate the agricultural pattern to be
adopted in situations abound with above factors. The characteristic geophysical and
environmental factors prevalent in North Eastern region can be enumerated as below:
1. The undulating topography
2. The wide range of altitude
3. Varying rainfall and climates, as well as low temperature during winter season.
4. The need of specific land use and soil conservation measures depending on the slopes of
the hills.
5. Water availability, water harvesting and retention, favourable soil and water balance, soil
erosion, hydrological behaviour of watershed and finally the ecology and environment all
dependent on forest cover and the degree of deforestation (Singh et. al. 1996).
In midst of all these above features of the North East India promise for potential
development of agriculture including, horticulture, fishery, forestry, animal husbandry etc.
The present agricultural activities in this region are not exposed by adequate scientific base
in circumventing the land degradation process and scientific exploitation of water resources.
There is, therefore, an urgent need to develop sustainable agricultural strategy for hill areas
of North Eastern hill region to conserve soil, water and ecology while carrying out various
agricultural practices. Various scientific studies and approaches suggest that mixed land use
systems are better in the hilly areas, from the conservation as well as production point of
view. Further, the system should be so designed so as to meet the various needs effective

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land and water management techniques i.e., watershed management programme

integrating soil conservation measures, land development, agriculture, plantation crops,
horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery and forestry should be considered as vital and most
important. These alternatives are discussed below:
Agricultural Land Use System
The agronomic crops can be adopted on hill slopes up to 50 % gradient where soil depth is
greater than 1.0 m. Contour bunding at 0.5 to 1.0 m vertical interval draining into a common
grassed waterway is an essential requirement. The criteria for selection of crops should be
based on the priority of crops that are already grown in the area, crops which have market
potential such as spices and introduction of rabi crops such as mustard (Brassica spp),
potato (Solanum tuberosum), pea (Pisum sativum), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) etc.
in the irrigated area. Rice crop should be preferred in lower terraces. In general, ridge
should be kept under fuel-fodder-timber trees, which can be planted, based on the
requirement of farmers. On steep slopes about 30 % of land is to be occupied under bunds
and terrace risers. These areas have a great potential for taking fodder crops. Amongst
perennial grasses and legumes for the North East Setaria sphacelata, Napier (Pennisetum
purpureum), Guinea (Panicum maximum) and Stylosanthes guyanensis were found good for
terrace risers.
Yield potential of rice, maize, millets, soybean (Glycine max), pegionpea (Cajanus cajan),
maize + soybean, maize + pigeonpea and maize + ginger under rainfed terraced condition at
3000 m altitude has been reported as 0.17, 0.21, 0.16, 0.53, 0.13, 0.21 + 0.24, 0.17 + 0.14
and 0.18 + 0.39 t/ha, respectively (Awasthi, 1984). The cultivation of kharif crops i.e. maize,
paddy, cowpea (Vigna sinensis), sesamum (Sesamum indicum), groundnut (Arachis
hypogea), maize + cowpea, maize + soybean and rabi crops viz., wheat (Triticum aestivum),
potato, cole crops, turnip (Brassica rapa), tomato (Lycopersicom esculentum), etc. have
been recommended in irrigated condition in the Nagaland situation. Paddy-cum-sericulture
system for lowland was found more viable as the cash return were frequent with 4 cocoon
crops in a year besides paddy yield.
Horticultural and Plantation Crops Land Use System
Slope of land for horticultural and plantation crops use should preferably be less than 100 %
(Singh et. al. 2000). Soil depth must be minimum 1.0 m. Contour bunds at 2 meter vertical
interval, half-moon or crescent shape circle should be made at the location of planting,
grassed waterways and making of few bench terraces at the lower slope towards foothills
for growing vegetables and pineapple are essential conservation measures.
The agro-climatic condition of North East India is ideal for cultivation of plantation crops.
Tea (Camellia spp.), as a plantation crop was introduced in the region very early while other
plantation crops such as coffee (Caffea spp), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), arecanut (Areca
catechu), black pepper (Piper nigrum), etc. were introduced initially with the idea of
providing alternative method of livelihood for the farmers doing shifting cultivation. Various
bodies such as National Committees for Agriculture and other commodity committees had

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recommended that in order to provide a better method of agriculture it would be useful to

introduce plantation crops in the region as one of the important alternatives.
The studies with pineapple cultivation, even when planted across the slope, resulted in soil
loss to the tune of 24.0 – 62.6 t/ha/year during second year (Singh et. al., 1996). Some
horticultural crops grown on hill slope gave extremely encouraging and economic return.
Yield potential of newly planted Assam lemon (Citrus spp) orchard was found to be 11300,
12800 and 37200 fruits/ha during 3rd, 4th and 5th year after planting.
Agri–Horti–Silvipastoral Land Use System
This system comprises land use at the foothills with agricultural crops, horticulture in the
mid portion of the hill slope and silvipastoral land use towards the top of the hill. Land up to
100 % slope having soil depth greater than 1.0 m can be used for agri-horti-silvi-pastoral
system (Singh et. al., 2000). Contour bunds, bench terraces, half-moon terraces, grassed
waterways and stilling basins are the conservation measures required for the treatment of
land. An experiment was conducted by dividing watershed into three tier system viz., upper
1/3 area under pasture and silviculture for rearing livestock (goats and pigs), middle 1/3
area under horticulture including orange (Citrus spp.), guava (Psidium guajava) and
pineapple (Ananus comosus) and remaining 1/3 lower area under agriculture for cultivation
of cereals, pulses, vegetables, spices, fodder, etc. The middle portion of micro watershed of
which 50 % area was put under orange, 25 % under guava and 25 % area was put under
Assam lemon. The economic evaluation revealed that agri-horti-silvi-pastoral system with
guava as horticulture component is viable system (Rao, 1991). Agri-horti-silvi-pastoral
system with livestock, dairy farming and Agro-pastoral system recorded a input/output ratio
of 1:2.14, 1:2.08 and 1:2.05 respectively and was recommended as an viable alternative to
shifting cultivation in north east (Panwar et. al., 2007).
Multi-Storey Cropping Land Use System
This is highly productive, sustainable and very practicable system. To increase the cropping
intensity multi-storey crop combination consisting of crop of varying canopy orientation and
rooting have also been developed which entails differential harvesting of solar energy and
recycling of nutrients of variable depth based on the principle of canopy dimension and
rooting pattern. One crop combination is coconut (Cocos nucifera) + black pepper +
pineapple. In such high intensity cropping programmes a higher efficiency in utilizing of solar
energy in incident on a given area is obtained as it is intercepted at vertical intervals by the
canopies of the crops (Singh and Singh, 1997).
Livestock-based Land Use System
For livestock-based land use system, the land up to 100 % slope with minimum 0.5 m soil
depth can be utilized for livestock farming. Contour bunds, trenches and grassed waterways
are minimum requirement of land treatment. Crops and cropping pattern of such land uses
will differ depending on the type of enterprise. The fodder production system has to ensure
stability of fertility status of soil, availing the opportunity of moisture supply towards
maximum fodder production for larger period during the year and conservation of fodder

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for lean season. Important grasses for the purpose are Chrysopogon fulvus, Chloris gyana,
Dichanthium annulatum, Panicum antidolate, Setaria anceps, Sehima nervosum; legumes
are Atylosia scarabaeoides, Macroptilium atropurpureum, Slylosanthes gracilis, Glycine
javanica and important tree and shrub species are Albizia chinensis, Albizia lebbek, Albizia
procera, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Sesbania grandiflora, Sesbania sesban for humid topics
and for temperate and sub temperate areas, suitable trees and shrubs atre Betula alboides,
Celtis australis, Morus serrata, Robinia pseudoacacia etc., and grasses and legumes are
Bromus inermis, Dactylis glomerata, Poa pratensis, lespedeza ceraces, Lupinus augustifolis,
Trifolium incernatum, Trifolium prantensis, Trifolium incernatum, Trifolium response (Singh
and Srivastava, 1990). Selection of leguminous and non-leguminous annuals and perennials,
shrubs and trees will depend on the type of enterprises. Carrying capacity of such high land
use has been estimated to be 4 to 5 livestock/unit/ha with setaria and stylo (1:1) mixture of
fodder production. This system has potential for substantial income (1:1.78) from the
farmyard manure and self-sufficiency in fuel production through biogas plant. About 90 % of
annual rainfall could be retained in the watershed and soil loss was restricted to 2 t/ha/year
(Verma et. al., 2001).
A land use model for resource conservation in sloping land
A land use model (0.53 ha, 30-40% slope) involving natural forest, fodder crops, leguminous
cover crops, intercropping of maize + legume, residue management, conservation tillage,
micro rain water harvesting structure (5 x 4 x 1.5 m3) etc. were implemented for climate
resilient agriculture in hills. Hedge rows (Tephrosia sp.) in alternate terrace risers and toe
tranches (25 cm x 15 cm) in the inner side of terraces were made for collecting run-off and
increase infiltration. After harvest of kharif crops, the residues were retained on the surface
and toria, French bean and lentil were grown under no-till (NT) with residual moisture. The
cropping sequence followed beginning with the top to bottom hill slopes were natural pine
forest with catch pits - fodder crops - cover crops - maize + legume intercropping - rice
based system at the foot hills. The highest fodder and legume (cover crop) grain yields were
recorded with guinea grass (91.5 t/ha) and groundnut (2.5 t/ha), respectively. Among
different maize + legume intercropping systems, maize + groundnut system recorded the
highest maize equivalent yield (5.6 t/ha). The rice crop under minimum tillage and NT
recorded similar but higher yield than conventional tillage. Residue retention and NT
resulted about 10% higher soil moisture stock in dry season frenchbean crop compared to
residue removal and conventional tillage (CT). The productivity of succeeding French
bean/rapeseed crop after legume/maize + legume intercropping system under NT and
residue retention were significantly higher compared to farmer’s practice of residue
removal/CT. Among the different cropping systems, fodder crop based system recorded
maximum soil organic carbon (1.80 %) and SOC stock (29.7 t/ha) followed by cover crop
based system (1.61%, 26.8 t/ha) at the end of three cropping cycles in 0-15 cm soil depth.
On an average, the above model enhanced SOC stock by 10% and reduced soil loss
substantially over farmers’ practice (Das et al., 2017).

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Improved jhum rice cultivation – case study in Sonidan, Meghalaya

Five local rice varieties (Mannar, Kba Khasi, Kba Slu, Pnah Lai Spah, Pnahiong) and six
improved varieties (Bhalum-1, Bhalum-2, Bhalum-3, Bhalum-4, RCM-5 and IURON-514) were
evaluated under both local and improved management practices. Soybean and groundnut
were grown as intercrops with rice. Tephrosia spp. were grown along the contour at suitable
intervals for checking soil loss and improving soil fertility. Under farmer’s practice, seeds
were broadcasted in the sloping land after spading, no manure/fertilizer are being applied,
no pesticide applied and there was no water management practices. However, under-
improved practice seeds were sown in line across the slope at 25 cm spacing, 50%
recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) @[Link] kg N, P2O5, K2O /ha were given. The full
dose of P, K and 50% of N was applied at basal, whereas remaining 50% of N was applied in
two equal splits at 30 and 60 days after sowing (DAS). Two manual weeding was done
immediately before top dressing of N fertilizer. The N dose was applied as in the form of
urea (46–0–0) while the P2O5 and 40 kg K2O ha–1 were applied in the form of single super
phosphate (SSP) (0–7.2–0) and muriate of potash (MOP) (0–0–50), respectively. Need based
insect and disease management practices were followed. Under improved agronomic
management practices, both local and high yielding rice varieties performed well. The
highest rice yield was obtained under IURON 514 (3.084 t/ha) followed by Bhalum -3 (2.89
t/ha) and RCM -5 (2.88 t/ha). On an average, 68% and 116% yield enhancement was
recorded with local and high yielding rice varieties, respectively, when grown under
improved agronomic management practices as compared to farmers’ practice (control).
Sowing in lines 25 cm apart across the slope in jhum land as well as dibbling resulted in
significant enhancement in rice yield as compared to broadcasting. The highest yield of
Mannar and IURON 514 was recorded with line sowing (2.42 and 2.97 t/ha, respectively) as
compared to dibbling (2.05 and 2.34 t/ha) and broadcasting. Application of 50%
recommended dose of nutrients (RDN) ([Link] kg N:P2O5: K2O/ha) either through fertilizer
or fertilizer + FYM both recorded 40 to 60% enhancement in rice yield in jhum field. Foliar
spray of DAP twice at 30 and 60 days after sowing resulted in 20 to 35 % yield enhancement
in rice across the varieties as compared to farmers’ practice (no manure or fertilizer).
Integrated Approach for Improvement of Shifting Cultivation Areas
The comprehensive strategies for improving the system of shifting cultivation in North-
Eastern Indian Himalayas was suggested by Ramakrishna (1992) and Munda et al. (2010)
based on a multidisciplinary study. Many of these proposals have already been put into
practice. These conclusions are very relevant to similar land use systems prevelant all over
Asia, Africa and Latin America (Ramakrishna, 2000).
 The wide variations in cropping and yield patterns under jhum practiced by over a
hundred tribes under diverse ecological situations should be continued, where transfer
of technology from one tribe/area to another alone could improve the jhum, valley land
and home garden ecosystems. For example, emphasis on potatoes at higher elevations

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compared to rice at lower elevations has led to a manifold increase in economic yield
despite low fertility of the strong acid soils at higher elevations.
 jhum cycle should be a minimum of ten years (this cycle length was found critical for
sustainability when jhum was evaluated using money, energy, soil fertility biomass
productivity, biodiversity and water quality as currencies) by greater emphasis on other
land use system such as the traditional valley cultivation or home gardens.
 Where the jhum cycle length cannot be increased beyond the five-year period that is a
great concern in the region, re-design and strengthen the agroforestry system
incorporating ecological insights on tree architecture (e.g. the canopy form of trees
should be compatible with crop species at ground level so as to permit sufficient light
penetration and provide fast recycling of nutrients through fast leaf turnover rates. Local
perceptions are extremely important in tree selection for introduction into the cropping
and fallow phases of jhum, as can be seen in a major initiative in the state of Nagaland in
north-east India.
 Improvement in nitrogen economy of jhum at the cropping and fallow phases by
introducing nitrogen-fixing legumes and non-legumes. A species such as the Nepalese
alder (Alnus nepalensis) is readily incorporated because it is based on the principal of
adaptation o traditional knowledge to meet modern needs. Another such example is the
lesser known food crop legume Flemingia vestita, traditionally used by tribes as an
important species when jhum cycles decline below five years.
 Making use of some of the important bamboo species, highly valued by tribes, which can
concentrate and conserve important nutrient elements such as N, P, and K. They could
also be used as wind breaks to check wind-blown loss of ash and nutrient losses in
water.
 Speeding up the fallow regeneration after jhum by introducing fast growing native
shrubs and trees.
 Condensing the time-span of forest succession and acceleration restoration of degraded
land based on an understanding of tree growth strategies and architecture, by adjusting
the species mix in time and space.
 Improvement of animal husbandry through improved breeds of swine and poultry and
training the tribal farmers about the improved animal husbandry developed by research
institutes.
References
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Awasthi, R.P. 1984. Farming system reseaech. Annual report. ICAR Research complex for
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agro-ecosystem at higher elevations of Meghalaya in Northeastern India. Acta
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disadvantaged districts of North East India. NAIP bulletin no. 1. pp 46.
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shifting cultivation. Indian Farming. April: 10-14.
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Panwar, A.S., Ngachan, S.V., Munda, G.C., Das, Anup and Satapathy. K.K. 2007. Agro-pastoral
based farming system: a viable alternative to shifting cultivation in North East India.
Third National Symposium on Integrated Farming Systems and its role towards
Livelihood Improvement. Organized by Farming System Research and Development
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Singh, A. and Singh, M. D. 1978. Effect of various stages of shifting cultivation on soil erosion
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Singh, A. and Singh, M.D. 1981. Soil erosion hazards in North Eastern Hill Region. Research
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Singh, A.K. and Singh, S.K. [Link] management of fruit crops. Farmer and parliament.
35 (9) : 9-24.
Singh, N.P., Singh, A.K. and Patel, D.P. 2000. Shifting cultivation and its alternate approaches
towards sustainable development in North East India. Journal of North Eastern
Council, 20 (2): 24-30.
Singh, N.P., Singh, O.P. and Jamir, N.S. 1996. Sustainable agriculture development strategy
for North Eastern Hill Region of India. In Shukla, S. P. and Sharma, N. (eds) Pub.
Mittal Publication, New Delhi. PP 346-351.
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Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh ,India . pp. 24-30.
Smith, W. H., Bormann, F. H. and Likens, G. E. 1968. Response of chemoautrophic nitrifiers
to forest cutting. Soil Science. 106: 471-473.
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agro – ecosystems with emphasis on the slash and burn system (Jhum) at lower
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Verma, N.D., Satapathy, K. K., Singh, R. K., Singh, J.L. and Dutta, K.K.2001. Shifting cultivation
and alternative farming systems.. In: Steps towards modernization of agriculture in
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SHIFTING CULTIVATION SYSTEM IN MIZORAM – STATUS, DETERMINANTS

AND STRATEGIES FOR VIABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
S. B. Singh, T. Boopathi, S. K. Dutta, A. R. Singh, Lungmuana, Saurav Saha, V. Dayal
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Mizoram Centre, Kolasib - 796081

Introduction
Mizoram state is one amongst the eight sister states of NEI. A landlocked state, Mizoram is
extended between 21o 58' - 24o 35' N and 92o 15' - 93 o 29' E. It covers an area of 21087
km2. According to the Census of India 2011, total population of Mizoram was 1,091,014.
Literacy rate was noticed 91.85%. Sex ratio was registered 975 and density of population
was 52. Average altitude of the state is 1000 m. Blue Mountain is the highest point (2065
m). There are eight districts and 26 administrative blocks in the state. The term ‘Mizoram’
refers to the land of the highlanders. The mountainous part of it is nomenclature as ‘the
rolling hills’. Here, economy is based upon the production of biomass based agriculture. The
state is economically backward region. Its economy is mainly dependent on the traditionally
cultivating cereal crops. About 80% people are engaged in agricultural practices. Rice is the
main food-grain. The total consumption of rice in Mizoram is 1,80,000 MT whereas, it
produces only 44,950 MT rice (25%).
Under the traditional agriculture, shifting cultivation is dominant mainly in the highlands.
Wet rice is grown in the lowlands and the valleys. Further, most of the agricultural practices
are carried out through shifting cultivation. It is characterized by the dominance of
subsistence crops. Crops are mostly grown during the monsoon season on the gentle to
steep slopes without terracing of fields. Vegetables and fruits are also grown and consumed
domestically. Commercial uses of these crops are largely negligible. Shifting cultivation has a
tremendous impact on the socio-economy and on the environment. Being as a main source
of livelihoods of the poor rural people, it has negative impacts on the environment. It is
mainly due to clearing and burning of forests.
Status of Jhum cultivation
Out of the total geographical area (21087 km2), 75.6% area is forest cover. Total cropped
area is 5.5%. Net sown area is registered only 4.9%. Irrigated area is 0.5%. Area under
horticulture is 1.9%. Fallow land other than current fallow is 8.1% whereas current fallows
(Jhum land) is 1.9% only. Land not available for cultivation is 6.6%. Land under
miscellaneous tree-crops (not included in net sown area) is 2.5%. Cultivable waste land is
0.5%.During the past decades, 58.1% area under shifting cultivation in Mizoram has been
decreased (from 68,114 ha in 1997-98 to 28,562 ha in 2010-11). Meanwhile, the area under
wet rice cultivation has been increased by 28.4% (from 9,446 ha to 12,130 ha) in 2010-2011.
The share of shifting cultivation in net sown area was calculated about 38.64 % during the
recent past.

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Table 1. The area utilized for Jhum during last 10 years

Year Area under Jhum in Ha Changes in %
1997 68,114 --
1998 68,392 0.4
1999 36,285 -53
2000 35,798 -47.4
2001 40,305 -40.8
2002 41,356 -39.3
2003 43,447 -36.2
2004 40,969 -39.9
2005 40,100 -41.1
2006 41,465 -39.1
2010 28,562 -58.1
Source: Statistical Hand Book of Mizoram, 2012

Characteristic of jhum cultivation

The marginal farmers generally clear vegetation for agriculture during January and February.
The slash dries on the hill slopes and is burned during March-April. Prior to the onset of pre-
monsoon rain, sowing operations are carried out. Generally, each family inter-crops 15-20
crop species in a plot of 1-4 ha in area (Raman, 2001b).The fallow cycle under shifting
cultivation has been decreased from 20-25 year to 2-3 years. It is now more intensive and
frequent. Therefore, it has put excessive burden on the land thus, soil fertility has been
reduced. As a result, the production and per ha yields of cereal crops and vegetables have
been decreased considerably. In Mizoram, the economic life of the people has always been
centered on shifting cultivation. It is their way of life. The crops grown are mixed. The
principal crop is paddy. Others are maize, cucumber, beans, arum, ginger mustard, sesame
and cotton. Some pulses like cowpea, rice beans and French beans are cultivated under
shifting cultivation.
Impact of shifting cultivation on natural resources
There are two schools of thought, advocating about the impact of shifting cultivation on
socio-economy and on the environment. The scholars of the first school advocate that
shifting cultivation is a wasteful method that degrades natural landscape through soil
erosion and depletion of forests. According to the Government of India’s report of 1995,
‘shifting cultivation is a major cause of land degradation that has constantly declined the
agricultural productivity and thus income of the farmers. Whereas, the other scholars
believe that it is a major source of livelihood of the people and a way of life to them.
However, scientific studies have been consistent, suggesting that there is sub-optimal
utilization of natural resources in the shifting cultivation regime, which is helpful for the
stability and sustainability of agriculture in the mountains (Ramakrishna, 1993; Sharma,
1992). It becomes an imperative that controlling shifting cultivation will not only improve
the ecological quality but also will enhance crop productivity.

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Mizoram enjoys with rich biodiversity. It is one amongst the mega biodiversity hotspots of
the world. Natural vegetation comprises of tropical evergreen in the lower altitudes and
semi-evergreen on the upper slopes (Champion & Seth, 1968). The average annual rainfall is
2150 mm. It occurs mostly between June and September by the southwest monsoon. The
winter (Oct-Jan) is a cool dry season with few rainy days. Summer (March-May) is largely hot
and dry with occasional thundershowers and pre-monsoon rains in April-May. Temperature
accedes to 32oC during April and May and after occurrence of monsoon rain, temperature
recedes slowly. During winter, average temperature remains 9oC. The implication of shifting
cultivation on the ecology has long been a serious concern for the agriculture scientists,
scholars, economists and anthropologist.
Deforestation caused by shifting cultivation is often viewed as one of the most important
environmental problems of Southeast Asia (FAO, 1995). In Mizoram, the studies on
ecological impact of shifting cultivation have also been carried out by Tawnenga (1990),
Tawnenga & Tripathi (1996) and Tawnenga et al., (1997). Clearing forests for shifting
cultivation can contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss, reduced timber supply,
flooding, siltation, soil degradation and change of forest vegetation from primary to
secondary and eventually to grassland (Holden, 2001). Clearing of forests and burning them
for shifting cultivation are the main reason of deforestation (Monela and Abdallah, 2007;
Zahabu, 2008).
The loss of vegetation cover increases the incidence of soil erosion. Mostly in the hilly areas,
soils are the most susceptible to erosion (Shoaib et al., 1998; Sfeir- Younis and Dragun,
1993). In Mizoram, the cycle of shifting cultivation has been reduced from 20-30 years to 3-4
years. It has accentuated soil erosion and loss of nutrients from top soil. About 16.84 metric
ton of soil/ha has been lost/year. It is therefore, the fertility of soil has been reduced. This
has resulted in low production and per ha yields of cereal crops from the shifting cultivation.
In Mizoram, 1.5 % of total area is being affected by shifting cultivation, annually (Maithani,
2005b) that costs about Rs. 1 billion forest resources loss (Lalkhana, 1985). The adverse
effects of shifting cultivation on the environment are well established scientific facts.
Biologist, foresters and conservationists have noticed the effects of shifting cultivation on
biodiversity in the tropical forests (Raman, 2000). FAO (1957) reveals that shifting
cultivation was identified long time ago as a threat to tropical forests. Many scholars believe
that shifting cultivation effects are very destructive (Rao & Hajra, 1986; Lal & Prajapathi,
1990; Tiwari, 1991; Dwivedi, 1993). These conclusions are based on the scientific data and
experiments conducted world-wide (FAO, 1984; Tawnenga et al., 1997). Air pollution due to
lashing and burning, loss of fauna and flora and other ecological implications are very
common in the areas where shifting cultivation is practiced.
Determinants of shifting cultivation
Review of literature on shifting cultivation indicates that lack of viable employment and income
earning opportunities were mostly responsible for the continuation of jhum cultivation. Lack of
infrastructure, particularly irrigation, road, communication, market and rural electrification
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were other important factors. Inadequate government support and lack of suitable lands for
settled cultivation were also found to be major problems. Settled cultivation required higher
initial investment both in terms of money for purchasing land from the chief, hiring of labour
and other inputs. On the other hand, most of the jhumias were in the grip of poverty. Thus,
inadequacy of capital to invest in land improvement and generate other infrastructure on farm
came out to be the fifth most important factor. Lack of institutional support and credit in the
study area rather worsened the conditions of the jhumias, thus compelling them to attach to
the traditional jhuming system. There is no institution or agency involved in conducting
research in finding out viable alternatives to jhuming or improvement of the present system
through crop improvement, soil conservation, horticultural development, and agroforestry,
etc. The agricultural research in the region had given more attention to valley based system of
cultivation, keeping jhum cultivation in the embryonic stage of agricultural development.
Similarly, most of the training and extension programmes were oriented towards valley
agriculture and thus, did not cater to the needs of the jhumias.
INITIATIVES AND STRATEGIES FOR CONTROLLING SHIFTING CULTIVATION
1) The National Mission on Greening India has proposed different activities for
rehabilitation of shifting cultivation areas (MoEF, 2010). The major rehabilitation
activities are: (1) providing employment opportunities and income generation to the
marginal farmers who are engaged in shifting cultivation. These opportunities can be
provided through the proper utilization of land resources to control on shifting
cultivation. Various schemes of the Government under the tribal plan will have to pump
in sufficient resources for proper reclamation and development of the wasteland. Agro-
forestry practices can assist them. It helps to increase food and fodder, and protects the
existing forest where unemployed and poor people earn their livelihoods (Elevitch and
Wilkinson, 2000).
2) Prompt efforts should be made to involve the community people in carrying out forest-
based activities. It should be made commercially viable by providing proper marketing
facilities. This activity will reduce pressure on shifting cultivation practices. It will also
enhance the opportunity to community people to involve in non-timber based forest
products.
3) Degraded forestland should be protected and developed through formation of the
village forest committees. These committees can divert the farmers from shifting
cultivation. Suitable incentives should be provided to them at the time of harvesting.
4) The mountain eco-systems of NEI with shifting cultivation practices should be made
ecologically sound. Shifting cultivation can partially be replaced to farm forestry through
formulating an eco-development plan for ecological sustainability.
5) Land resource management will make shifting cultivation sustainable. Further, improve
sustainable yields, changes in technology, innovative policy and better transportation
facilities will all together contribute sustainability of shifting cultivation.

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6) The forests in surrounding of a hill village are considered as ‘support area’. Forest
provides firewood, fodder, timber, water and animal bedding to the farmers. The
marginal farmers are mainly dependent on forest resources. They do not want to move
from their natural habitat.
7) Specific policies, keeping specificities of mountain niche in view, should be framed and
implemented to avoid any discrepancies in practicing shifting cultivation.
8) Terracing fields, promoting cultivation of vegetables, fruits and high value crops, and
proper use of timber and non-timber forest products may substantially contribute to
sustainable practices of shifting cultivation.

Success Stories
State Government Initiatives
NLUP (New Land Use Policy) is a flagship programme of the Government of Mizoram that
was started on the 15th of July 2010 with a budget of Rs.2873.13 crores.. The project being
a multipurpose, multi-disciplinary and multi-pronged strategy aims in reducing the number
of population depending on jhum cultivation. The overall economic impact on the
Agriculture Sector as a result of the Implementation of New Land Use Policy (NLUP) can be
briefly summarized as below: -
1) Expansion of rice cultivation areas: During the year 2010-2011 (initial stage of NLUP
implementation), the total area under Rice cultivation (WRC) was12130 hectare which
covers only 16.25% of the total Rice cultivation potential areas. The contribution of NLUP in
terms of expansion of Rice cultivation areas is about 1840.66 hectare out of the total rice
cultivation areas of 16170 hectare during 2013-2014 (whole of Mizoram) which accounts for
about 11.38% increase in Rice cultivation areas.
2) Increase in Rice Production: At the initial stage of the implementation of NLUP (2010-
2011), the total rice production in Mizoram was 47201 metric tones which increased to
58994 metric tones in 2013-14. Out of the total rice production in Mizoram i.e., 58994
metric tones (2013-2014), NLUP beneficiaries contributed 5317.10 metric tones of rice and
the total percentage of the contribution of NLUP towards the total rice production in
Mizoram state may be recorded as 9% increase from the 1st phase of implementation
alone.
3) Decrease in Jhum Areas: One of the primary objectives of NLUP is to provide sustainable
income to farming families by weaning away the destructive and unprofitable shifting
cultivation practices. The total Jhum area and the total number of Jhumia families in
Mizoram during 2010-11 are 28562 hectare and 68433 nos. respectively. As a result of the
implementation of NLUP, the total Jhum area as recorded during 2013-2014 is 22633
hectare which shows that the decrease in Jhum area for the last 4 (four) years is 5929
hectare which accunts for about 20.75 % decrease in Jhum areas. Similarly, the total
number of Jhumia families also decreased from 68433 nos. during 2010-2011 to that of

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58751 nos. during 2012-2013 which accounts for about 14% decrease during the last 4(four)
years.
4) Expansion in Oil Palm cultivation areas: Out of the total geographical area of Mizoram
i.e, 21, 08,700 hectare, the total potential area for Oilpalm cultivation is recorded as 1,
01,000 hectare (as recommended by Chadha Committee and Rathinam Committee). During
the year 2010-2011, the total Oil palm cultivation area in Mizoram was only 1878 hectare
which constitutes only about 1.8% of the total Oil palm potential areas. During the year
2013-2014, the total area covered under Oil palm in Mizoram is 17588 hectare. Under NLUP,
the total number of Oil palm beneficiaries till date is 2290 nos. and the total area covered
under Oil palm is recorded as 2750 hectare. It may be concluded that out of the total area
covered under Oil palm in Mizoram i.e, 17588 hectare, the contribution of Oil palm
beneficiaries is about 2750 hectare which accounts for about 15.60% since the inception of
NLUP.
5) Improvement in Farm Mechanization Programme: Due to convergence of RKVY & MMA
with NLUP, a large number of Farm Machineries like Power Tillers, Mini Power Tillers were
distributed at subsidized rates which increase the availability of man power thus boosting
up rice production and productivity.
6) Construction of Potential Area Connectivity: Due to the convergence of NLUP with RKVY
Scheme, at present the total length of Potential Area Connectivity (PAC) already constructed
is 625 km. This will also greatly result in increase in the production of rice and other crops in
one way or the other.
ICAR Initiatives
Large scale FLD on maize was organized in eight districts of Mizoram covering an area of
534.50 ha under TSP and NICRA programme in collaboration with KVKs and District
Agriculture Offices of the respective districts. With these interventions, productivity of jhum
field increased from 1.5 ton/ha (maize equivalent yield) to 4.6 ton/ha and their net income
increased from Rs.30,400/ha to Rs. 90,000/ha by selling of maize seed.
Experiencing the grand success, the Centre has strongly recommended to the Government
of Mizoram to include HQPM maize in jhum improvement programme. Accordingly, the
Agriculture Department, Government of Mizoram is taking active role in propagating the
HQPM maize in jhum areas of the state through RKVY and NLUP scheme and every year
about 1500 ha area was brought under the variety. Three Multipurpose Feed Mills have also
been established in Theiva, New Saiha – II and Lunglei under the NAIP project during March
2014 at the cost of Rs. 10 lakh each to meet the challenges of assured market by converting
excess farm produce into quality feeds for animals.
During 2012-2015, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Mizoram Centre has adopted
5cluster villages, viz. Theiva, Baulpuii NG, Km Sawm and Niawhtlang-I & II in Saiha district
under NAIP Component III. Under this project, the centre has introduced soybean variety JS-
388 after the harvest of first crop of maize i.e. in the first week of August in jhum fields to

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increase the cropping intensity and improve the livelihood of Jhumias. Critical inputs such as
quality seed, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, etc. were provided for cultivation of
soybean in an area of 50 hectare involving 100 households. The average seed rate per ha
was 70-75 kg/ha and planted on jhum field with spacing of 45 cm x 10 cm. An average yield
of 1.48 t/ha was obtained from the harvest crop. So, by introducing soybean as 2nd crop
could earn an additional net income of Rs. 50,000 per ha with a benefit cost ratio of 2.98:1.
Realizing the success of the soybean as second crop after maize, the Government of
Mizoram has taken a strong initiative for popularization of the crop in more than 1000 ha
area during the year 2016-17 under the New Economic Development Programme. Initiatives
in post harvest and value addition also being taken up to filled up the gap between the
supply and demand.
Demonstration of Sweet Charlie variety was conducted in Km Sawm village, Saiha district
under NAIP project during August-September 2012-2014. Ten progressive farmers were
selected based on the suitability of resources. An area of 1000 sq.m was selected for each
farmer. After clearing of land, terraces of 1-1.5 meter width of convenient length were
made manually. Ridges were opened with 10-15 cm height from the base of the furrows.
Due to inherent acidity of the soil, liming at 4.5 t/ha was made before laying out of mulch
polythene. Black polythene rolls of 1m width were laid out in terraces which covered both
the ridges and furrows. Planting were done in ridges. Excess water of monsoon and water
from natural streams was collected in Jalkunds for irrigation in winter. Jalkund (40,000 liter
capacity) excavation in selected sites was completed before the onset of monsoon. Farmers
used vermin culture and organic manure through low cost vermin composting unit, which
sustained soil productivity. On an average each farmer is getting 1750 kg of strawberry and
earning a net income of Rs. 1.61 lakhs per annum. After realising the success of beneficiary
farmers, 105 terrace farmers in the area got motivated and have diverted to strawberry
cultivation in small scale. The benefit cost ratio was estimated to be 2.59. At present the
village is declared as strawberry village by the Government of Mizoram.

CONCLUSIONS
Shifting cultivation is not only the major source of livelihoods; it is a way of the life.
Socioeconomic development of the people, those are engaged in the shifting cultivation and
living in the highlands, are fully dependent on its practices to carry their livelihoods
although, per ha yield from shifting cultivation crops is not sufficient.
The high growth of population, particularly in the areas where shifting cultivation is
practiced, has put tremendous pressures on land. The extension of cropped land on the
marginal mountain niche for increasing food production has also reduced the forest and
grassland areas. Further, high soil and land degradation was due to high intensity and
frequency of shifting cultivation.
Among the various determinants of shifting cultivation, economic factors were most
dominating. Thus, diversification towards allied activities particularly dairy, piggery,

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agroforestry and agro-based industries, etc. would provide regular employment and income
to the jhumias and also, reduce human pressure on jhum cultivation. Efforts to popularise
the adoption of various IFS models including high value crops particularly ginger and
soybean would help the jhumia to improve their earnings and way of living.
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Group, Zonal Planning Team, Eastern Himalayan Region, AAU, Jorhat.
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220pp.
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approach and systematic appraisal. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 33 (4):
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Naresh Chandra and Singh RP (1992) determinants and impact of new technology adoption
on tribal agriculture in Bihar. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 47(3):397-403.
Ramakrishnan PS (1992) Shifting Agriculture and Sustainable Development. Man and
Biosphere Series, UNESCO, Paris, 424 pp.
Roy Burman BK and Sharma PS (1970) Tribal agriculture in India. Indian Journal of
Agricultural Economics 25(3): 149-160.
Pezzey J (1989) Economic analysis of sustainable growth and development Environment
Department Working Paper 15, World Bank, Washington DC.

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CONSERVATION IN NORTH EASTERN HILL REGION : VISTAS AND FRONTIERS

Sain K (1978) Economic analysis of shifting cultivation. Indian Journal of Agricultural

Economics 3(34): 8-13.
Sachchidananda (1989) Shifting Cultivation in India. Concept Publishing Company, New
Delhi, 256pp.
Sukhatme BV and Koshal RS (1959) A contribution to double sampling. Journal of Indian
Society of Agricultural Statistics 11:128-144.
Sukhatme PV, Sukhatme BV, Sukhatme S And Ashok C (1984) Sampling Theory of Surveys
with Application. Iowa State University Press, Iowa, 520 pp.
Tisdell C (1988) Sustainable development: differing perspectives of ecologists and developed
countries. World Development 16(3):12-15.
Toky OP and Ramakrishnan PS (1981) Cropping and yields in agricultural systems of the
north-eastern hill region of India. Agro-Ecosystems 2:127-132.
Torquebiau E (1992) Are tropical agroforestry home gardens sustainable?. Agriculture
Ecosystems Environment 41:189-207.
Zarzolien (1987) Religious beliefs and practices among the Hmars through the ages. Ph.D
Thesis(unpublished), Department of History, Manipur University, Canchipur.

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CHALLENGES, SCOPE, AND OPPORTUNITIES OF

JHUM REJUVENATION IN NAGALAND
D. J. Rajkhowa, L. [Link], Sanjoy Kr. Ray, Ph. Romen Sharma,
J. Barman and N. Khumdemo Ezung
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland centre, Medziphema-797106
Shifting cultivation has disappeared from many other areas of the world. On a global scale,
however, the system still constitutes the basis for the livelihood of an estimated 300-500
million people in Central Africa, South America, Oceania, and Southeast Asia, and is
practised on about 30% of all arable land but providing food to only 8% of the world
population. The system is locally called, Bukma in Nepal, Taungya in Myanmar (Burma),
Kaingin and Lading in the Philippines and Jhum in India and Bangladesh. It may be
emphasised that shifting cultivation systems have been much more than a way to manage
soil fertility and agricultural productivity. They were also an essential feature of the
expansion of the peoples and provided an important mechanism for establishing tenurial
rights over vast expanses of land. At the same time, by combining farming activities with
collective access to a wide range of natural resources in the forest ‘granary’, shifting
cultivation systems were able to secure the energy, protein and medicinal components of
the household economy and to establish a vital linkage between biological and social
reproduction. The whole pattern of land use in various parts of the world where shifting
cultivation is practiced derives from this historical legacy.
In India, shifting cultivation has been trapped in a low-level and unstable equilibrium owing
to two equally unviable paradigms that operate at the policy and institutional levels. The
dominant perspective is that shifting cultivation is a wasteful and ecologically dysfunctional
system, detrimental to forests and soil, and hence needs to be eradicated by inducing
cultivators to adopt other forms of livelihood. The other paradigm, which has come into play
more dominantly in the recent period, is that shifting cultivation is a legitimate practice that
ensures the survival of people living on marginal lands and hence should be allowed to carry
on as it is without external influence.
Jhum (Shifting) cultivation is a primitive practice of cultivation in the States of North Eastern
Hill Region of India occupying more than 80% (0.76 m ha) of land out of 0.94 mha of jhum
land in India (Anon., 2011). People involved in such cultivation are called Jhumia. The
practice involves clearing vegetative/forest cover on land/slopes of hills, drying and burning
it before onset of monsoon and cropping on it thereafter. After harvest, this land is left
fallow and vegetative regeneration is allowed on it till the plot becomes reusable for same
purpose in a cycle. Meanwhile, the process is repeated in a new plot designated for jhum
cultivation during next year. Initially, when jhum cycle was long and ranged from 20 to 30
years, the process worked well. However, with increase in human population and increasing
pressure on land, jhum cycle reduced progressively (4-5 years) causing problem of land
degradation and threat to ecology of the region at large (Ramakrishnan, 1985; Singh and

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Bag, 2002). At the same time, shrinkage resources like arable land, water and energy, there
is a dire need to design and develop new methods and cropping pattern of crop production
to meet the increasing demand for food, feed and forage through effective utilization of
jhum lands. The state is 33% deficit in food grain production (Anon., 2014). Small Jumias are
unable to address their diversified domestic needs to sustain normal livings from their
limited land, water and economic resources. This necessitates going for appropriate
alternative and more efficient production systems such as strip cropping of cereals with
legumes which can ensure proper utilization of resources to obtain increased production
per unit area and time on a sustainable basis (Abdul Jabbar et al, 2010).
1. Land use pattern for Jhum cultivation in Nagaland
Shifting Cultivation (Jhum) is a way of life and is to stay in Nagaland. The tremendous
diversity and combination of Jhum practices followed by different tribes and sub-tribes
in state, addressing Jhum continues to remain a bigger challenge for policy makers and
natural resource managers. Owing to the emerging Action Plan for Climate Change that
discusses paradigms on Jhum at the national level that argues for its continuance based
on considerations of food security and socio-cultural institutions embedded with it, as
opposed to the dominant discourse that considers Jhum extremely detrimental to
ecology, the shift in the Jhum at the national policy level are observed. As many as 1.9
lakh families in Nagaland practiced jhum cultivation bringing 94380 ha under this
method of cultivation annually.
The continuance of jhum in the state is closely linked to ecological, socio-economic,
cultural and land tenure systems of tribal communities. Since the community owns the
lands the village council or elders divide the jhum land among families for their
subsistence on a rotational basis. In this approach , we take a close look at jhum
cultivation from the point of view of ecological sustainability and tribal livelihoods,
examine the role of agro-forestry, sericulture and horticulture as
alternatives/supplementary activities and review the current thinking on methods to
upgrade and develop jhum.
1.1: Jhum lands in NEH Region of India
Current Jhum ([Link]) Abandoned Jhum ([Link])
States
2005-6 2008-9 Change 2005-6 2008-9 Change
Ar. Pradesh 1025.07 961.04 -64.02 506.39 1078.52 572.13
Assam 160.15 258.86 98.71 79.41 136.33 56.92
Manipur 752.10 270.31 -481.79 100.10 201.32 101.22
Meghalaya 291.87 272.52 -19.35 157.12 268.11 110.99
Mizoram 1028.53 612.71 -415.82 1589.03 1049.37 -539.66
Nagaland 1239.09 1514.95 275.86 1588.65 842.47 -746.18
Tripura 89.28 33.20 -56.08 164.83 68.99 -95.84
N.E. R 4586.09 3923.59 -662.49 4185.53 3645.11 -540.42
Source: Wastelands atlas of India, 2011

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1.2 : Jhum lands in Nagaland

S.N. Districts Area (ha) under jhum (Aprox.)

1 Kohima 5400
2 Phek 1800
3 Mokokchung 9630
4 Tuensang 10440
5 Mon 16260
6 Dimapur 9410
7 Wokha 10470
8 Zunheboto 9530
9 Paren 6650
10 Kiphire 8730
11 Longleng 6060
Total Nagaland 94380
Source : Statistical Handbook of Nagaland

1.3. District wise major crops in jhum land

1. Zunheboto : Maize is the major cereal crop in Zunheboto District a good numbers of
with mixed cropping of some cereals like paddy, Foxtail Millet and Jobstear, Soybean,
Sesamum, Chilli, Pulses, Oil Seeds and types of Vegetables.
2. Wokha: Paddy is dominant crop and practice dibbling method sowing, with mixed
cropping of Colocasia, Cucurbits, Soybean, Millet, Chilli, Sesamum is practiced.
3. Tuensang: Massive sole crop of Maize. After the harvest of Maize cobs Kholar is sown
taking the stalk of Maize as the staking.
4. Mon: Colocosia is dominant crop along with Paddy and Maize, Millet is grown widely
followed by sowing of Soybean after the harvest of Millet.
5. Kiphire: Maize is the dominant crop and Kholar is taken as a second crop using Maize as
staking.
6. Mokokchung: Paddy is dominant crop in Jhum field mixed with Vegetables and
Cucurbits and root crop etc.
7. Longleng: Massive Jhuming with Maize and Paddy mixed with Colocosia.
8. Kohima: Jhuming is practiced in Tseminyu Sub Division taking Paddy as the major Crop.
9. Scattered of jhuming is done in Dimapur, Kohima, Phek and Peren districts in some
pockets.
1.4: Existing crops management practices and yield for individual growing crops in jhum
Seed Crop
Growing Cultivars Sowing Weed
Crops rate yield
period used method (s) management
(kg/ha) (kg/ha)
Paddy March- Local 75 Broadcasting Salt application 1,907.6
Sep with four hand
weeding
Maize March- Local 40 Dibbling Two hand 1,953.8
July weeding

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Beans March- Local (pole 70 Dibbling Two hand 8,166.7

June type) weeding
Colocasia March- Nagaland 1,200 Line sowing on Three hand 12,000
Dec local contours weeding
Ginger March- Nadia/Local 2,500 Line sowing on Four hand 7,500
Jan contours weeding
Soybean April-July Local 40 Dibbling Two hand 1,220
weeding
Ricebean March- Local 20 Dibbling Three hand 1,095
Aug weeding
Cucumber March- Mokukchung 1.5 Dibbling Two hand
June local weeding
Tapioca May-Jan Local 1,500 Dibbling Two weeding 8,181
Chilli April-Oct Local 0.5 Transplanting Four hand 7,500
weeding

1.5: Availability of food from jhum land in Nagaland

January/ February Chillies (Capsicum ssp), brinjal (Solanum melongena), pumpkin

(Cucurbita moschata), turmeric (Curcuma longa), ginger (Zingiber
officinale), root crops, shoots, leaves and ferns from old jhum plot.
March Baqmboo shoots (Dendrocalamus ssp) from new jhum plot that
come after burning, chillies, brinjal, pumpkin, turmeric, ginger, root
crops, shoots, leaves and ferns from old jhum plot.
April Chillies, brinjal, pumpkin, turmeric, ginger, root crops, shoots,
leaves and ferns from old jhum plot.
May Start harvesting watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), cucumber (Cucumis
sativus), maize (Zea mays) from new jhum and continuing
harvesting from old jhum field.
June Celery leaves (Apium graveolens) and continues to harvest
cucumber and watermelon. No further harvest from old jhum field.

July Harvest maize, beans, millet, pumpkin (Continues for 10 months )

and early rice.

August Main harvest of rice (Oryza sativa) in some area. Continues to

harvest vegetables, pumpkin etc.
September Main harvest of rice in some area. Continues to harvest vegetables,
pumpkin etc.
October / Harvest vegetables, pumpkin, beans, soybean (Glycine max) and
November turmeric

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2. Impact of Jhum cultivation in on Natural resources

In Jhum cultivation practices, land is primarily cleared by cutting of the forests, bushes, etc.
up to stump level during December-January, leaving the slashed materials for drying and
final burning to make the land ready for dibbling of seeds of different crops before the onset
of monsoon. After 2-3 years, the cultivated area is kept abandoned for natural built up of
soil fertility and a new site is selected to repeat the same process. Initially, when the shifting
cultivation originated, it followed the cycle of 15-20 years, enabling the soils to mine
adequate nutrients from the sub-soil and enrich the surface soil through decomposition of
the litter fall. But, over the past few decades, the region has experienced rapid population
growth, which has resulted in expanding cultivation on to marginal land and the cycle
reduced to 3-5 years, which hardly provide time for natural regenerated of soil fertility.
Excessive deforestation coupled with shifting cultivation practices have resulted in
tremendous loss of soil (50.74 to 70.12 t/ha/year), SOC (608.90 to 911.60 kg/ha/year) and
available NPK nutrients (15.97 to 26.93 kg/ha/year) in 1st two years of jhum cultivation in
Nagaland (Ray et al., 2017). At present, 83.6% of soil pH value is falling below pH 5.5 as the
consequences of faulty cultivation practice in Nagaland, now more than twenty nine (29)
blocks of different districts are affected severely by soil acidity problems. Besides soil
acidity, soils of different blocks of Nagaland are also deficient in N (1.8 to 34.4%), P (1.8 to
60.1%), K (0.2 to 56.5%) and Zn (1.1 to 37 %) nutrients (NBSS&LUP, 2014). The problems
accentuated due to growing population pressure leading to reduction of jhum cycle to 3-4
years compared to 10-12 years in past. The ever shortened jhum cycle has put tremendous
pressure on natural resources, resulted in drastic decline in soil productive capacity and has
left several detrimental effects on both forest and environment (Toky and Ramakrishnan,
1981; Arunachalam and Pandey, 2003; Lele and Joshi, 2009). Of late, the system becomes
unsustainable and non-profitable for overall improvement of livelihood and providing food
and nutritional security (Mantel et al., 2006). Because of that huge number of jhum farmer
has now started adopting alternative livelihood occupations (Karim and Mansor, 2011) such
as waging, animal rearing, cultivation of annual mono-crops, extraction and selling of forest
products, etc.
3. Present issues of Jhum lands
Issue I: Reduction in Jhum cycle followed by degradation Jhum cycle reduced to 2-5
years from 20 - 30 years. However, 15-20 years of jhum cycle is sustainable.
Issue II : Heavy dependency on forest for livelihood.
Issue III : Soil acidity , Fe &80 % of the soil are acidic Al toxicity
Issue IV : Loss of soil health. Total soil loss from NEH region : 181 million tones /yr and
it causes
Issue V : Low productivity
Issue VI Low crop intensity & reduced no. of crops : maximum area under monocrop
(73%)
Issue VII: Lack of capital

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Issue VIII : Land tenure system (MN & TR: 100 % by Forest Dept, NL & ML: >88 % by
Individual, AP: 74 % by Civil Authority, MZ : 44 % by Civil Authority, AS : 39 % by
Corporate Society)
Issue IX : Remoteness and Lack of market chain
3.1: Soil erosion calendar of shifting cultivation system

Soil erosion (t/ha)

Month Agricultural operation Erosion problem
Minimum Maximum
January, Plot selection, forest Displacement of loose 0.0 22.4
February, cutting, burning and soil materials to downhill
March clearing of hill slopes and and rolling down of
April sowing begins earthworm casting, soil
erosion as above and
wash due to rains
May Sowing / weeding Heavy soil wash, faint 0.2 61.9
riling at foot hills on slit
deposits
June Weeding Heavy wash of soil 0.2 45.4
aggregates
July Weeding, harvesting Heavy wash of soil 1.8 21.9
begins aggregates, crop root
exposed, farm soil visible
August Harvesting and occasional Soil wash continues 1.0 29.6
weeding
September Harvesting Soil erosion appreciably 0.1 13.8
reduced
October Harvesting Soil erosion appreciably 0.0 2.7
reduced
November Harvesting No erosion, moss turns 0.0 0.0
brackish
December Harvesting/threshing and No erosion 0.0 0.0
carrying to home
Whole year Shifting cultivation on Heavy soil wash 3.3 201.4
total steep slope

4. Key determinants of jhum cultivation

Shifting cultivation practice is associated with a number of limitations and environmental
implications but huge numbers of tribal farmers are still involved in this system. The
cultivation on sloppy land traditionally with locally available seeds, tools and implements,
without taking soil and water conservation measures are the reasons of low crop
productivity. In spite of several limitations, complete eradication of this method of
cultivation is practically impossible because of non-availability of effective livelihood

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alternatives. The ongoing typical jhum farming operational systems viz. crops growing
period, cultivar used, seed rate, methods of sowing, weed management and yield of the
major growing jhum crops (paddy, maize, local beans, colocasia, ginger, soybean, ricebean,
cucumber, topiocca and chilli)
5. Ongoing programmes on jhum improvement
 Integrated land development projects under DSCO, Govt. of Nagaland.
 Integrated watershed development project under DSCO, Govt. of Nagaland.
 Soil and water conservation programme under RKVY under DSCO, Govt. of Nagaland.
 ICAR- projects on jhum improvement under TSP project
6. Constraints and challenges in improving the jhum cultivation system
The jhumias are well aware of the major negative environmental consequences of jhum
cultivation, but they are bound to continue jhum cultivation primarily due to their ethnic
belief of cultural heritage and secondly and more importantly due to lack of alternate
employment opportunities to sustain the family needs throughout the year (Paul et al.,
2017). Some of the tangible constraints in improving jhum cultivation are;
 Traditional mindset and ongoing cultivation with low yielding varieties in a
unintelligent manner for different agriculture and horticultural crops.
 Undulating topography and poor economic status.
 Residue burning.
 Lack of alternative livelihood options
 Cultivation practice is still continuing with ineffective traditional tools and
implements.
 Livestock are always considered as subsidiary income and mostly reared indigenous,
poor productive livestock with poor feeding and management system.
 Lack of industry facilities, agriculture farming system is the only options of earnings
for the farmers.
 Inadequate credit support. Inefficient marketing channels, lack of processing and
value addition facilities and farmers are not getting any premium prices for their
harvest though the product is like organic.
7. The identified Rehabilitation models to address Jhum cultivation:
1. SALT models (Sloping Agriculture Land Technology) / Contour Hedgerow Farming
System Technology (CHFST) (by GBPIHED)
2. SWEET (Sloping Watershed and Environmental Engineering Technology) (SFRI,
Itanagar)
3. Intensive watershed based livestock production system (ICAR)
4. ICAR 3-tier model (ICAR)

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5. NEPED ( Nagaland Environment Protection and Economic Development, Govt. of

Nagaland)
6. Introduction of CASH CROPS: broom grass, beetle leaf and beetle nut, cinnamon,
fruit orchards and floriculture by the farmers (by RCNAEB and SFRI)
8. Approaches to Improve Shifting Cultivation
 Integrated farming system
 Agroforestry
 Contour Bunding / Bench terrace / Contour drenching
 Toposequential Cropping
 Use of HYV with required PoP
 Better fallow management –Cover crops (velvet bean)
 In-situ composting / organic manures
 Crop rotation and introduction of nontraditional crops (wheat, barley, peas etc.)
after traditional crops (rice, maize, millet etc.)
 High value, low volume crops
 Value addition
 Retaining valuable and immature trees / pruning of trees
 Afforestation / Reforestation with MPTs
 Micro enterprises (mushroom, bee-keeping, poultry, aquaculture, duckery, piggery,
goatery, cattle etc.)
9. Improved Varieties for soil acidity:
9.1 Rice varieties :
Kharif : SARS 5, Bhalum 1, 2, & 3, 4 RC Maniphou 6 (Upland) RC Maniphou 7 & RC
Maniphou 11, Lungnila (Lowland)
Pre-kharif : RC Maniphou 4 & RC Maniphou 5, Krishna Hamsha, IR-64
Boro : TRC Borodhan 1, Naveen, Ranjit, Krishna Hamsha
Cold stress - Megha Rice 1, Megha Rice 2, and Megha Rice 3
Iron Toxicity - Sahsarang 1 & Lampanah
Submergence :Swarna sub 1, Shambha mahasuri, IR64 sub1, FR13 A
Flood tolerant : Jalashree, Plaban
Drought : Sahabhagi, Vivek Dhan 82
9.2 Maize varieties : Maize RCM 1-1, Maize RCM 1-3, HQPM 1, RCM 75, 76, DA 61A
9.3 Fruit trees & crops
 High Hills (900-2000m msl)
Fruits: apple, peach, pear, plum, apricot, kiwi and strawberry,
Crops: potato, cabbage, cauliflower, radish and beans

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 Mid Hills (Below 800 m msl)

Fruits: citrus, banana, pineapple, papaya and guava,
Crops: ginger, turmeric, chilli, brinjal, tomato, bean, sweet potato, tapioca
and colocasia
 Foot Hills (Bordering areas of hills)
Fruits: jackfruit, arecanut, black pepper
9.4 Prioritised medicinal plants for NE region for Jhum Improvement
1. Aconitum heterophylum (Atees)
2. Saraca asoca (Ashoka tree; "sorrow-less")
3. Swertia Chirata (Chirata)
4. Nardostachys Jatamansi (Jatamansi, Indian Spikenard)
5. Picrorhiza Kurroa (Picrorhiza, Kutki)
6. Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha)
7. Rauwlfia serpendine (snakeroot, sarpagandha)
8. Tinospora cordifolia (Giloe)
9. Piper longum (Long pepper, Pippali)
10. Embelia ribes (Vai Vidang)
11. Aconitum ferox (Vatsnabh, MeethaVish, Monks hood)
10. Significant achievements of the centre in the areas of jhum improvement
 Numbers of one day, three day, four day and seven days training programme were
pertained to farmers, district officers of agri & allied departments and other extension
workers to disseminate the suitable technologies for improvement of jhum farming.
 Development of location specific Agri-Horti-Animal based integrated farming system
models has been developed at farmer’s field through KVKs of the centre.
 Implemented technology mission for integrated development of horticulture in the state
under HTM.
 Development of Non-Forest Wasteland Development through Agro-Forestry Model for
175 ha area .
 To harvest rainwater judiciously altogether one thirty numbers of silpaulin sheets (250
micron) were distributed under TSP and NICRA project to intensity the cropping during
post rainy season.
 Promoted pulse production in jhum areas through Cluster Frontline Demonstration
under NFSM & TSP.
 The centre continuously supplementing good quality disease free seeds of paddy, maize,
soybean, mustard, lentil, linseed, rajmah, pea, etc. to enhance the productivity in jhum
system.

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 Planting materials of kiwi fruits, ramie, assam lemon, tree bean, alder, orange, litchi,
peach, etc has been distributed every year for better management of jhum fallow by
establishing orchards as sustainable venture.
 To boost up the production of organic input and promotion of organic farming in jhum
areas earthworms culture and portable vermi-bag has been distributed time to time
during the training cum demonstration programes.
 Good quality improved and cross breed chicks, piglets, duck, fish, and medicines of
livestock were also supplied to the jhumias to integrate with jhum farming system to
secure their livelihood.
11. Success stories of jhum improvement
Success Story-I
Livelihood Improvement of Tribal Jhumias through Integrated Farming System Approach-A
Success Story : The intervention of integrated farming system (IFS) was made at Humtso
village of Wokha district. The location of the site lies in between 26006’437” N latitude and
94012’810” E longitude and 727m above the mean sea level. The site is situated at 13 km
North-Western side of the district head quarter. The intervention was made at the field of
Mr. Atheyo Lotha; he is a youth aged 32 years from Humtso village, having 3.2 ha sloppy
land and had been practicing low productive traditional jhum farming. Mixed jhum cropping
system with locally available cultivars and poor soil and water conservation measures was
identified the main constrains for his low farm income. He was not capable to integrate
other agriculture and allied activities because of his limited scientific knowledge in modern
cultivation practices and lack of proper water storage facilities. The IFS intervention was
made with objectives; to improve the existing jhum practices through appropriate scientific
interventions, to establish a suitable agricultural farming system model through sustainable
use of natural resources and to promote integrated farming system (IFS) for enhancing
productivity, improving livelihood and for maintaining soil health.
After giving him proper training at KVK, Wokha and ICAR Nagaland centre the interventions
was made. Feasible soil and water conservation measures like terracing (Fig. 1), bunding, etc
were taken up for 1.6 ha farm areas. Plantation of MPTs and fruits trees carried out
following top to bottom system approach. Encouragement was given to adopt scientific
packages and practices for cultivation of both the kharif and rabi crops/vegetables using
improved crop varieties, to enhance crop productivity, cropping intensity and also for crop
diversity. Two numbers of ponds were managed properly to promote integrated fish cum
pig (12 nos.) and integrated fish cum duck (50 nos.) farming (Fig. 3 & 4) to obtain additional
farm income. Vanaraja chicks (100 nos.) were also introduced as a component of IFS to
meet the family egg and meat requirements. Cultivation of fodder crops like maize
(HQPM1), cassava, colocasia were promoted to supplement feeding requirements for
livestock. Emphasis was given on daily feeding of poultry and piggery by using both the
commercial as well as local available feeds. Year round mushroom was taken up as

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secondary agriculture to meet the family requirement. Low-cost portable vermicomposting

unit was also demonstrated to recycle farm waste.

Fig.1 Construction of terraces for SWC. Fig.2 Cultivation of winter vegetable as 2nd crop in terraces

Fig.3 Promoted integrated pig cum fish farming Fig. 4 Integrated duck cum fish farming.

Crop productivity and cropping intensity increased significantly. Intervention of fodder crops
reduced the feeding requirements by 31.6 to 44.7% for poultry and piggery. Overall
interventions of crops, livestock, fishery and secondary farming increased employment
opportunity (603 man-days) as compared to traditional jhum farming (72 man-days).
Adoption of the soil and water conservation measures and better nutrient management
practices improved soil health resulted in overall enrichment in soil organic carbon (SOC),
available nitrogen and phosphorus status. Intervention of poultry, piggery, dairy, fishery,
duckery, mushroom, vermicomposting and fruits in cropping cycle provided 6.54 times
better income than traditional jhum farming. It could be concluded that promotion of
integrated farming system (IFS) is a viable intervention for the tribal jhumias for overall
improvement in productivity, income, employment, food, nutritional and ecological security
through sustainable use of natural resources.

Success Story-II
Promotion of Artificial Rainwater Harvesting Pond Based Integrated Farming System for
Tribal Jhumias-A New Initiative : The study was undertaken at three distinct jhum
cultivating villages (yanthamo, Longsa and Riphyim) of Wokha district in Nagaland, India
(Table 2). Acute scarcity of water during post-rainy season is one of the major constraints
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for intensification and diversification of agricultural activities in jhum areas for overall
livelihood improvement of the jhumias. Moreover, 78% of total rainfall concentrates during
the four months (June-Sept.) of the year, leaving no or little rain during post rainy period.
This calls for concretive efforts for massive rain water harvesting and its efficient utilization
on improving the existing jhum practices through scientific interventions (water harvesting,
crop diversifications, inclusion of animal and fishery components as well as secondary
agriculture) for overall improvement in productivity, income, employment, food, nutritional
and ecological security through sustainable use of natural resources.
Different interventions such as provisioning rainwater harvesting (8.75 lakh) structure (size;
35m x 10m x 2.5m), establishing suitable agricultural models (top to bottom approaches),
involving planting of MPTs (tree bean, alder) at top hill, planting of fruits (litchi, Assam
lemon, mandarin orange, papaya, banana) and cultivation of seasonal crops and vegetables
in middle and bottom hill. Livestock components (poultry and piggery) and fishery was
promoted along with secondary agricultural interventions of vermicomposting and
mushroom for additional farm income. The interventions were replicated in three different
jhum areas and soil tested before interventions made (Table 2).
Table 2. Interventional locations and soil characteristics.
Location Tex- Initial soil status
Sites pH SOC
Latitude Longitude Altitude (m) ture N P K
Yanthamo 26003.753' 094018.195'
973 SL SA VH L L MH
N E
0 0
Longsa 26 04.029' 094 14.936'
1174 Si L EA VH L M MH
N E
0 0
Riphyim 26 12.282‘ 094 15.748‘
536 CL EA VH L L MH
N E
SL= Sandy loam, Si L=Silty Loam, CL=Clay Loam, SA= strongly acidic, EA=Extremely acidic,
L=Low, M=Medium, VH=Very high, MH= Moderately high.
The study clearly revealed the enhancement of yield of cereal (29%), oilseed (40.7%), pulse
(15.1%), vegetable (298.4%), spice (53.6%) and fruit (9.92%) crops. Intervention of fodder
crops reduced in feeding requirement of poultry (28.6%) and piggery (39.3%). Promotion of
IFS increase overall net income (Rs. 2,46,160/-) as compared traditional income of jhum
farming (Rs. 52,248/-). Overall interventions of crops, livestock, fishery and secondary
farming enlarged employment opportunity (506 man-days) as compared to traditional jhum
farming (72 man-days). Adoption of the farming system there was improvement in soil
health resulted in overall enrichment in soil organic carbon (SOC), available N & P status but
soil pH and available K content deceased or more or less remains unchanged. Therefore,
promotion of rainwater harvesting, crop diversification, inclusion of animal and fishery
components as well as secondary agriculture is viable intervention for the tribal jhumias for
overall improvement in productivity, income, employment, food, nutritional and ecological
security through sustainable use of natural resources.

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Fig.5 Digging of artificial pond. Fig. 6 Harvested water in artificial pond (8.75 lakh litre).

Significant achievements made by the institute:

 Flagship programme on Jhum improvement for food security of tribal farmers through
sustainable agriculture has been undertaken in Nagaland. About 61% of the total
households of the state practice shifting cultivation in about 1.00 lakh hectare of land
annually thereby exposing about 5.65% of the total geographical area of the state to soil
erosion hazards. The centre targets to improve jhum cultivation practices through
inclusion of improved crop varieties, RCT and agro-forestry interventions in farmers
participatory mode..
 Popularization of location specific Integrated Farming System: Based on the evaluation
and profitability of the IFS model developed by the centre, the centre targets to
replicate the models with appropriate modification suiting the location in other districts
of Nagaland.
 Promotion of rain water harvesting and its efficient utilization for higher water
productivity : In Nagaland, more than 75% of the rainfall (2000mm) is concentrated
during the period of June-September which constraints crop intensification,
diversification. Small and fragmented land holding, poor investment capacity and lack of
adequate knowledge about improved agricultural practices further concentrate the
problems of poor productivity and profitabilities of agriculture sector. Farm
mechanisation is also yet to start for reducing dragger to the farmers and timely
ensuring agriculture practices. To mitigate the problem, the centre envisaged blending
technology demonstration, capacity building and linkage establishment in systematic
and holistic approach to transform rural economy to a profitable enterprise. A such,
ICAR Nagaland Centre conceived the training and demonstration programme under
National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) and Tribal Sub Plan
(TSP)on promotion of water harvesting structures in Dimapur, Peren, Wokha, Longleng,
Kiphire and Tuensang districts of Nagaland for increasing the cropping intensity, crop
diversification and farm profitability. Around 3500 farmers from the different districts of
Nagaland, Dimapur, Peren, Wokha, Longleng, Kiphire and Tuensang were trained for
resource conservation technologies, water harvesting and its efficient utilization through

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sprinkler and drip irrigation. A total of number of 15 large (8.75 lakh litres capacity), 3
Medium (2.0 lakh litres capacity), 52 Small (63,000 litres capacity) and 110 very small
(30,000 lakh litres capacity) water harvesting structures were developed for
demonstration at farmer’s field. The impact for the development of water harvesting
structures was most significant. In this programme all total 20.3 million litres of water
was harvested and the farmers used the water during lean period (November- January)
for multiple purpose like, production of winter vegetables, fishery, piggery etc. and
could increase their farm income 200% over the previous years.
 Promotion of secondary and tertiary agriculture including post harvest management:
The state is bestowed with indigenous fruits and vegetables which are having high
medicinal values. The centre targets to improved secondary and tertiary agriculture
includes postharvest management of crops for enhancing farm profitability through
training and demonstration.
 Distribution and popularization of mushroom spawn & cultivation, improved breed of
piglets and chicks under pig farming and backyard poultry rearing in Nagaland:
Promotion of oyster mushroom cultivation for small and marginal farmers of Nagaland
was undertaken by supplying quality mushroom spawn to SHGs/rural unemployed
youths/NGOs. Dissemination of oyster mushroom cultivation technology through
method demonstration was given to 577 numbers of farmers during which 14228 nos. of
packets were supplied. The centre also guided one young entrepreneur in establishing
spawn production unit to meet the spawn demand as secondary sources of income to
Jumias. The scientific rearing of pig and poultry birds was popularized among the
farmers of Nagaland as well as other north eastern states. A total of 241698 nos. of
chicks and 2847 nos. of piglets were distributed from the centre. Scientific practice of AI
in Pig enhanced the production of piglets from superior breeding stock available under
Mega Seed Project on Pig is growing in popularity among the farmers.
 Promotion of protected cultivation and value addition of Horticultural crops: Scientific
cultivation of various fruits and vegetable crops like Banana, Litchi, Arecanut, Guava,
Pineapples, Citrus, Coconut, Kiwi, Tomato, Chilli, Cole crops, Large cardamom, Turmeric,
King Chilli, etc have been taken up for orchard development as well as part of Inter
cropping and multistoried cropping system models. Protected cultivation has been
standardized for quality production of various vegetables and ornamental plants.
Growing of high value crops like capsicum, king chilli, tomato, flowers like lilium,
gerberas, anthuriums orchids and roses under naturally ventilated polyhouse and
shadenet houses have been popularized. Black polythene mulch technology is gaining
popularity among pineapple growers in Nagaland because of high productivity, quality
produce and its economic viability. A number of value added products from Jackfruit,
Citrus, Mango, different vegetables like tomato, chilli, tuber crops, mushroom etc. have
been developed. For dissemination of technologies, region and crop specific training and

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demonstration programmes are being taken up to enhance farm profitability on

sustainable basis and to ensure nutritional security.
 Production of quality seeds, planting materials and improved breeds of pig and
poultry: As availability of seed is the major constraint in the state, the centre targets to
produce seed production programme in farmers’ participatory approach to cater the
needs of the seed in time. The centre targets to promote mushroom cultivation and AI in
Pig on large scale. the centre also targets to increase the production of quality piglets
and chicks so that more beneficiaries can be covered and trained on scientific rearing in
the next 5 years.
12. Strategies
There is a need to support the jhumia families with some secondary employment
opportunities, such that they can support their livelihood needs throughout the year. The
same in turn will be a great stride towards curbing the menace of ever shortening of fallow
period, and thus conserving forest and environment. Large scale government support and
initial investment to integrate allied employed opportunities e.g., scientific bee keeping,
mushroom cultivation and commercial poultry farming may be of immense help. Promotion
of bamboo and other abundantly available local resources based handicrafts may be a viable
option for the same. Apart from utilizing to the highest extent alternate land use options
including agroforestry and non-traditional land use practices, dedicated and structured
educational drives, demonstrations and training efforts by the grassroots level
organizations, like Gram Panchayat, KVK and Agricultural Technology Management Agency
(ATMA) to explore allied and non-farm employment opportunities will add to the
sustainability of jhum based livelihood and at the same time help in restoring the length of
fallow, forest and environment.
Conclusion
The mountain eco-systems of these regions with shifting cultivation practice have to be
made ecologically sustainable. Formulating an eco-development plan for the region with
environmental sustainability, could consider for improving jhum practice and land use
system. Unscientific agricultural practices are at the loss of biodiversity resources; estimates
indicate that one unit of energy in agronomic production costs loss of greater energy from
the forests. However, farmers Participatory and convergence approach with new land use
policy for location specific and farmers centric technologies are required for rehabilitation
the Jhum practice.
References
Statistical Handbook of Nagaland, 2015, Directorate of Economic and Statistics,
Government of Nagaland

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SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN TRIPURA: CHALLENGES,

PROSPECTS AND ALTERNATIVES
B. K. Kandpal and S. N. Bhowmik
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Tripura Centre, Lembucherra-799210
1. Introduction
Jhum or shifting cultivation is one of the primitive, rainfed and subsitance farming practices
of tribals usually in the hills and slopes of tropical rainforest areas of the world including
Central Africa, Central America and Southern Asia. The origin of shifting cultivatin can be
traced back to Neolithic period (7000-8000 BC) when civilization gets transformed from
hunters and gatherers to food producers. And at Tripura, Jhum farming was the only form of
agriculture known till recently. Probably, plough cultivation was introduced in Tripura with
migrant settlers from adjoining districts of Bengal during 15th century.
Jhumias are tribal’s who practice shifting cultivation or jhumming. At present Tripura houses
19 tribal groups and has a big tribal population near about 31.1 % (census 2001) (Table 1).
Jhum cultivation to the tribes of Tripura has over the years been not just an economic
activity; rather it is a way of life. “The whole process of jhumming is clean and keeps the
tribal in the open, enjoying the cool mountain breeze, singing and dancing. Over the years
the jhum economy has undergone many changes as land available for jhumming has
decreased; leading to a shortening of the jhum cycle and a fall in incomes.
In 1984, the Central Forestry Commission estimated that 6.7 million ha of cultivable area
was affected by jhum in India. According to the Task Force on Shifting Cultivation, as
many as 43000 families in Tripura practiced jhum cultivation bringing 22,300 ha under this
method of cultivation annually (Table 2).
Table 1:Tribals in Tripura
SL. Name of Name of
Population Percentage SL. No Population Percentage
No. Tribe Tribe
1. Tripuri 250382 55.57 11 Garo 5559 1.23
2. Reang 64722 14.36 12 Munda 5347 1.18
3. Jamatia 34192 7.59 13 Orang 3428 0.78
4. Chakma 28662 6.36 14 Santal 2222 0.49
5. Halem 19076 4.23 15 Khasia 491 0.11
6. Noatia 10297 2.28 16 Bhil 169 0.04
7 Mog 13273 2.94 17 Chimal Nil Nil
8 Lushai 3672 0.81 18 Bhutia 3 0.001
9 Uchai 1061 0.21 19 Lepcha 175 0.04
10 Kuki 7775 1.72 Total 450506 100.00
Source: Government of Tripura, Department of Tribal welfare

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Table 2: Shifting cultivation in N.E. Region

Annual area Fallow Minimum area under Families
under shifting period shifting cultivation one practicing
States
cultivation (in years) time or other (sq. km) shifting
([Link]) cultivation
Arunachal Pradesh 700 3-10 2100 54000
Assam 696 2-10 1392 58000
Manipur 900 4-7 3600 70000
Meghalaya 530 5-7 2650 52290
Mizoram 630 3-4 1890 50000
Nagaland 190 5-8 1913 116046
Tripura 223 5-9 1115 43000
Total 3869 - 14660 443336
(1.5 Per cent) (5.7 per cent)
Source: RTFSC (1983), Basic Statistics of NER, 2002, Government of India, North Eastern
Secretariat, Shillong. p. 42.
2. Status of jhum cultivation in Tripura
Shifting cultivation has been the main source of livelihood for most tribes of North-eastern
hills including Tripura hills and a sizeable portion of population in the hills of Tripura still
depending on jhum cultivation. Several agencies at different point of time presented
variable jhum coverage in Tripura (Table 2 & 3). According to the Task Force on Shifting
Cultivation, Ministry of Agriculture (1983), the annual area under shifting cultivation was
223 sq. km, fallow period is 5-9 years, minimum area under shifting cultivation one time or
other was 1115 sq. km and number of families practicing shifting cultivation was 43000 but
as per the estimates of Forest Survey of India (1999), the cumulative area (million ha) of
shifting cultivation (1987 to 1997) was 0.06. The total area under shifting cultivation in
Tripura in accordance to the survey conducted by National Remote Sensing Agency (2003) is
395.26 km2. However National Forestry Commission (2006) opined that the 221 km2 of
dense forest and 163 km2 of open forest area being used for jhum cultivation in Tripura.

Table 3: Area under shifting cultivation in Tripura

Survey Agency Area (km2)
1. Task-Force Ministry of Agriculture, 1983 223
2. Satpathy et al, Ministry of Rural Development, 2003 1080
3. National Remote Sensing Agency, 2003 395.26
a) Abandoned jhum 110.37
b) Operational jhum 284.89
4. Forest area under jhum (1987-1997), Forest Survey of India, 1999 600
5. Forest cover affected by jhum, State of Forest Report, 2003, National
Forestry Commission, 2006
a) Dense forest 221
b) Open forest 163
Source: Tiwari, 20053

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Almost all the hilly areas of the state fall within the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District
Council (TTAADC), which comprises 7132.56 sq km and form about 67.98% of the State. Of
the total area ADC, as much as 5911 sq km (82.87%) is forest land under the effective
control/ management of the State Forest Department. As per legal status, these forests
comprise of (a) 3582 sq km of Reserved Forests (RF), (b) 258 sq km of Proposed Reserved
Forests (PRF) and (c) 2071 sq km of Protected Forests (PF), re-designated as Unclassified
Government Forests (UGF). The UGF outside the ADC area is only 125 sq km. On strict legal
term, no one would be allowed to do shifting cultivation in forest areas, unless otherwise
proven that it is needed as part of the forest management practice. On the other hand, the
ADC is charged with the constitutional mandate of “ Regulation of the practice of shifting
cultivation”[Link] are 40,000 jhumia families within ADC areas, of which 21,099 families
reside within the Reserve Forest areas (Table 4).

Table 4: Jhumia statistics of Tripura

No. of families dependent on jhum
Particulars
Fully dependent Partially dependent Total
Tripura state 21,677 33,372 55,049
ADC area 15,830 24,171 40,001
Outside ADC area 5,847 9,201 15,048
Reserve Forest (RF) 8,440 12,659 21,099
RF within ADC 5,622 9,082 14,704
RF outside ADC 2,818 3,577 6,395
Source: State Agriculture Research Centre, Department of Agriculture, Government of
Tripura, Agartala (2005)
Studies by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Tripura5 showed that the 40001
jhumias are practicing Jhum in 1,08,842 ha land and jhums are mostly concentrated in
Dhalai and North Districts (Table 5).

Table 5: Jhumia and jhum area statistics in accordance to the districts of Tripura
Total jhumia Total jhumia Jhum area sown in Total area affected
Districts
population households 2004-05 (ha) by jhum (in ha)
West 38,723 7,569 2,397 15,120
South 65,485 12,713 4,448 28,080
Dhalai 63,568 11,824 5,008 32,400
North 41,424 7,895 5,272 33,242
Total 209,200 40,001 17,125 1,08,842
Source: State Agriculture Research Centre, Department of Agriculture, Government of
Tripura, Agartala (2005)

3. Characteristics of jhum cultivation

In the local parlance of Tripura, a jhumia is a tribal who strictly follow shifting cultivation or
jhuming. Under this form of cultivation hill slopes are cleared of their vegetable cover which
is set on fire and several crops sown. After harvesting the crops from the field, jhumias shift
to other land for cultivation. The essentials of jhum cultivation are clearing and burning of
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surface vegetation before planting6. Plots located in hill forest lands are normally chosen for
jhum cultivation. Shrubs and creepers are cleared, and smaller trees are cut. After the
clearing process, which usually takes place in the month of April and May, the cleared jungle
is left to dry under the sun, in order to be burned later on. The ‘singing’ raindrops thereof
bring the villages into a state of activity for jhum cultivation. Each adult member carries to
the field a small basket filled with mixed seeds of food grains, vegetables and cash crops.
The above crops will be ready for harvesting from July to December.7
Jhumias adopt mixed cropping and the mixture of crops varies from tribe to tribe within a
region. Among the food grains the coarse varieties of rice, maize, millet, and small millets
are the principal crops while cotton, ginger, pigeon pea, rapeseeds, sesamum, pineapple
and jute are important cash crops, and soybean, potato, pumpkins, cucumbers, yams,
tapioca, chillies, beans, onion, arum are vegetables grown in jhum fields. In fact, the choice
of crop is consumption oriented, and the jhumias aims at growing everything that he needs
for his family consumption. These crops harvest at different periods, thereby providing the
tribes with varied food for nearly six to nine months in a year (Table 6). In addition, soil
exhausting crops, e.g., rice, maize, millets, cotton, etc., and soil enriching crops, e.g.,
legumes, are grown together. This practice has many direct and indirect advantages. The
same jhum land is cropped by the community for two years, thereafter; the land is
abandoned to recuperate. Occasionally, some residual crops are collected from the
abandoned fields. Further, consecutive cropping is generally observed for two years in a
cleared piece of land. As one patch every year is abandoned, a new patch is cleared. Thus,
two patches are cultivated simultaneously every year, and these two patches are generally
quite at a distance from each other.

Table 6: Rotation of crops in Tripura jhum8

First Year Second Year
Kharif Rabi Kharif Rabi
(i) Millets , maize, vegetables, --- Maize, paddy, jute, ---
cotton, sesamum, pigeon vegetables, ginger
pea, ginger
(ii) Paddy, vegetables, cotton --- Millets, maize, vegetables ---
(iii) Maize, millets, jute, --- Small millets, vegetables ---
vegetables
Rice is the predominant crop in jhums of Tripura. The percent share of the jhum rice area to
the total rice area of the state during 2008-09 to 2012-13 increased from 5.9 to 7.2 (Table
7). The kharif rice area of the state for the period 2016-17 is 205.2 (000 ha) with 8.2 percent
area for jhum rice. The advance estimate for the kharif rice area for Tripura for the period
2017-18 is 203000 ha with 7.8 percent shall be the share for jhum rice9. However, a gradual
decline in the acreage but improvement in yield of jhum rice has been observed at Tripura
(Table 8).

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Table 7: Percentage of jhum rice area to total rice area9

Total rice area Percentage of jhum rice to
Year
(000 ha) total rice area
2008-09 243.0 5.9
2009-10 245.5 5.9
2010-11 264.6 6.2
2011-12 266.0 6.4
2012-13 254.7 7.2

Table 8: Area, production and yield of jhum rice during 2011-169

Area Production
Period Yield (kg/ha)
(000ha) (000MT)
2011-12 17.2 17.6 1020
2012-13 18.4 19.0 1035
2013-14 19.5 20.5 1050
2014-15 17.9 19.0 1066
2015-16 16.5 17.7 1072

The continuance of jhum in the state is closely linked to ecological, socio-economic,

cultural and land tenure systems of tribal communities. Since the community owns the
lands the village council or elders divide the jhum land among families for their
subsistence on a rotational basis. Various religious ceremonies, based on traditional faith
and belief of each tribe, are performed both prior to harvest and post-harvest. The practice
of jhum is wide-spread among the Reang, Tripuri, Chakma, Halam and Lushai tribes in the
state. (Table 9). Tripuri are the most dominant tribe to be involved among the five major
tribes followed by Reang, Chakma, Lushai and Halam. Dhalai district houses 35 percent
households of jhumia followed by North (26), West (23) and South (16) of the total jhumia
households of the state maximum concentration of jhumias are seen in Chawmanu,
Damboornagar, Mungiakami and Dasda RD Block. Some non-tribals of the West Tripura
district have adopted shifting cultivation as a means of livelihood.
The jhum cycle is influenced by the pressure of population, nature and density of forests,
terrain, angle of slope, texture of soil and the average annual rainfall. Areas of sparse
population generally have longer jhum cycle (15-25 years), while areas with high density of
population have shorter jhum cycle (5-10 years). The patches of land for shifting cultivation
are not selected in any given order or sequence. There is always a room for choice. The
period of consecutive cropping and fallowing differs from region to region and from tribe to
tribe. Presently, with the increase in population and being somewhat staked down to
smaller areas, a shifting cultivator has not got much choice left to shift about. His world has
become small, he has to be content moving about in narrow circles and the circle is
becoming increasingly smaller with the passage of time. In brief, in the earlier decades, the
period before which the jhumias returned to cultivate the same plot was quite long. This

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was partly due to the limited population and partly to the better fertility of soil which used
to be rested for nearly thirty to forty years. The tribes in which the jhum cycle is around five
years are facing serious problems of undernourishment and their ecosystems are fast losing
their resilience characteristics.

Table 9: District wise distribution of jhumia households of different tribal communities

during 2007
Tribe North Dhalai West South Tripura
Tripuri 552 5197 5785 2024 13558
Reang 4518 3252 81 1328 9178
Noatia 0 21 59 47 127
Chakma 578 860 0 400 1838
Halam 269 236 182 399 1086
Jamatia 0 221 103 94 418
Mog 17 14 1 208 240
Garo 4 1 32 0 37
Lushai 1434 39 0 0 1473
Kuki 9 1 10 0 20
Munda 2 0 80 0 82
Uchai 0 0 0 12 12
Orang 4 0 20 0 24
Bil 1 0 0 0 1
Khasia 3 0 16 0 19
Santhal 0 2 1 6 9
Others* 1 10 149 2 153
Total 7392 9854 6520 4520 28286
*Includes non-tribals and unidentified groups
Source-Compiled from the survey undertaken by the Dept. of Forests, Govt. of Tripura3

4. Impact of shifting cultivation in Tripura

The impact of jhum is having good and bad aspects which are as follows-
Positive aspects of shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation facilitates the tribal people to preserve their rich cultural traditions and
diversity as jhum cultivation is interwoven into the cultural and tradition of near about 19
tribes those inhabit basically in the hilly parts of Tripura especially in Dhalai and North
Tripura district. Shifting cultivation is a labor intensive and low subsidy based farming
system, provides an assured source of food production and security to the nourishment
level of the jhumias in the hilly parts of Tripura. Shifting cultivation in its traditional form
may also put in towards the conservation of agro-biodiversity, principally the native food
crops like rice, various vegetables and even different fruits. They usually cultivate 8-10
varieties of crop items in a particular jhum land, in that way they can produce more food in
a single time-frame. Shifting cultivation practices in Tripura also reveals an effective form of
landuse pattern as they are using limited space for optimum production in a specific time. In
the process, a small piece of jhum land accomplishes almost all the needs of jhumias and
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reduces his reliance with other allied activities or external inputs. Besides burning and
slashing in the jhum plots, other cultural practices are followed like controlling the weeds,
soil-borne pathogens and other diseases of crops. Jhumias also practice their indigenous
religious customs like offering their Gods and Goddesses during harvest. Negligible
interventions of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides by jhumias in Tripura may lead to
protection of soil health partially. Therefore, jhum cultivation is having some positive
aspects and Govt. of Tripura allows tribal people to do jhum to some extent but through
improved and modern ways as jhum provides base for low external input agricultural
technologies.
Negative aspects of jhum cultivation
Problems relating to shifting cultivation through slash and burn are not new in Tripura. As
early as 1876, W.W. Hunter in his book, ‘Statistical Account of the Hill Tipperah’ had marked
that the “regression of forests had already started in hills because of shifting cultivation
practiced by almost the whole population numbering less than 50000 who were all tribals”.
Jhum cultivation starts with cutting and burning of trees and leads to degradation of forest
or deforestation in the hilly areas where they used the land to do jhum. Deforestation has
negative effects on the environment which ultimately leads to climate change which
nowadays a matter of global concern. Deforestation may also affect the flora and fauna
existing in the forest. One of the most vital negative environmental impacts of shifting
cultivation is the damage that causes to the soil system. It accelerates the soil erosion and
nutrient loss manifold. If the total area under shifting cultivation in Tripura is considered
67000 ha, the account of soil and nutrient loss in Tripura annually is presented in table
11.11Out of the available nutrients, the loss in thge available nitrogen constitute 40% and
the total quantity from 67000 ha of land is 1662 to and such a huge qauntyty annually lost is
valued as Rs. 216 lakh in terms of nitrogenous fertilizers. Erosion is slight in soils well
covered by dense grasses or forest but is enormous from steep, poorly covered jhum lands
as reported in Megaha;laya (Prasad and Sharma, 1994).

Table 10: Soil and nutrient loss in shifting cultivation site of Tripura11
Parameters Soil/nutrient loss (ton)
Soil 49.6 lakh
Organic matter 1.42 lakh
Available nutrients 4154
The second year of jhum cycle is comparatively hazardous than the first year from the point
of soil erosion. The possible implication of actual soil loss vis-a-vis productivity loss is given
in Table 11 (Higgins et al. 1982). Normally soil loss tolerance ranges from 7.5 to 12 t/ha/.
These ares are exposed to hazaerds odf intense rains and often on terrains which promotes
erosion. However, most of the areas have been under use of centuries and are therefore,
subjected to different degrees of degradation. Since 50 t/ha corresponds to a soil depth of
reduction of only 3-4mm, soil losses of such magnitude as reported are hardly noticed by
the shifting cultivator even they are convinced of their occurrence. The loss ofv 6the top few

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millimetres of shallow depth soil, where organic carbon and biological activity are
concentrated, may signioficantly decrease soil fertility and crop yield.

Table 11: Relationship between soil erosion and decline in land productivity11
Soil loss (t/ha) Anticipated productivity losses
<12 No change in land productivity
12-15 50% of area of very productive land shows a diminishing trend to
productive land, the remainder remains unchanged
50-100 100% of all productive land shows a diminishing trend by one
productive class
101-200 50% of the area of all productive land is converted to suitable land, the
remainder shows diminishing trend by one productive class
>201 The entire area of productive land is converted to not suitable class
The changes in the soil properties of shifting cultivation sites need to be documented and
regularly monitored to bring about an improvement in the areas under the practice of
shifting cultivation over the centuries. As such soil samples were collected over a period of
1-3 years in Tripura and were analysed (Datta et al, 2001). Soils were acidic with pH ranging
from 4.5 to 5.1 (Table 13). A decline in 0.1 to 0.2 units was registered with the rise in shifting
cycle from 1 to 3 years. The exchange acidity varying from 1.95 to 2.51 showed arise from
1st to 3rd year of shifting cycle. Due to the rapid mineralization over the shifting cycle,
organic carbon underwent rapid oxidation as noted from the decrease in the values from
7.3 to 6.5 and 8.3 to 6.1 g/kg in soil sites under study. Bulk density remained unchanged but
water holding capacity showed a decline from 34 to 32% and 40 to 35% probably to
reduction in organic matter and erosion of soil finer soil fraction from the soil matrix. On the
other hand, cation exchange capacity (CEC) showed a decreasing trend primarily due to
erosive loss of soil clay and organic matter. Exchangeable cations underwent decline with
the rise in shifting cycle owing to leaching losses. But base saturation showed an increasing
trend mainly due to sharp decline in CEC.

Table 12: Effect of shifting cultivation on soil physic chemical properties11

West Tripura South Tripura
Properties
I* II III I II III
pH(H2O) 4.70 4.60 4.50 5.10 5.10 5.00
Exchangeable acidity [c mol (p+)/kg] 2.33 2.30 2.46 1.95 2.31 2.51
Organic carbon (g/kg) 7.30 6.70 6.50 8.30 7.00 6.10
3
Bulk density (mg/m ) 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.2 1.30 1.30
Water holding capacity (%) 34 32 32 40 35 35
Cation exchange capacity [c mol (p+)/kg] 4.22 3.86 3.38 4.29 4.20 3.33
Exchangeable cations [c mol (p+)/kg] 0.84 0.76 0.75 1.10 1.37 1.06
Base saturation (%) 20.40 19.90 22.40 25.80 32.10 34.40
st nd rd
*I, II, III, denote 1 , 2 and 3 year of shifting cycle

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Data on nutrient availability in soils under shifting cultivation are presented in table 13.
Available nitrogen status of which varied from high to medium showed a sharp decline with
the rise in shifting cycle. Available phosphorus (Bray P/1) was low. Available potassium
varying from low to medium also showed a decreasing trend in soils under shifting
cultivation. The DTPA extractable Fe/Mn underwent a inconsistent variation but the soil s
were found to contain adequate amounts of theses cations.

Table 13: Nutrient availability in soils influenced by shifting cultivation.11

West Tripura South Tripura
Nutrient
I* II III I II III
N (kg/ha) 589 561 522 567 558 511
P (kg/ha) 1.89 3.59 2.70 4.34 6.21 5.31
K (kg/ha) 150 125 134 259 319 203
Fe (mg/kg) 47 87 49 36 51 53
Mn (mg/kg) 23 20 21 20 20 21
*I, II, III, denote 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of shifting cycle
Besides causing air pollution due to burning, shifting cultivation is responsible for loss of
useful soil fauna and microbes. Burning lowers soil acidity, organic matter and total
nitrogen, but enhances phosphorus and cations. The maintenance of soil fertility in jhum
area is a serious problem in places where jhum cycle is very short. These result in declining
of jhum productivity. So ten years jhum fallow or 10 years cycle is vital for bamboo forest
rejuvenation and helps to accumulate sufficient plant nutrients in the field. So minimum 10
years jhum cycle maintenance is most importance of recovery for forest eco-system.
5. Key determinants of jhum cultivation
Adjustment problem with non-tribes in the settled area: Since tribal are very much fond of
God hence they face difficulty for building worship place of a particular religion when there
is mixed population. The tribal of Tripura are Hindus, Christians or Buddhists besides other
religious group where they live. Socio-economic conditions of the tribal also differ from the
other neighbouring non-tribes.
Lack of sufficient attraction towards their colonial home: a. Colonies are not set according
to the religion and culture of the tribes. b. Rehabilitation of the tribal family is far away
from their original habitat c. Lack of social environment and freedom in the rehabilitation
area. d. Lack of special training for plain land cultivation.
Financial problem: Government schemes are not enough to make them financially reliable
to stay in the new colony for initial years. According to the rehabilitation schemes in the
year 1953-54, each family was allotted 5 acres of arable land over and above a grant of Rs.
500/- for purchasing the essential requirements to support cultivation. Out of this
cultivation later on rubber plantation was one of the significant cultivation which was
provided to them. But it took at least 7-8 years to turn into a mature productive plant to
provide the earning. But they were neither economically strong nor skilled enough to go for
an alternative source of earning during that period.

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Lack of Proper Education: Available data on dropouts of students in the state revealed
existence of educational wastage both at the State and national level. Dropout rate at the
primary stage was estimated to be significantly higher in schedule tribes than the general
category of pupils and scheduled caste. Same trends were also observed in the middle and
secondary stages. This proves the unsteady as well as pathetic conditions of the tribal
communities in India.
6. Jhum developmental programmes in Tripura
Problems related to shifting cultivation through slash and burn are not new to Tripura. As
early as 1876, W. W. Hunter12 in his book ‘Statistical Account of the Hill Tipperah” had
remarked that the regression of forests had already started in hills because of shifting
cultivation practiced by almost the whole population numbering less than 50,000 who were
all tribals”. Even successive Maharajas of Tripura were genuinely concerned that the
practiced be continued or that the tribals should be drawn to settled agriculture in place of
jhum.
Tripura has fairly long history of jhum control and jhumia rehabilitation programmes.13 The
first plan was drawn up 1953-54 in which each jhumia family was allotted 5 acres of arable
land and a grant of Rs. 500/- for land development and purchase of essentials to support
settled farming. From this period upto 1955-56, the jhumias were settled sporadically. From
1956-57 onwards, the approach of resettlement or rehabilitation was on compact colony so
that other basic amenities can be provided. Tripura has implemented (and/or is
implementing) the following various programmes and schemes for rehabilitation of jhumias
and jhum land, involving at least 8 various departments or agencies of the government
(Table 14). Computed from different sources to show indicative achievement. Infact official
documentation regarding improved jhum/ jhumming for sustainability is meagre if not nil.

Table 14: Summary of jhum developmental programmes and achievements in Tripura4

Achievements
Period/ Outlay/ Area Jhumia
Departments/agencies &
Year Amount covered families
Schemes/Activities
spent (ha) benefitted
(Rs. lakh)
A. Tribal Welfare Department
(a) Rehabilitation of landless jhumias under settlement programme
 Rs 500 per family scheme 1955-70 1058.15 -- 21163
 Rs 1910 per family scheme 1970-77 1357.82 -- 7109
 Rs 6510 per family scheme 1975-85 5724.89 -- 8794
 Rs 8000 per family scheme 1985-88 1003.20 -- 1254
 Rs 25000 per family scheme 1988-92 -- -- 4268
 Rs 30000 per family scheme 1992-97 -- -- 4079
 Rs 53000 per family scheme 1997-2000 -- -- 904
(b) Jhumia settlement scheme based on
 Rubber plantation 1999-2004 368.10 -- 1472
 Tea Plantation 1999-2004 203.80 -- 514

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 Coffee Plantation 1999-2004 36.00 -- 120

 Horticulture Plantation 1999-2004 270.10 -- 900
B. Forest Department
Rehabilitation of shifting cultivators through
 Soil and water conservation schemes 1974-83 -- -- 641
 NEC assisted schemes 1975-79 -- -- 400
 Rubber-based rehabilitation schemes 1983-85 -- -- 1185
C. Agriculture Department
Integrated scheme for improvement of 1998-04 184.99 -- 6379
production and productivity of jhum crops
(supply of seeds, supply of fertilizer,
horticultural plantation in homestead,
training of jhumias)
D. Horticulture Department
Watershed Development Project in Shifting Cultivation Areas
 8th Five Year Plan 1992-97 360.00 3665 1994
th
 9 Five Year Plan 1997-02 649.71 10757 3000
th
 10 Five Year Plan (only the first one 2002-03 247.40 2474 3635
year)
E. Tripura Forest Development Plantation
Corporation (TFDPC)
Jhumia rehabilitation through rubber 2001-03 14.96 -- 60
plantation (data provided by Tribal Welfare
department)
F. Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation
Corporation (TRPC)
Socio-economic upliftment of tribal jhumias -- -- 5095.7 3977
through rubber plantation 1
G. Tribal Rehabilitation in Plantation &
Primitive Group Programm (TRP&PGP)
(a) Economic development through
 Teak plantation 1986-02 -- 14076
 Bamboo plantation 2004-05 -- 60 11530
 Cashew plantation 1986-98 -- 7850
(b) Intensive rehabilitation of primitive 2004-05 116.30 -- 95
tribes (to wean away from jhum)
H. Autonomous District Council
(a) Assistance for upland (jhum) farming 2000-04 497.80 -- *84000
(land preparation, supply of jhum paddy
seeds, sowing and weeding)
(b)Integrated tribal jhumia rehabilitation 1998-99 -- 1500 1500
through rubber plantation
*It is likely that many family enjoyed the assistance more than once over the successive
four years period under report

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In 2007, the Forest Department completed a first-ever Census enumeration of hard core
shifting cultivators and found 27,278 families (or 1, 36,000 persons) dependent on jhum.
The total count shows a clear decline in the number of jhumia families. The following table
shows a clear cline in the number of jhumia families though it has increased from 1968 to
1987 but after that it has declined due to varied Government schemes.

Table 15: Number of households and persons dependent on jhum, Tripura, 1968 to 2007
No. of persons
Year Source of the estimate No. of households
(in lakh)
1968 J.B. Ganguly 25000 --
1978 Benchmark Survey (1978) 46854 2.59
1987 Benchmark Survey (1987) 55049 2.88
1999 Department of Tribal Welfare 51265 --
2007 Forest Department 27278 1.36
Source: TDHR, 2007; pp-37

7. Constraints and challenges in improving jhum cultivation system

Challenges of designing innovative programme components: The State Government in the
Department of Agriculture is already implementing one model designed with the assistance
of Prof. P. S. Ramakrishnan, former professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New
Delhi and experts from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
(ICIMOD) in Kathmandu4 through Integrated Jhum Development (IJD). However, the fruits of
various IJD models continue to evade as many as 40000-55000 families in the State. This
perhaps calls for a revisit to entire programme of IJD either lacking practical innovations in
design components or delivery mechanisms of the agencies involved.
Challenges of working in an integrated fashion by different agencies: IJD requires a rather
total package to address the ‘human, social, physical, economical, financial and natural
dimension from the perspectives of the jhumias and their livelihoods and livelihood
strategies. Best intentions and programmes of the government have not yielded desired
results as different departments or agencies involved have been looking the problems and
their solution s from the prism of their own departmental perspectives.
Challenges of delivery and implementation strategies: Nearly 50 years of concerted
government efforts to jhumia rehabilitation through several specialized departments/
agencies seemed to have not yielded the desired results at the pace required. Hence
innovative options involving dedicated agencies including local NGOs may be instrumental
in requisite delivery and implementation of IJD plans.
Challenges of building a dedicated and motivated team for delivery of IJD: The people and
the professional working in the IJD require different mindset and set of orientation. Such
kind of programme cannot be effectively and productively delivered through routine system
of works and people. The IJD team would require a great deal of sensitivity and ability to put
themselves along with the feelings and perceptions of the jhumias.

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8. Success stories on jhum improvement

Under the ten year perspective plan Tripura government has targeted to achieve paddy
cultivation in more than 17,000 hectares of hill land under improvised jhuming in 2011-1214.
Before launching ten years perspective plan in the paddy production, jhum was only in
10,735 hectares in 1999-2000 and in 2009-10 it was raised to 14,535 hectares and in 2010-
11 the jhum cultivation area had increased to 16,390 hectares because of modernisation
and technological intervention. Besides, per hectare production in jhum has also increased
to 1.02 MT in 2011-12 against the target of 1.2 MT, which was only 0.5 MT in 1999-2000.
Additional production was increased because of the use of scientific methods and fertilisers
as per requirement. Use of bio-fertiliser had also increased to 1500 MT in the state as a
whole in 2011-12 against the target of only 1200 MT that was only 1.4 MT in 1999-2000.
The success of implementation of ten years perspective plan, which has also been expanded
for two more years, the food grains production expected to be 7.52 lakh MT against the
requirement of 8.56 lakh MT in 2011-12, which appeared to be a gap of 1.04 lakh MT
between demand and supply that would be met up from import but the food grains
production of Tripura has increased by 2.39 lakh MT over the past ten years.
9. Strategies and action points for jhum improvement
There can be two approaches to successfully manage the shifting cultivation in the states of
north-east India. Tripura is a tiny state of north-east India and tribal people are practicing
jhum cultivation in the hilly parts of Tripura. Considering the socio-cultural importance of
jhum in the life of the people of Tripura, the befitted strategy could be to modify and
improve the jhum cultivation in a scientific way using modern agricultural technology to
enhance the productivity and meet the necessities of the jhumias. On the other hand, the
existing forms of jhum cultivation may be replaced by new alternative schemes and
programmes such as ideal agro-forestry, horticulture landuse, livestock farming,
pisciculture, agro-industries, mushroom farming, sericulture, floriculture and piggery
farming. While transforming and improving the existing jhum, the following aspects must be
taken into consideration such as soil and water conservation, maintenance of soil fertility,
crop diversity and high yielding seeds, food security, market linkages and deforestation as it
is led to the climate change which nowadays a matter of global concern. Following are
some of the strategic components with key interventions and activities:
Jhum cropping phase/ cultivation phase:
a) Where jhum must continue, increasing the crop yield by providing good seeds/ high
yielding seeds, maximizing the cropping period, adopting good agronomic practices
along with soil and water conservation measures, etc.
b) Increasing cropping phase from traditional one year to two or more years through
crop rotation/ crop manipulation/agronomic practices/green manure/ cover crop
(State Agricultural Research Station, Mokokchung, Nagaland has successfully
demonstrated that cropping can be carried out continuously for for years maintain
both the yield and soil quality/ soil fertility).
c) Inducting Biofertilizer component comprising of Nitrogen Fixers- Rhizobium,

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Azotobacter, Azospirillum, phosphate solubilizers and mobilizers including Arbuscular

Mychorrizal Fungi (AMF) in the crop cultivation phases recurrently. Microbial
cultures possessing stress tolerant (acid, water) and fire resistant attributes should
be considered with priority in this regard.
Jhum fallow phase/ forest regeneration phase:
a) Plantation of fallow areas with multipurpose and multispecies trees for timber, fuel
wood, fodder etc.
b) Plantation with useful nitrogen-fixing species such as tree beans (Parkia roxburghii),
Sajna or Drumstick, Bahunia sp., Sesbania grandiflora, etc.
c) Plantation with medicinal trees such as Arjun, Bahera, Palash, Hartaki, Amla, Neem,
etc.
d) Plantation with NTFPs (primarily bamboo, edible plants, etc.)
e) Plantation with wild fruit trees
f) Development of permanent agroforests with combinations of the above species
along with horticultural species/ fruits.
g) Promotion of perennial horticultural species.
h) Maximizing the fallow periods above 10 years.
Jhum homestead gardens:
a) Development of home gardens/ agroforest home (seasonal/off-season vegetables,
domestication of wild edible plants, tuber crops for livestock/piggery, bamboo,
fodder, firewood, medicinal plants, fruit trees, etc.)
b) Integration with livestock, fishery, apiculture, sericulture, etc.
Jhum lunga land development:
a) Development of valley or lunga land for wet rice cultivation.
b) Water/ rainwater harvesting for irrigation, aquaculture, ground water recharging,
etc.
c) Infusion with high yielding paddy verities
Jhum micro-finance and non-farm sector with market linkage:
a) Development of microfinance/micro-credits (individuals or groups, particularly for
women and youth for enterprise development, self employment, etc.)
b) Development of handloom, handicrafts, food processing, value chain development
and market linkages, enterprise development, business development, etc.
Jhum institution development and capacity building:
a) Organizing the communities and building the social and human assets and capacities
of the communities with special focus on women and youth
b) Training and skill development for different alternative livelihoods and livelihood
strategies
c) Slaso awareness and capacity building of the traditional community leaders village
councils etc. (social engineering)
Jhum knowledge management:
a) Innovations and lessons learned and unlearned must be constantly identified,

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documented, shared and disseminated between/ among the communities, the

programme implementers, government departments, development planners and
practitioners, policy makers, academia, civil society organizations, media and various
other stakeholders.
10. Conclusion
Programmes aimed at arresting or eradicating shifting cultivation in the Northeast had been
underway since the start of the 20th Century. Initially these programmes were based on the
assumption that the introduction of cash crops would help to wean people away from jhum.
Jhumias were given planting material and financial help to switch over to these crops.
Coffee, pepper, and rubber plantations achieved some success. However, it was soon
realized that cash crop cultivation couldn’t be adopted as an alternative to jhuming which
people practice mainly to meet their essential food requirement.15 Furhter, Jhumias are
unable to shift overnight to plough agriculture from hoe agriculture, and only the better-off
families can afford to hire the additional labour needed for transplanting and maintaining of
terraces. Schemes to resettle jhumias by distributing marginal lands for permanent
cultivation in Tripura have lead to greater indebtedness, land alienation and
impoverishment of the resettled families.17 A series of research projects on the agro-
ecological systems of the Northeast has led to a shift in emphasis in recent years from jhum
control to jhum management, more specifically, to the management of fallows.
The setting up of the task force marks a significant departure from the approach of earlier
reports dealing with forests and shifting agriculture. It cites the unique socio-economic
conditions of the different tribal communities as reasons for ‘precluding uniform
prescriptions and requiring the development of location-specific solutions’ to deal with the
problems currently affecting jhum cultivation.18
The major constraints identified by the report are: lack of coordination between different line
departments and inexperience of extension staff in ‘participatory development’ techniques,
lack of service facilities such as credit, input supply and marketing; and lack of scientific
analyses of farming systems in different locations and micro-climatic conditions. It expressly
seeks to dispel the notion that large-scale erosion is chiefly caused by shifting cultivation and
takes the view that land use based on long periods of fallow rotation is a sustainable model. By
stressing people’s needs and avoiding the ‘one size fits all’ approach this report could well be
a first step towards sensitizing governmental agencies to the special needs of the hill tribes
and evoking better appreciation of the unique features of the various farming systems
developed in the Northeast.
References:
1. Sharma, T.C. 1976. The pre-historic background of shifting cultivation. In Proceedings of
Seminar on Shifting Cultivation in North East India. New Delhi: Indian Council of Social
Science Research.
2. Saigal O. (1978) Tripura: Its History and Culture, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi

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3. [Link]
tripura (Last visited on 10. 11. 2017)
4. Darlong V. T. 2012. Shifting paradigm on shifting cultivation: revisiting challanges and
oiptions for transforming ‘Lives, landscapes and livelihoods’in Tripura from the experience
of NERCORMP-IFAD in Northeast India. In: Shifting cultivation in Tripura (ed. Devvarma NC),
Tripura Research and Cultural Institute, Govt. Of Tripura, pp66
5. State Agriculture Research Centre, Department of Agriculture, Government of Tripura,
Agartala (2005)
6. Bhattacharjee P.R. ‘Sociological Aspects of Resource Use Pattern in Tripura: An Analysis in
Historical Perspective’, Tui (A Quarterly Research Magazine on Tribal Life and Culture),
September- November, [Link], 1993.
7. Bhattacharjee, P.R. and Ganguli, J.B., ‘Relative Economic Status of Social Groups: A Study in
Inequality’, Journal of North-East Council for Social Science Research, Vol. 17, No.2, October
1993.
8. [Link]
cycle-and-problems (Last visited on 10. 11. 2017)
9. Personal communication with Department of Agriculture, Govt. Of Tripura, Agartala
10. [Link] visited on 10. 11. 2017)
11. Datta M and Singh N. P. 2012. Shifting paradigm on shifting cultivation: revisiting challanges
and oiptions for transforming ‘Lives, landscapes and livelihoods’in Tripura from the
experience of NERCORMP-IFAD in Northeast India. In: Shifting cultivation in Tripura (ed.
Devvarma NC), Tripura Research and Cultural Institute, Govt. Of Tripura, pp66
12. Hunter W. W. 1876. Statistical Account of the Hill Tipperah (Reprint).
13. Dev Varman S. B. K. 1971. A study over the jhum and jhumia rehabilitation in the Union
Territory of Tripura. Directorate of Research, Department of Welfare for Scheduled Tribes &
Scheduled Castes, Government of Tripura, Agartala.
14. [Link]
for-paddy/
15. L. Rinjah, ‘Land Use Pattern – Jhumming and Control, Settled and Terraced Cultivation with
Related Problems,’ in T. Mathew (Ed.), (1981), North Eastern Hills Regions of India –
Problems and Prospects of Development. New Delhi: Agricole Publishing Academy
16. Anthony Patton (1981), ‘Socio-Economic Impact Of Shifting Cultivation Control Schemes In
Nagaland - A Case Study Of Baghty In Wokha District,’ Pp 38-40. in T. Mathew (1981, Ibid.)
17. Tripura Statistical Department: 18th Round of NSS (1963-64). Indebtedness of Scheduled
Tribe Households in Tripura. In J.B. Ganguly, ‘Progress of Jhumia Rehabilitation in Tripura: a
critical review,’ in T. Mathew (1981, ibid.)
18. MoEF 2003, p.10
19. Ibid, p.14

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REJUVINATION OF JHUM LAND THROUGH AGROFORESTRY INTERVENTIONS

K. P. Mohapatra and Puran Chandra
Division of Natural Resource Management, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Meghalaya

Agriculture has evolved from hunting and food gathering to modern input driven intensive
farming during the last 10,000 years. Hunting, shifting cultivation and pastoral nomadism
preceded settled agriculture. Shifting cultivation is still prevalent in many tropical countries
more particularly on the hills upto 1500 m above sea level. The core activities of shifting
cultivation involves periodic shift to new land as the fertility of original patch is exhausted.
The location specific variations in crop husbandry, cultivations practices, benefit sharing etc
were deeply influenced by the local cultural values, production constraints, constraints of
labour, capital and requirements, physiography, and associated ecological conditions. Most
of the variants were aimed at making the food production sufficient to meet the demand of
the surrounding population. It was practiced by our ancestor’s 10-12 thousand years ago,
but it is still source of food for millions of farmers from Asian, Africa and Latin America.
Globally, over 300 million people practice shifting cultivation over more than 400 million
hectares (cf Teegalapalli, and Datta, 2016). It has been a successful adaption in difficult
environmental conditions in tropics particularly when the rotation is kept 15-20 years. This
is a natural way of utilizing vegetative means for replenishing soil fertility instead of costly
chemicals and organic matter applied externally in more developed settled agriculture. It
was most naturally adopted and adapted farming in the limitations of communication,
nonexistence of alternative means of soil nutrition like chemical fertilizers and compulsion
of meeting all the food, fiber, fodder, fuel needs from the field itself and availability of forest
land was plenty because of very low population density.
The local adaptations of the Shifting cultivations were heavily influenced by the community
structure and cultural life of the tillers. Therefore it was an ecologically sustainable form of
agriculture in the montane region of the tropics when population densities was low and
fallow periods were long enough to restore soil fertility to support crop production for the
community. These traditional food systems, previously existing in ecological balance with
their environment, are now breaking down under pressure of population expansion and
increasing demand. The immediate adoption of increasing population was area expansion
and reduction of fallow period. Initially, when the population pressure increases, the fields
are tilled more frequently reducing the fallow period as shifting of fields to distance from
the habitation has a maximum limit beyond which it is not physically possible to continue
access and do cultivation. Then starts the trend of cultivating more area having less soil
fertility, so that the food demand of the community is met with. This cycle of fertility
degradation leads to development barren and degraded land on which cultivation is no
more economically viable. This was the major contributing factor for land degradation
resulting in migration and threatening livelihood of the Jhumias. In the search for solutions
to the problems of shifting cultivation, attention has turned to agroforestry. Since shifting

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cultivation is a type of agroforestry, scientific agroforestry is not so much an 'alternative' to

shifting cultivation as a systematic approach to the reintegration of its basic elements into
more productive, sustainable and politically viable forms of land use, under pressure of
population and competing uses for land and labour (Raintree and Warner, 1986).
Shifting cultivation in North Eastern Hill States of India
Northeast India is situated at the confluence of Indo-Malayan, Indo-Chinese and Indian
biogeographical realms and as a result of this the region harbours rich and diverse culture
and high biodiversity and endemism. It is one of 12 mega biodiversity hotspot of the world
and represents 50 percent of Indian biodiversity (Mao and Hynniewta, 2000). Seven hill
states that include Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and
Tripura are collectively referred to as North Eastern Hill region. It is located between of
21°58' to 29°30'N latitude and 88°58' to 97°30' E longitude and is spread over 1, 83,741 km2
area. Climate of the region varies from tropical to alpine type with very high range of
variation in precipitation. Shifting cultivation is predominant in the midhills upto 1500 m
altitude. It has been practiced over 9000 years and said to have been originated in the
Neolithic era dated by the archeologists to 7000 B.C. (Maithani, 2005). The area under Jhum
cultivation and its change in recent past is presented in Table 1
Table 1. Area (km2) under shifting cultivation in different states of the NEH region
States TGA (km2) 1999 2003 2005 2008
Arunachal Pradesh 83743 2300 1613.13 1531.46 2039.56
Assam 78438 1300 -- 239.56 395.19
Manipur 22327 3600 4816.68 852.2 471.63
Meghalaya 22429 1800 743.83 448.99 540.63
Mizoram 21081 3800 4017.41 2617.56 1662.08
Nagaland 16579 3900 1917.9 2827.74 2357.42
Tripura 10486 600 395.26 254.11 102.19
Sikkim 7096 0 0 0 0
Total 262179 17300 13504.21 8771.62 7568.7
Source: Wasteland Atlas of India 2005, 2011and SFR 1999
The region is inhabited by more than 200 indigenous tribes having diverse lifestyle, cultural
ethos and multiple ethnicities resulting in multidimensional pressure on the natural
resources. Some of the major tribes of North East Region of India are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Major Tribes of the North Eastern Region of India
State Tribes
Arunachal Adi (ashing, Bogun, Bokar, Bori, Botog, Gallong, Komkar, Karka, Lodung,
Pradesh Milang, Minyong, Padam, Pailibo, Pangi, Ramo, Shimong, Tangam), Aka,
Apatani, Bangani, Khamba, Khuwa, Memba, Miji, Hillmiri, Mishing/Miri,
Mishmi, Monpa, Na, Nishi, (Dafla) Nocte, Sherdukpen, Sulung, Singpho,
Tagin, Tangsa, Wancho, Yobin, (Lisu) Zakhring (Meyor).

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Assam Chakma, Dimasa, Garo, Hajong, H’mar, Khasi, Jaintia, Synteng, Pnar,
War, Bhoi, Lyngngam, Kuki tribes-including (biate, Changsan, Chongloi,
Doungel, Gamalhou, Gangte, Guite, Hanneug, Haokip, Hampit, Lhonyen,
Lhochwun, Lupheng, Mangje, Misao, Riang, Sairhem, Selnam, Singson,
Hoalai, Hengna, Hoangsungh, Hrangkhwal, Raokhol, Tongpe,
Khawathlang, Khothalong, Khawchung, Khelma, Kholhou, Kipgen, Kuki,
Lengthang, Lhangum, Lihougem, Lhouvum, Misao, Sairhem, Selnam,
Sitlhou, Sukto, Thasou, Thangngeu, Uibush, Vaiphei), Lakher, Man (Tai
speaking), any Mizo (Lushai) Tribes, Mikir, Nay Naga tribes, Pawi,
Barmans in Cachar, Boro, Borokachari, Deori, Hojai, Kachari, Sonowal,
Lalung, Mech, Miri, Rabha
Manipur Aimol, Anal, Angami, Chiru, Chethe, Gangte, H’mar, Kabui, Kacha Naga,
Koirao, Koireng, Kom, Lamgang, Mao, Maram, Maring, Any Mizo (Lushai)
tribe, Monsang, Monyon, Paite, Purum, Ralte, Sema, Simte, Suhte,
Thangkhul, Thadou, Vaiphei, Zou.
Mizoram Chakma, Dimasa Kachari, Garo, Hajong, H’mar, Khasi, Jaintia, War, Any
Kuki (Biate, Changsan, Chongloi, Doungel, Gamalhou, Gangte, Guite,
Hanneug, Haokip, Hanpit, Lhonyem, Lhocwun, Lupheng, Mangje, Misao,
Riang, Sairhem, Selnam, Haolai, Hengna, Hongsunh, Hrangkhwal,
Roakhol, Tongbe, Kghawathlang, Khothalong, Khawchung, Khelma,
Khoihou, Kipgen, Kuki, Lengthang, Lhangum, Lhoujem, Lhouvum, Misao,
Riang Sairhem, Selnam, Singsom, Sitlhou, Sukto, Thado, Thangngeu,
Uibush, Vaiphel) Lekher, Man (Tai speaking), many Mizo (Lushai tribe),
Karbi, many Naga tribe, Pawi.
Meghalaya Bhoi, Boro, Chakma, Dimasa, Hajong, H’mar, Jaintia, Karbi, (Mikir), Khasi,
Koch, Kuki, Lakher, Lyngngam, Man (Tai speaking), Naga, Pawi, Rabhi
Nagaland Adi, Aka, Dimasa, Galong, Garo, Khasi and Jaintia, Khowa, Kuki, Karbi,
(Mikir), Mizo, Any Naga tribe (Ao, Angami, Chakhesanf, Chang, Chiru,
Khliemnungan, Konnyak, Lotha, Makwari, Phom, Rengma, Sangtam,
Sema, Tikhir, Yimchungree, Zeliang, Synteng, Momba.
Tripura Bhil, Bhutia, Chaimal, Chakma, Garo, Halam, Jamatia, Khasia, Kuki,
including following sub-tribes (Baite, Belalhut, Chhalya, Fun, Hajong,
Jangtei, Khareng, Khephong, Kuntei, Laifaung, Lentei, Mizel, Namte,
Paitu, Paite, Rangchan, Rangkhole, Thangluya) Lepcha, Lushai, Mag,
Munda, Kaur, Noatia, Orang, Riang, Santal, Tripuri, Tippera, Uchai.
Sikkim Lepchas, Bhutias, Limbu

Jhum cultivation in the North East region is a complex system with wide variation that
depends upon the ecological variation in the area and cultural diversity among various tribal
clans. However, the basic cropping practice is quite similar. Usually all the essential crops
such as paddy, maize, tapioca, colocasia, millets, sweet potato, ginger etc. are grown on the

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same piece of land as mixed crop. Poor soil conditions, use of elementary tools such as axe
and the hoe, low density of population in the region and low level of consumption are the
distinctive feature of jhum cultivation. Generally shifting cultivation is characterized with
low productivity, extensive land requirement and degradation of natural resources. This
traditional system of farming is characterized by high crop diversity and good productivity
especially in first two years.
Though jhum it is primarily an economic activity performed for production for crops,
however, it is also integrated with socio-cultural and religious activities of tribal populations.
Jhumias basically belief in spiritual quality of nature and they believe that supernatural
power controls forest, land, soil, fertility and health of farmers as well as animals. They
perform rites and ritual and offer animal sacrifice to please the spirit. Every stage of jhum
cultivation is accompanied by ritual and feast. Even the major events of life such as
marriage, festivals, house construction are directly or indirectly adjusted to jhum cultivation
and villager’s emotions and sentiments are interwoven with jhum. Before starting jhum,
farmers perform rituals for seeking apology for damaging plant and animals in the process
of burning of jhum field. This ritual shows the concern of farming community toward
biodiversity conservation. Some areas with high endemic biodiversity are declared sacred
groove and practicing jhum in these areas is totally prohibited. Nishis (a major tribe of
Arunachal Pradesh), believe that Sengri and Sengne (Ficus sp.) are abode of Wiyus (spirit)
and to cut them is tabooed. In some areas Meghalaya, during cleaning of forest vegetation
is partial short tree stump and large tree bole are kept intact to stabilize the slope, reduce
soil erosion and to be used as support for the climber crops. Trees belonging to Schima
wallichii, Calicarpa arborea, Castanopsis tribuloides, Gemlina arborea and Eurya japonica
are left over during cleaning the field. Bamboo used as soil binder facilities soil nutrient
recovery and creates microhabitats of shade loving species (Rao and Ramkrishanan, 1989).
In few instances farmers are planting Bambus tulda, Toona ciliata, Duabanga grandifolia
and Manihot esculenta along the boundaries of shifting cultivation fields and fruit trees such
as Artocarpus chaplasha, Citrus sp., Litchi chinensis, Mangifera indica, Myrica esculanta,
Prunus nepalensis and Musa sp. in jhum plots (Deb et al, 2013). If we look at larger
prospective, this traditional farming has allowed tropical forest to survive or at least
regenerate where as settled agriculture has destroyed the forest completely.
In Garo tribe, more than 10 festival and rituals are associated with jhum cultivation (Marak,
2006) which starts from site selection to final harvesting and storing the produce. Similarly,
in Khasi tribe, inhabiting khasi hills of Meghalaya, prayers are performed before burning the
forest (Mini Rokime), during sowing to drive away crop diseases (Mi Amua), at the time of
first harvest (Rongchu gala-fowl is scarified before deity), and after harvest of jhum field (Ja
Megapa). In Jaintia tribe, inhabiting jaintia hills of Meghalaya, Longhai festival is celebrated
during weeding period in millet. In all other states of north east India also various festivals
are associated with jhum cultivation. In Nishis, a major tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, major
festivals revolve around jhum. Before starting cultivation, Mnyokom- Yulo is celebrated and

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vaiours deities such as Yapom (god of jungle), Yulo, Tangang-Yulo and Regeu-Yulo (gods of
agriculture) are invoked to protect crops from diseases, insects and wild animals. After the
harvest Sirom Molo Sochum festival is celebrated in the month of Rojo (December).
Similarly, in kukis of Manipur KheLhai-Khai ceremony, Athusian ceremony, Tuilunta
ceremony, Muchitu ceremony and Mim Kut, Lohan Kut and Chapchar Kut etc. are associated
with jhum. This amazing and colourful traditional farming system is also associated with
traditional knowledge of plants. Mao tribe inhabiting northern hills of Senapari districts of
Manipur, are able correlate the flowing of different trees as indicator of seasons and
accordingly important jhum activities are planned (Mao and Hynniewta, 2010). Rice, Millets
etc. are planted in Jhum field with the onset of flowing in Kachnar tree (Bauhinina purpurea)
locally known as camel foot in Mao tribe. Similarly, Prunus carmesina (wild cherry) and
Prunus persica (peach) fruit trees flowers in March, and flowering of these trees is
considered as appropriate time for direct sowing upland paddy in jhum field and lowland
paddy in nursery. Mantisia spathulata plants, locally known as dancing girl, flower every
year in May and flowering is not affected by environmental factors. Mao people consider
flowering of dancing girl as right time for transplanting of rice seedlings in lowlands.
Therefore it is essential to give due consideration to the cultural values and local traditions
of the Jhumias while devising any strategies to improve productivity of such lands. The
approach should adopt Integral systems that should stem from a more traditional, year
round, community-wide, largely self-contained, and ritually-sanctioned way of life.
Agroforestry Systems suitable for enhancing productivity and reducing fallow period of
Jhum land
Alder based system in Nagaland
The Angamis tribe from Nagaland used to practice such a alder based sustainable jhum
system that was developed in Khonoma village in Nagaland. It provides about 57 food crops
to supplement the staple crop rice. The root nodules of the Alder (Alnus nepalensis) plants
improve soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen into the soil through Frankia. The fallen
leaves act as mulches and add humus to the topsoil. The wood is used as fuel-wood, for
charcoal burning and in construction works. Alder saplings collected from nursery or wild
forest are planted in a jhum field located in hills above 1000 m. In the first year in jhum
plots, alder trees are pollarded at a height of 2 m from the ground before or after the slash
and burn operation. Mixed cropping is repeated in the second year. The field is then left
fallow for 2-4 years to allow the alder trees to grow for pollarding and cropping in the
subsequent cycle. Young trees with bole circumference of about 50-80 cm are pollarded for
the first time, usually at the age of 7-10 years. Cyclical/subsequent pollarding is performed
after 4-6 years. During this operation, the pollarded stumps that coppice profusely are
allowed to grow till the harvest of the first year’s crop. On the second year, 4-5 selected
shoots are retained and the rest is removed. These shoots are allowed to grow till the next
jhum cycle and the same process is repeated. Thus with the incorporation of alder trees in
their jhum lands, the fertility of the field is increased (Singh et al, 2013).

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Tree based farming by Konyak Tribes in Nagaland

The Konyak tribes in Nagaland also have sound ecosystem knowledge which they use in
their shifting cultivation practices. In a study in the Nganchin village of Mon district of
Nagaland. It was observed that the tree-stand- density nowhere in the Naga system
matches the Konyak system where at times about 3000 small saplings could be observed in
1 ha of land. They gradually reduce the density during the fallow period. They manage the
seedlings and saplings of Macanaga denticulata on the Jhum field and do not uproot them
unless the density is too high for cropping. The species grows in poor site conditions and has
prolific regenerative activity. Konyaks and the other tribes of Nagaland also keep the trees
such as Trema orientalis, Sapium bacatum, Grewia spp., Quercus spp., Schima wallichii and
Alnus nepalensis in the Jhum fields. In the Konyak Jhum field about 42 species could be
seen; rice and colocasia being the dominant ones. They have a sound knowledge of mixing
rice and colocasia by which the slopy land is covered under vegetation for a greater part of
the year i.e. from April to December. Mixed cropping of rice and colocasia is also practiced
by Garo and Khasi tribes of Meghalaya and they cultivate colocasia as a supplementary crop.
But, Konyaks grow both the crops as their main crop to meet their food requirements. The
common rice varieties cultivated by the Naga tribes are Tangyu, Yamsam, Phuha (Brown
rice), Yam, Wungshu, Seshu, Tangyu seshu, Tatak and Tanyak (Black rice). As much as
thirteen types of colocasia such are grown by the Konyaks. Some of the importants ones are
Isee, Maywu, Mukshung, Yangshing, Tungmi, Nyakha, Tung, Yakpe, Ngaktung, Tunglu,
Tungyey, Tungshu and Tungkhan. However, with grater urbanization and changing food
habit, the area under certain crops such as Jobstear and some varieties of rice like Yam and
Phuwal. The Konyaks have a good sense of fallow management and aware that the leaves
and twigs falling from the trees restores the fertility of the Jhum land. They count the
number of leaf falls and believe that after seven times ‘leaf fall’ the land becomes mature
enough to cultivate. That is why they keep the fallow period as seven years and deliberately
keep the seedlings of tree species for establishment during the resting phase. They
religiously protect the jhum lands from fire during the fallow period. If some accidental fire
occurs, the fallow period is extended. This shows the great sense of ecosystem among the
Konyak tribes (Bhan, 2009).
Bun System in Meghalaya
In Khasi hills of Meghalaya, shifting cultivation is known as “Rep Syrti”. Shifting cultivation or
Rep Syrti practices are of two types- jhumming and bun cultivation. Jhumming involves
cutting and burning of forest vegetation on slopy lands and using the site for two to three
year for growing rice, maize, millets, beans, cassava, yam, sweet potato, ginger, chillies,
sesamum and vegetables in mixture thereafter moving to a forest site for repeating the
same process . At times, a single crop of rice is grown in the second year of jhumming. In
Bun cultivation, twigs and branches of forest trees species such as Pinus kesiya, Schima
wallichii, Michelia species at lower elevations, and Schima khasiana in higher elevation
along with weed biomass (Artimisia vulgaris, Crotolaria mysorensis, Eupatorium odoratum,
E. adenophorum, Imperata cylindrical, Inula capa, Lantana camera, Micania macarantha,
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Panicum khasianum, Plectranthus coetsa, Rubus ellipticus, Saccharum spontaneum,

Pteridium aquilinum from the surrounding areas are kept in heaps at regular interval in the
entire area. The buns are usually 2 to 4 m long, 1 to 2 m wide and 0.15 to 0.35 m in height.
They are spaced at 1 to 2 m depending on the soil depth and are covered with a thin layer of
soil in order to burn the whole biomass under anaerobic condition and finally the biomass is
slowly converted into ash. The activity is usually done during Feb to March
Traditional Agroforestry systems
In the NEH region, trees are deliberately integrated with the crop and livestock production
system. A number of crops like maize, ginger, pineapple, coffee, and vegetables are grown
with tree species such as Pinus kesiya, Alnus nepalensis, Schima wallichii, Pyrus communis,
Prunus domestica, Areca catechu etc. The choice of a particular tree species and intercrop
depends upon the climatic conditions of the area and economic importance of the species.
Some of the traditional agroforestry systems adopted in the various agroclimatic zones are
given below in Table 3 .
Table 3. Common agroforestry practices of the NEH region
Agroclimatic Agroforestry
Components of Agroforestry Remarks
zone System
Mild Tropical Agri-horti system Citrus grandis +Maize
Hills to mid hill Orange with crops Intercrops viz.
subtropical and beans/chillies/ginger
Plains (200 to /turmeric
900 m) Agri-silvi Lagerstroemia speciosa + Paddy
Bambusa pallida (boundary
plantation) + Paddy
Schima wallichii + Paddy
Michelia oblonga + Paddy
Michilia champaca + Paddy
Pinus kesiya + Paddy
Agri-silvi-horti Pinus kesiya + Turmeric + Maize
system Bambusa pallida + Erythrina
indica + Maize + Sweet potato
Homestead gardens Guava, banana and Moringa Tree tomato
(Cyphomandra
betacea), guava,
banana and Moringa
are the fruit crops
grown in kitchen
garden or farm
boundaries.
Coconut, arecanut, jackfruit -
and banana etc. around
fishponds near homesteads
Horti-pastoral Musa paridisica + Broom grass
system Musa paridisica + Citrus
reticulata + Setaria + Broom
grass

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Horti-silvi Schima wallichii + Ginger +

Colocasia + Chilli + Dioscoria +
Pumpkin + Sweet potato
Michilia oblonga + Ginger
Erythrina indica (boundary
plantation) + Ginger + Colocasia +
Lady’s finger+ Sweet potato +
Chilli + Perilla
Bambusa pallida (boundary
plantation) + Paddy + Ginger+
sweet potato + Chilli + Tapioca +
Lady’s finger’s + Colocasia + Perilla
Michelia oblonga + Pinus kesiya +
Ginger + Chilli + Colocasia + Perilla
+ Maize + Turmeric
Erythrina indica with coffee and -
black pepper
Terminalia myriocarpa with coffee -
and black pepper
Schima wallichii + Ginger +
Colocasia + Chilli + Dioscoria +
Pumpkin + Sweet potato
Pinus kesiya + Ginger
Multi-tier horti Arecanut with betel vine -
system Arecanut with pineapple -
Arecanut with pineapple and -
betel vine
Arecanut with black pepper -
Arecanut with pineapple and -
black pepper
Banana with pineapple -
Artocarpus heterophyllus + Litchi
chinensis + Ginger + Colocasia +
Maize + Bottle guard
Artocarpus heterophyllus + Litchi
chinensis + Areca catechu + Betel
vine
Musa paradisica + Pineapple
Areca catechu + Pineapple
Silvi-horti Acacia auriculiformis + Pineapple
Acacia auriculiformis + Schima
wallichii + Musa paradisica +
Pineapple
Pinus kesiya + Ginger
Silvi-pastoral Schima wallichii + Broom grass
system Michelia oblonga + Broom grass
Michelia champaca + Schima
wallichi + Pinus kesiya + Broom
grass + Setaria

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Sericulture-based Morus laevigata, Terminalia sp. Pulses, oilseeds,

farming Chimonobambusa sp., broom grass,
Bamboo-based Dendrocalamus sp., Bambusa sp., millets oat.
farming Drepanostachyum intermedium, Tender bamboo
Himalayacalamus falcomeri, shoots collected,
Phyllostachys bambusoides. ginger, turmeric,
large cardamom,
rice bean (up to 11
to 15 m from
bamboo rows)
Agri-horti system Sikkim mandarin with (i) Maize-wheat
field/vegetable crops (ii) Maize +
ginger/buck
wheat/millet/pulse
s/
vegetable/beans/
radish/hara
simbi/ricebean
(iii) Maize+
soyabean/ millet
(iv) Ginger/rice
bean
(v) Maize/sweet
potato/millet/buck
wheat/ vegetable
beans/radish
Pyrus communis + maize +
cabbage + cauliflower
Citrus reticulate + Turmeric +
Ginger + Mustard
Citrus grandis + Maize + Turmeric
+ Cauliflower + Mustard leaf +
Potato
Agri-silvi-pastoral Alnus nepalensis, Schima Maize, wheat,
wallichii, Prunus cerasoides, pulses, buckwheat,
Terminalia myriocarpa, oilseeds, beans,
Castonopsis tribuloides, Litsea finger millet.
polyantha, Macranga
denticulate, Ficus sp., broom
grass.
Homestead Sikkim mandarin, lime Ficus sp., Vegetables,
tree tomato (Cyphomandra passion fruit,
betaceae), guava, pear, pomelo, gladiolus, tuberose,
papaya, pomegranate, avocado, marigold, orchids,
banana, Urtica sp., Artemisia s sugarcane, pig,
poultry, cattle,
goats, ducks, wild
edibles-ferns,
nettles, fishery,
mushroom, apiary.

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II. Sub-tropical Horti-silvi system Alnus nepalensis/ Schima -

Hills to sub wallichii with large cardamom
temperate Schima wallichii with pineapple -
hills and Schima wallichii with -
Plains (900 to ginger/turmeric
1500 m) Alnus nepalensis, Schima Large cardamom
wallichii, Macranga pustulata, (Amomum
Albizia sp., Machilus edulis, subulatum Roxb.)
Saurauia nepalensis, Terminalia
myriocarpa, Juglans regia
Alnus nepalensis, Schima Large cardamom
wallichii, Macranga pustulata, (Amomum
Albizia sp., Machilus edulis, subulatum Roxb.)
Saurauia nepalensis, Terminalia
myriocarpa, Juglans regia
Multi-tier horti Khasi mandarin with Mandarin with
system pineapple/vegetable crops pineapple/ beans/
radish / ginger/
turmeric/ cole
crops etc.
III. Sub- Horti-Pastoral Pears with vegetables/beans / Pears with
temperate - system broom grass cabbage,
Temperate cauliflower, beans
(1500 to 2700 m) or broom grass.
Horti-silvi- pastoral Apple, Juglans regia, Alnus Maize, millets large
nepalensis, Prunus nepalensis, cardamom, potato
Quercus sp., Betula alnoides, (table and seed),
Acer sp., Hippophae salicifolia peas, cabbage,
cauliflower, beans,
radish.
Horti-silvi system Pine with field/vegetable crops Pine trees with
pea, radish, potato,
sweet potato,
cabbage, turnip,
cauliflower,
mustard or maize.
Plums with vegetables Plums with pea,
radish, cabbage or
cauliflower.
Livestock-based Betula uitlis, Acer sp., Imperata Goats, pig, sheep,
mixed farming cylindrica, Arundinella sp., Avena poultry, nomadic
sp., Eleusine sp., Setaria sp., herds of yak (dzo’s)
Rubus sp., Viburnum erubescens,
Berberis sp., Urtica sp., Artemisia
sp.
Multi-tier horti Apple with field/ vegetable crops Apple + potato
system
Sub-alpine to Horti-pastoral- Quercus sp., Acer sp., Betula Radish, peas,
Alpine (2700 transhumance utilis, Sorbus sp., Carex sp., potato, beans,
to 4000 m) Trisetum sp., Eragrotis sp., Aralia maize, cabbage,
sp., Allium sp., Iris sp. cauliflower,

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Brassica juncea var.

ragosa, yaks (dzo’s)
sheep, goats,
mules
Livestock-based Poa sp., Agrostis sp., Carex sp., Potato, cabbage,
mixed farming Gentiana sp., Rumex sp., Phlomis peas, Brassica
(beyond timberline) rotate, Urtica dioca juncea var. ragosa,
- transhumance yaks (dzo’s), sheep
and mules.
Source: Chauhan and Dhyani (1990, 1991), Bhatt et al (2006);

Banana based agroforestry in Mizoram

Banana is a preferred crop in most parts of Mizoram. In the Khumtung and Baktwang
village, people have a belief that planting banana would protect them against all the natural
calamities and misfortune besides giving them good economic prosperity. Along with
Banana other annual crops, leafy vegetables like Lai Pata are grown. Now a days, people are
also raising few of the fruit crops like lemon and orange (Sahoo, 2007).
Some of the MPTs suitable for agroforestry systems of the north east region are listed
below:
Table 4. Important multipurpose tree species suitable for farming in different agrforestry
systems
Altitudinal
Plant species distribution Important uses
(m asl)
MPTs
Aesculus assamica 500-900 Fuel, small timber, fast growing
Albizia chinensis 700-1500 Fuel, fodder, timber, N2 fixing species fast growing
A. lebbek 350-800 Fuel, fodder, timber, N2 fixing species fast growing
[Link] 400-700 Fuel, fodder, timber, N2 fixing species fast growing
Alnus nepalensis 700-2500 Fuel, fodder, timber, N2 fixing species fast growing
Altingia excels 750-2100 Fuel, fodder, timber, fast growing
Anogeissus acuminate 800-1300 Fuel, fodder, timber, slow growing
Anthocephalus chinensis 400-900 Fuel, fodder, timber, fast growing
Artocarpus chaplasha 500-1500 Fuel, fodder, timber, fast growing
Bauhinia variegate 650-1500 Fuel, fodder, ornamental, fast growing
Castonoptis indica 650-1950 Fuel, timber, slow growing
Chukrasia velutina 200-1400 Fuel, timber, fast growing
Cordial dichotoma 550-1500 Fuel, fodder, fast growing
Debregesia salicifolia 700-1800 Fodder
Duabanga grandiflora 150-800 Fuel, fodder, timber, fast growing
Exbucklandia populnea 900-2400 Fuel, fodder, small timber
Ficus altissima 700-1200 Fodder, fuel, fast growing
[Link] 600-1000 Fodder
[Link] 500-900 Fodder
[Link] 600-1200 fodder
[Link] 1000-1800 Fuel and fodder
[Link] 700-1800 Fuel, fodder, figs edible, fast growing

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[Link] 650-1350 Fodder, fast growing

[Link] 600-1300 Fuel, fodder figs edible fast growing
[Link] 700-1500 Fuel, fodder, fast growing
[Link] 600-1400 Fodder, figs edible
Fraxinus floribunda 1500-2700 Light timber, ornamental, fast growing
Gmelina arborea 350-1200 Fuel, fodder, timber, fast growing
Kydia calycina 500-1200 Fuel, fodder, timber slow growing
Largerstroemia speciosa 250-1950 Fuel, fodder, timber
Litsaea polyantha 400-900 Fuel, fodder, small timber, fast growing
Leaves for roof making, new apical as broom, fruit pulp
Livistonia jenkinsiana 500-1100
edible
Macaranga denticulate 800-1350 Fuel, fats growing
Mesua ferrea 350-1700 Fuel, fodder, timber, avenue tree
Michelia champaca 200-900 Fuel timber fast growing
M. doltsopa 1500-2400 Fuel, timber
Moringa oleifera 100-800 Fodder tender pods edible fast growing
Morus alba 250-1200 Fuel, fodder, sericulture, light timber, fast growing
Parkia roxburghii 500-1500 Tender pods edible light timber fast growing
Pinus kesia 800-2500 Fuel timber slow growing
Prunus cerasoides 800-1500 Fuel fodder fast growing
Prunus nepaulensis 1800-3000 Fuel fodder
Quercus griffithii 1500-2650 Fodder, fuel, timber, slow growing
[Link] 800-2500 Fodder, timber, slow growing
[Link] 600-1500 Fodder, timber, slow growing
Salix tetrasperma 1200-2100 Fuel, fodder, small timber fast growing
Fuel, fodder, timber, ornamental, soap nuts as
Sapindus mukorossi 150-1500
detergents fast growing
Schima wallichii 350-1700 Fuel, fodder, timber fast growing
Shorea assanica 150-800 Fuel, timber
Sorbus cuspidata 120-450 Fuel timber
Tectona grandis 100-650 Timber
Terminalia bellirica 500-1500 Fuel, timber, fruit medicinal slow growing
[Link] 450-1500 Fuel, timber, fruit medicinal slow growing
[Link] 300-1100 Timber slow growing
Toona ciliata 150-1050 Timber slow growing
Bamboo spp.
Young shoot edible, fodder, culm used for various
Bambusa balcooa 10-1200
household activities, fast growing
[Link] 150-350 Live fencing, pole, agricultural implements
[Link] 15-110 Young shoot semi edible, house roofing, partition wall
[Link] 1100-1900 Live fencing, fishing rod, winnowing tray, etc.
[Link] 1100-1900 Live fencing, fishing rod, winnowing tray, etc.
[Link] 800-2100 Young shoot semi edible, live fencing, cane industry
[Link] 100-450 Construction purposes and cane industry
B. nutans 650-1700 Young shoot edible, fodder, construction purposes
[Link] 10-850 Young shot semi edible, fodder, construction purposes
[Link] 700-1700 Ornamental, construction purposes
[Link] 550-1000 Ornamental, construction purposes
Chimonobambusa
800-1300 Young shoot edible, construction purposes
callosa

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C. hookeriana 500-2100 Young shoot edible, construction purposes

Dendrocalamus
35-1350 Young shoot edible, construction purposes
giganteus
D. hookerii 1100-1900 Young shoot edible, fodder, construction purposes
D. longisphathus 600-1400 Young shoot edible, fodder, construction purposes
D. membranaceus 1350-1950 Young shoot edible, fodder, construction purposes
D. sikkimnensis 550-1150 Young shoot edible, fodder, construction purposes
Gigantochloa rostrata 1050-2000 Young shoot edible, construction purposes
Melocanna baccifera 10-1200 Young shoot edible, construction purposes
Phyllostachys
850-1850 Young shoot edible, cane industry
bambusoides
Schizostachyum dullooa 15-250 Young shoot edible, live fencing, cane industry
Teinostachyum wightii 550-1100 Young shoot edible, live fencing, cane industry
Cane spp.
Calamus spp 200-700 Furniture and various other household activities
Daemonorops spp 150-600 Furniture and various other household activities
Hedgerow spp.
Cajanus cajan 150-950 Fuel, fodder, seeds edible, N2 fixing, fast growing
Crotolaria pallid 150-960 Fuel, N2 fixing, fast growing
Demodium rensonii 400-1000 Fuel, fodder, N2 fixing, fast growing
Flemingia macrophylla 200-950 Fodder, N2 fixing, fast growing
Indigofera tinctoria 250-1200 Fuel, fodder, N2 fixing, fast growing
Milletia ovalifolia 500-1200 Fodder, N2 fixing, fast growing
Tephrosia candida 300-1000 Fuel, fodder, N2 fixing, fast growing
Thysanolaena maxima 500-1500 fodder, Spikes as broom, fast growing

Three tier agroforestry system in the NEH region

Alder (Alnus nepalensis-promising nitrogen fixing tree species) was introduced as a tree crop
during 1987 and tea (Camellia sinensis ) was planted in 1993 as second storey crop at a
density of 12,350 plants ha-1. The investment for Alder and tea was Rs 11,398 and Rs 36,035
ha-1, respectively. Besides tea, large cardamom, turmeric, ginger, taro and black pepper
were intercropped. Alder produced 8.5 q ha-1 biomass of pruned material and 24 q ha-1
biomass of foliage. Green bud production of tea ranged form 44 to 64 q ha-1 for a period of
five years with an average production of 59 q ha-1. Productivity of large cardamom was 6.4 q
ha-1. Ginger, turmeric and taro produced 79, 165 and 172 q ha-1, respectively. Black pepper
was found to be sensitive to frost injury. Therefore, no significant yield could be obtained
from this crop. Among various crops, net benefit was maximum (Rs 33,111 ha-1) through
large cardamom, followed by tea and ginger. On an average, the multistoried agroforestry
system could generate a net annual return of Rs 12,884 ha-1.
Silvipastoral system
Som tree is suitable for raring of Munga silkworm. This tree attained average height of 6.75
m, 10.30 cm dbh and 0.046 cubic meter volume 5 years after plantation. Maize (Zea mays,
cv. Vijay Composite) and broom grass were intercropped with it. Broom grass was cultivated
on the terrace risers, covering total area of 480 sq m. Average grain production of maize was
11.98 q ha-1 in association with this tree crop as compared to 13.5 q ha-1 in control plots.

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Broom produced 63 q ha-1 flower (most remunerative part of it), 86 q ha-1 of green fodder
and 36 q ha-1 of dry fuel wood. This system generated net return of Rs. 23,444 per ha. Bhatt
et al (2010) evaluated seven MPTs such as Acacia auriculiformis, Alnus nepalensis, Bauhinia
purpurea, Exbucklandia populnea, Ficus hookeri, Michelia champaca, Michelia oblonga with
broom grass in the understorey in the mid hill conditions of Meghalaya. After 10 years,
highest standing volume was recorded in Acacia auriculiformis (220.28 m3 ha-1) followed by
Exbucklandia populnea (120.08 m3 ha-1) and Alnus nepalensis (114.13 m3 ha-1). Yield of
broom grass cultivated in the tree inter pasces varied from 3.817 t ha-1 dry biomass (under
Bauhinia purpurea) to 2.361t ha-1 (under Alnus nepalensis). Non-arable hilly areas with high
slopes (> 45 %) and low soil depth (<0.6 m) can be managed under suitable tree and grass
combinations under livestock based silvipastoral system. In an experiment at I C A R
Research Complex for NEH Region, Meghalaya, 13.54 t ha-1(Dry Matter) forage yield was
obtained from combination of stylo and setaria with alder. A combination of stylo and
guinea grass with alder could produce 11.30 DM t ha-1. In addition alder could provide 1.32 t
ha-1 of fule wood from the pruned branches.
Sericulture based agroforestry system
Seven mulberry varieties, seven silkworm breeds including a bivoltine breed (NB-18) were
studied for their yield and rearing performance. The results obtained are presented in the
Table 5.
Table 5. Yield of mulberry and silkworm cocoon in sericulture based agroforestry system
Mulberry Plant Height Yield (t ha-1 yr-1 ) Net returns from
variety (m) Leaf Cocoon Fuelwood cocoon (Rs ha-1)
TR-4 1.70 19.1 0.81 6.4 33,449
TR-10 1.69 16.6 0.70 6.3 27,125
BC-259 1.44 15.2 0.65 5.7 23,627
S-1635 1.51 18.2 0.77 6.1 31,085
C-7635 1.52 16.5 0.70 5.6 26,865
Kanva-2 1.43 14.1 0.60 5.7 21,715
Local 1.28 9.1 0.39 4.1 8,215
Source : Dhyani et al (1996)

Thus jhum cultivation, is perhaps, a sustainable way of farming in remote and inaccessible
areas and infertile soil where heavy inputs cannot be used. Same farmer practice intensive
farming in fertile lowland field and jhum farming in remote and infertile hilly areas.
Moreover jhum is associated various rites, ritual and ceremonies and people are
emotionally attached with jhum farming. However in recent past, due to rural depopulation,
area under jhum is shrinking. Jhum cultivation should not be looked as only an economic
activity, but it should be considered in the light of high agrobiodiverisy and rich culture
associated with it. Jhum farming is the way of life for tribal population of North East India.

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References
Bhan, S. 2009. A case study on shifting cultivation practices in Mon district of Nagaland.
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 8(2): 8-13
Bhatt, B.P., Sachan, M.S. and Singh, K.2006. Production potential of traditional agroforestry
systems of Meghalaya: A case study. . In Agroforestry in North-East India:
Opportunities and challenges. Eds. [Link]. and K.M. Bujarbaruah. I C A R Research
Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya 337-349 pp
Chauhan, D.S. and Dhyani, S.K. (1990). Traditional agroforestry practices in north east
Himalayan regions of India. Indian Journal of Dry Land Agricultural Research and
Development. 4(2):73-81.
Chauhan, D.S. and Dhyani, S.K. (1991) Existing agroforestry practices of Meghalaya. Journal
of Hill Research. 4(1):19-23.
Dhyani, S.K., Chauhan, D.S., Kumar, D., Kushwaha, V. and Lepcha, S.T. (1996). Sericulture
based agroforestry system for hilly area of north-east India. Agroforestry Systems.
34:247-258.
Maithani, B.P. 2005. Shifting cultivation in the North-East India: Policy Issues and Options.
Mittal Publications, New Delhi. 179 p.
Raintree, JB and Warner, K, 1986. Agroforestry pathways for the intensification of shifting
cultivation. Agroforestry Systems. 4: 39-54
Sahoo, U. K., Rocky, P., Vanlalhriatpuia, K and Upadhyaya, K. [Link] diversity and
functional dynamism of traditional homegardens of north-east India. The
Bioscan.1:159-171
Teegalapalli, K and Datta, A. 2016. Field to a forest: Patterns of forest recovery following
shifting cultivation in the Eastern Himalaya. Forest Ecology and Management
364:173–182
Bhatt, B.P., Singha, L.B., Satapathy, K.K., Sharma, Y.P. and Bujarbaruah, K.M. 2010.
Rehabilitation of shifting cultivation areas through Agroforestry: A case study in
eastern Himalayas, India. Journal of Tropical Forest Science. 22(1):13-20
Deb, S.; Lynrah,M. M. And Tiwari, B. K. 2013. Technological innovations in shifting gricultural
practices by three tribal farming communities of Methalaya, north east India.
Tropical ecology. 54(2):133-148.
Lombi, P. and Riba, T. 2016. Declining shifting cultivation and loose of tribal culture: with
special reference to tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. International Journal of Emerging
Technology and Advanced Engineering. 6(5): 183-191.
Mao, A.A. and Hynniewta, T.M. (2000). Floristic diversity of North East India. J. Assam Sci.
Soc., 41 (4): 255-266.

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Mao, A.A. and Hynniewta, T.M. 2011. Plants used agriculture season indicator by Mao tribe
Manipur Meghalaya, India. Indian journal of Traditional Knowledge. 10(3): 578-580.
Marak, F. K. 2006. Major folk festivals of Garos with special reference to cultivation: a
critical study. Ph. D. Thesis. Department of Garo, NEHU, Tura. 6-16.
Singh, A. K., Arunachalam, A., Ngachan, S.V., Mohapatra, K.P. and Dagar, J.C. 2013. From
Shifting Cultivation to Integrating Farming: Experience of Agroforestry Development
in the Northeastern Himalayan Region. In: (Eds) A. K. Singh et al (2013) Agroforestry
Systems in India: Livelihood Security & Ecosystem Services. Advances in Agroforestry
Volume 10, 2014, pp 57-86

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ROLE OF HORTICULTURE IN JHUM IMPROVEMENT AND REHABILITATION

A.K. Jha, H. Rymbai, V.K. Verma, N.A. Deshmukh,
H. Talang, S. Ruth Assumi, and M.B. Devi
Horticulture Division, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya

The North-eastern region comprises of eight states viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim lying between 21.5o N - 29.5o
N latitudes and 85.5 o E - 97.3 o E longitudes. It has a total geographical area of 2,62,180 km2
which is nearly 8% of the total geographical area of the country. In the whole of NE region,
about 35% area is plain and the remaining 65% area is under hills. Whereas in Assam, plains
account for 84.44% of its total geographical area and the remaining 15.56% area is under
hills. Net sown area is highest in Assam (34.12%) followed by Tripura (23.48%), however,
Arunachal Pradesh has lowest net sown area in the region. Cropping intensity is highest in
Tripura (173%) followed by Manipur (152.1%), Mizoram (136.36%) and Assam (123.59%).
The region has unique weather and climatic condition because of its typical geographical
location, physiography, highlands in the northern part and their syntaxial bend, presence of
alternating pressure cells of North West and Bay of Bengal and presence of tropical
maritime air masses (Barthakur, 2004).
Shifting cultivation: traditional landuse system in NE
Shifting cultivation or Jhum is the most primitive and popular farming practiced across the
entire NEH region which is essentially an agroforestry system organized both in space and
time (Ramakrishnan, 1992). Jhum is a way of life that is deeply entrenched in the artifacts,
sociofacts and mantifacts of the tribal way of life in the north east. It is locally known as Rep
Sytri in Khasi; Lo in Mizo etc. It has been practiced over 9000 years and said to have been
originated in the Neolithic era dated by the archeologists to 7000 B.C. (Maithani, 2005).
Jhum in the region is a complex system with wide variation that depends upon the
ecological variation in the area and cultural diversity among various tribal clans. However,
there are some commonalities in the basic cropping practice. Usually all the essential crops
such as paddy, maize, tapioca, colocasia, millets, sweet potato etc. are grown on the same
piece of land as mixed crop. Jhum in its most traditional form is not a very unsustainable
land-use practice particularly when the Jhum cycle is more than 20 years. The soils get
enough time to rejuvenate and restore their health and productive capacity. The Angami
tribe from Nagaland used to practice such as alder based sustainable jhum system that was
developed in Khonoma village in Nagaland. It provides about 57 food crops to supplement
the staple crop rice. The root nodules of the Alder (Alnus nepalensis) plants improve soil
fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen into the soil through Frankia. The fallen leaves act as
mulches and add humus to the topsoil. The wood is used as fuel-wood, for charcoal burning
and in construction works. Alder saplings collected from nursery or wild forest are planted
in a jhum field located in hills above 1000 m.

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The Konyak tribes in Nagaland also have sound ecosystem knowledge which they use in
their shifting cultivation practices. In the Konyak Jhum fields about 42 species could be seen;
rice and colocasia being the dominant ones. They have a sound knowledge of mixing rice
and colocasia by which the sloppy land is covered under vegetation for a greater part of the
year i.e. from April to December. Mixed cropping of rice and colocasia is also practiced by
Garo and Khasi tribes of Meghalaya and they cultivate colocasia as a supplementary crop.
But, Konyaks grow both the crops as their main crop to meet their food requirements. The
Konyaks have a good sense of fallow management and aware that the leaves and twigs
falling from the trees restores the fertility of the Jhum land. They count the number of leaf
falls and believe that after seven times ‘leaf fall’ the land becomes mature enough to
cultivate. That is why they keep the fallow period as seven years and deliberately keep the
seedlings of tree species for establishment during the resting phase. They religiously protect
the jhum lands from fire during the fallow period. If some accidental fire occurs, the fallow
period is extended. This shows the great sense of ecosystem among the Konyak tribes
(Bhan, 2009).
In Khasi hills of Meghalaya, shifting cultivation is known as “Rep Syrti/Thangram”. Shifting
cultivation practices are of two types- jhumming and bun cultivation. Jhumming involves
cutting and burning of forest vegetation on sloppy lands and using the site for two to three
year for growing rice, maize, millets, beans, cassava, yam, sweet potato, ginger, chillies,
sesamum and vegetables in mixture thereafter moving to a forest site for repeating the
same process (Singh and Dhyani, 1996). At times, a single crop of rice is grown in the second
year of jhumming. In Bun cultivation, twigs and branches of forest trees species such as
Pinus kesiya, Schima wallichii, Michelia species at lower elevations, and Schima khasiana in
higher elevation along with weed biomass (Artimisia vulgaris, Crotolaria mysorensis,
Eupatorium odoratum, E. adenophorum, Imperata cylindrical, Inula capa, Lantana camera,
Micania macarantha, Panicum khasianum, Plectranthus coetsa, Rubus ellipticus, Saccharum
spontaneum, Pteridium aquilinum from the surrounding areas are kept in heaps at regular
interval in the entire area. The buns are usually 2 to 4 m long, 1 to 2 m wide and 0.15 to 0.35
m in height. They are spaced at 1 to 2 m depending on the soil depth and are covered with a
thin layer of soil in order to burn the whole biomass under anaerobic condition and finally
the biomass is slowly converted into ash. The activity is usually done during February to
March.
At present, with increase in population pressure on land resources, the Jhum cycle is getting
reduced very fast and reached at 2-4 years at present. This makes the system unstable and
lead to severe land degradation as a result of soil erosion and associated factors such as
reduction in soil organic matter, nutrients etc. Total area under shifting cultivation is highest
in Nagaland followed by Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. In terms of percentage of the
total geographical area, Nagaland (17.06 %) and Mizoram (12.42 %) are the most severely
affected by jhum cultivation. However, there is decline in area under shifting cultivation in
most of the north eastern hill states except Nagaland (Table 1). It has declined from 1.35
million ha in 2003 to 0.85 million ha in 2005 (excluding the state of Assam).

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Table 1. Area (km2) under shifting cultivation in different states of the NEH region
2005 2003
TGA
States Current Abandoned Total Current Abandoned Total Change
(km2)
Jhum Jhum 2005 Jhum Jhum 2003
Arunachal
1025.1 506.4 1531.5 1116.9 496.2 1613.1 83743 -5.06
Pradesh
Manipur 752.1 100.1 852.2 1119.5 3697.1 4816.68 22327 -82.31
Meghalaya 291.9 157.1 448.9 627.2 116.6 743.8 22429 -39.64
Mizoram 1028.5 1589.0 2617.5 1146.9 2870.4 4017.4 21081 -34.84
Nagaland 1239.1 1588.6 2827.7 1116.6 801.3 1917.9 16579 47.44
Tripura 89.3 164.8 254.1 284.9 110.4 395.3 10486 -35.71
Sikkim 0 0 0 0 0 0 7096 0
Total 4425.9 4106.1 8532.0 5412.1 8092.1 13504.2 -36.82
Source: Wasteland Atlas of India, 2010 ([Link]
Horticulture for Jhum improvement
Under the scenario of climate change and gradual degradation of natural resources
including lesser per capita availability of land, there has been an urgent need for location-
specific measures to conserve, utilize and manage these resources for optimizing production
on sustainable basis without adversely affecting its quality. The age old practices of Bari
(Backyard farming) system in Assam, Zabo system in Nagaland and Apatani system in
Arunachal Pradesh are some of the glaring examples of effective utilization of the bio-
resources in farming systems mode. The wide agro-climatic variation from subtropical to
alpine provide enough scope for growing different horticultural crops with little
modification in abandoned jhum lands and existing jhum fields based on the prevailing
ecosystem. Development of horticultural based farming system in varying topography, soil
and environmental conditions, is one of the viable options. Thus, horticulture can play a
very viable option for jhum improvement and rehabilitation for ecological and economical
sustainability. Besides improving the value of the fallow or a shift towards settled
cultivation, horticulture can also provide the much needed capital with which further
intensification of lands will be undertaken in many cases.
Although, enough efforts have been made to control the soil /land degradation but desired
results are still awaited. The altitudinal, climatic, socio-ecological diversity within the region
provided enough opportunities for the cultivation of large number of forest species, cereals,
horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers and large number of foliage
ornamentals in the different agro-climatic zones. NE Region has a total area of 1.37 million
ha and 11.50 million tones production of horticultural crops and contributes about 5.66%
and 4.15% of national area and production, respectively (NHB, 2015).
The region is characterized by difficult terrain, wide variability in slope and altitude, land
tenure system and cultivation practices and poor communication system making majority of
the areas in the region still inaccessible. Majority of the population is dependent on
agriculture, horticulture and allied land based activities. The agriculture production system

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in the region is mostly rainfed, mono-cropped and subsistence type. The fruits grown in this
region range from tropical and sub-tropical fruits like banana, papaya, pineapple, jack fruit
and citrus to temperate fruits like apple, pear, peach, plum and even certain nut fruits. The
region has rich diversity of different vegetable crops and both indigenous tropical
vegetables and temperate vegetables are grown to a considerable extent. The major
vegetables grown in the region are brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, onion, pea, potato,
tomato, knol-khol, radish, carrot, French bean and different cucurbitaceous crops. Among
the flowering plants special mention may be made about the orchids, where about 600
species are reported to occur in the region alone. The other commercial flowers of the
region are marigold, tuberose, gladiolus and chrysanthemum. Tuber and rhizomatous crops
like tapioca (cassava), sweet potato, Dioscorea, colocasia, ginger and turmeric grow
abundantly in the region, while plantation crops like tea, coconut, areca nut, cashew nut
have considerable impact on the economy of the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the
region. Later on other plantation crops like rubber and coffee, medicinal and aromatic oil
yielding plants like Solanum spp., Dioscorea spp., Cymbopogon spp., Citrunella spp. etc. have
been considered suitable for certain areas of the region (Deka et al., 2016).
Apart from these, there are certain underutilized or lesser-known horticultural crops, which
are grown at large scale in some or other parts of the region by tribals. These underutilized
crops include passion fruit, kiwi fruit, chow-chow, parkia, sweet gourd (kakrol) etc. These
crops are grown in such a large scale that they are not only consumed by tribal / people of
the region but are also exported outside the region.
Potential horticultural crops for NEH Region
Pineapple, Khasi mandarin, Banana, Passion fruits, Assam lemon,
Fruits
Peach, Guava, Kiwi
Colocasia, Chow-chow, Tapioca, Potato, Pea, French bean
Vegetables
Cabbage, Onion etc.
Gladioli, Roses, Lillium, Carnation, Gerbera, Orchids,
Flowers
Chrysanthemum, Anthurium , Foliage plants
Spices Ginger, Large cardamom, Turmeric, King chilli, Black pepper
Medicinal & Aromatic
Patchouli, Neem, Agar, Aloe-vera, Garcinia and Ginseng
plants
Plantation crops Arecanut, Coconut and Cashew
Selection of crops across the elevation
The different horticultural crops can be grown in different altitudes based on their climatic
requirements in jhum or degraded lands.
Altitude (above msl) Suitable crops
Apple, Peach, Pear, Plum, Apricot, Kiwifruit, Strawberry,
High hills (900 – 2000 m)
Potato, Colocasia, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Radish, Beans, etc.
Citrus, Banana, Pineapple, Papaya, Guava, Ginger, Turmeric,
Mid hills (below 800 m) Chilli, Brinjal, Tomato, Bean, Sweet potato, Tapioca, Colocasia,
etc.
Foot hills Jackfruit, Arecanut, Cashew nut, Coconut, Black pepper, etc.

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Horticulture based cropping systems to be followed for better income

The following cropping models/ techniques may be followed in the entire region based on
the availability of lands suitable for the system.
A. Mixed horticultural land use for hilly slopes
 2/3 areas from top towards lower hillside are converted into contour using logs/
bamboo.
 3-4 fruit blocks may be developed i.e. Mandarin block, Peach block, Guava block,
lemon block.
 The lower 3/4 contour may be utilized for cultivation of rhizomatous crops. After
that 3-4 terraces may be completely utilized for the pure vegetable cultivation.
 The lower 1 or 2 contour may be utilized for strawberry under plastic mulch.
 The contour bunds may be utilized for planting of pineapple.
 Alternate contour bunds may be utilized for marigold, gerbera etc.
B. Multi-tier horticultural land use system for better income
 Horti-horti three-tier system: Areca nut + black pepper +ginger/ turmeric/
pineapple/Assam lemon
 Silvi-horti-three tier system: MPT + black pepper + ginger/turmeric/pineapple
 Silvi-horti-two tier system: Tree bean and pineapple
 Alder based farming system: Alder and vegetables like potato, cole crops or alder
and cereals like maize, rice etc.
 Alder based large cardamom system
 MPT + Assam lemon
C. Horticulture based farming system for sustainable family income
Horticulture based farming system approach may be a sustainable option for abandoned/
existing jhum. ICAR Research Complex, Barapani has developed a model in 1 hectare area
with the following components so as to get regular income throughout the year.
 Fruit crops: Khasi mandarin/ Sweet orange, Pineapple, Assam lemon, Guava
 Vegetable crops: As inter crops
 Protected cultivation of vegetable in polyhouse
 Flower crops: gerbera & marigold
 Vermicompost: 1 unit: 3 chambers
 Vermiwash: 2 units
 Water harvesting structure cum fish pond
Table 2. Income generation from horticulture based farming system within one year
Crops Area (m2) Planting season Gross income
Sweet orange 2000 July
Pineapple + Assam lemon 1200 April 2000 (Pineapple)
Guava 500 July

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Polyhouse 100 Whole year 16000

Vermicompost unit 1 unit October Utilized for
cultivation
Vermiwash unit 2 nos
Turmeric, colocasia etc 200 April 9900
Water harvesting pond 1000 3000 ( fish)
Flowers (Gerbera and Intercrop 3450
Marigold)
Cabbage, capsicum, brinjal intercrop 2330
Pea, tomato, French bean intercrop 1748
Broccoli, cowpea, okra intercrop 2750
Total income Nov, 08 – 41178
Dec, 09
Source: Anon., 2010
A number of such other models have been developed and standardized across the region as
per the need of the farmers and availability of the resources. The following are some of the
models.
1. Tuber Crop Based Farming System
The tilla (moderate hillock upland) land is suitable for cultivation of tuber crops in Dhalai
District of Tripura. As a portion of the land was tilla and without any source of irrigation, it
was selected for tuber crop cultivation viz., Diascorea, elephant foot yam, tapioca, ginger,
sweet potato etc. after cleaning land was divided in to plots of size 800m2 each for the
individual tuber crops. Boundary of each plot was planted with banana suckers. One unit pig
(2 piglets) was integrated for fattening by utilizing tapioca, sweet potato etc as feed. The
cost of production was Rs. 3,250 for 0.48 ha area for cultural practices & Rs. 5100/0.48 ha
for planting material. The cost of pig rearing including piglets, feed etc was Rs. 9800/-. The
total cost of production is Rs. 18,150.00 and farmers earn a gross return of Rs. 23,100 from
crop component + Rs. 16,000 from livestock i.e. total Rs. 39,100/-. with a net return of Rs.
20,950 having a B:C ratio of 2.15 (Datta et al., 2012).
2. Agri-hort-silvi-pastoral system
The system was standardized in 0.80 ha area in ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region,
Umiam, Meghalaya. In this system 0.10 ha of foothills was used for agricultural crop, 0.25
ha for horticulture and 0.44 ha for silvi-pastoral crops. The Agri-horti-silvi-pastoral system
produced 8344 kg REY (rice equivalent yield). The highest REY of 3000 kg was estimated
with cow milk followed by Capsicum-Turmeric (2006.5 kg REY). The gross return of Rs.
94,781/-from the system while net return of Rs.45,092/- was obtained from one cow dairy
unit. Vegetable component registered a net income ofRs.18365 while fruit orchard (guava
and pineapple) gave a net income of Rs. 5071 amounting to a total net income of Rs. 45,092
from the system (Anon., 2016).

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3. Silvi-horticultural system
The total area of Silvi-horticultural system was 3.13 ha with a forest land of 2.17 ha and
planned land use of 0.96 ha of which 0.50 ha area was kept for system study. The average
slope of the area was 53.18%. Lower terraces covering an area of 490 m2 was utilized for
growing spices and vegetables like turmeric +bottle gourd, turmeric + pumpkin and turmeric
alone. The middle portion of the system was utilized for fruit crops such as guava. Upper
portion of the system was covered with the forest tree spp. Alnus nepalensis. A gross
income of Rs. 34,400.00 was recorded from this system (Anon., 2016).
4. Arecanut/ palms based farming system
Due to its height, crown shape and wide spacing, areca nut (Areca catechu) is amenable to
intercropping with annual, biennial and perennial crops. Banana, black pepper, pineapple,
tapioca, turmeric and ginger are grown successfully in the under storey of areca nut. In
areca nut and palm nurseries, banana is also grown to provide shade to the seedlings. In
intercrops with black pepper, areca palms of more than 10 years of age and 7-8 m tall serve
as standard. This is very popular in homestead gardens mainly in valleys up to 400 m above
mean sea level elevation.
Palms provide more than one economic products and can be considered as multipurpose.
Leaves or petioles of palm are used as thatching, making hats, mats, baskets, ropes etc.
Stems are used as pillars in construction of houses. Inflorescence and flowers are used for
preparation of beverage. Fruits are edible. Palms are common in mixed small farming
system. By virtue of canopy architecture, tree multiple economic / commercial products and
their diverse uses, palms have immense potential in agroforestry system as a woody
component. Techniques have been developed to cultivate hybrid napier under coconut
based hortipasture system. The yield reduction in hybrid napier was observed up to 2.5 m
distance from the base of the coconut plant.
5. Alder based FS
The main crop during the first year is usually upland rice in warmer areas and job’s tear in
cooler high altitude regions. Earlier the upper Konyaks, Chang, Yimchunger and Khiamungan
tribes of Nagaland were using Chinopods and Amaranthus spp. as main crops in higher
altitude ranges and later those were changed over by upland rice, job’s tear and maize along
with varieties of secondary crops being sporadically inter planted. It is recorded that as
many as 45 crop species are grown in a single jhum field in Chujuyimlang in Mokokchung
district. Many wild vegetables and fruit bearing plants, which are grown naturally, are also
conserved in the fields. Plants for domestic requirement, such as Livistona jenkinsiana
(thatching material, palm), various bamboos, Caryota sp., perennial vegetable crops and
fruits, medicinal and ornamental plants are also grown and conserved in the jhum fields,
which lead to form a multistoried AFS.
One of the objectives of NEPED-II (Nagaland Empowerment of Poor through Economic
Development Project) was to introduce shade loving cash crops to be grown under trees for
value added agriculture. Almost six years after the introduction of trees as additional crop in

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jhum fields, shade loving crops can be grown under the trees. Today Nagaland is providing
cash crops like cardamom, ginger, passion fruit, black pepper and turmeric (Table 3).
The indigenous tribes used to collect large cardamom from natural forests, later on these
were domesticated and now it has become the major plantation crop of the region. Among
30 shade tree species found in large cardamom plantation, alder is most abundant. Farmers
have evolved a classical tree cutting schedule in plantation area to get continuous supply of
fuel wood and fodder without affecting the shade requirement of large cardamom plants. It
helps in preventing lifting of long large cardamom clumps by thick old roots; otherwise
productivity of cardamom is affected. This is an economically viable and export potential
system, which has great potential in farming systems of NEH region.
Passion fruit, a new introduction in the region, is grown under partial shade and has
normally two harvesting seasons in a year. The first harvest is done in the month of May-
June and continues up to Oct-Nov. The yield of passion fruit varies depending upon the age
of the vine and the method of cultivation. Fruiting generally starts from second year and
goes on increasing until the fourth year or more, provided pruning and manuring is done on
time. Usually, a single plant yield 7-30 kg up to the fourth year.
Table 3. The details of under storey crops.

Seed/
Time of Elevatio Degree of
planting Spacing Best suited Yield
Crops sowing/ n shade
material (m) soil (q/ha)
planting (m) required
used
Cardamom Rhizomes April- 600- 1.5 x 1.5 Loamy soil 10-15 50-75%
and May 1900
suckers
Betel vine Cuttings May- 200-800 Dependin Clay to loamy 10-15 50-75%
of June g on soil
runners support
trees.
Black Cuttings May- 200-800 Dependin Clay to loamy 10-15 50-75%
pepper of runner June g on soil
shoots. support
trees.
Passion Seed and April- 600- 4.5 x 6.0 All types of 45-50 25%
fruit vine May 2000 soil
cuttings
Turmeric Rhizomes March- 200- 0.45 x 0.3 Loamy with 140-320 10-25%
April 1600 rich organic
matters
Ginger Rhizomes March- 200- 0.45 x 0.3 Sandy soil 100 10-25%
April 1600 with rich
organic
matters

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6. Home garden for Biodiversity Conservation of Woody Perennials

Bamboo grooves on water springs and around the farm boundary shade the agricultural
lands. Moreover, soil under the shade of bamboo remains saturated during most part of the
monsoon. Studies to utilize shaded area under Bambusa nutans have revealed that the
lands near bamboo grooves (11-15 m from grooves) should be utilized for growing ginger,
turmeric, large cardamom and dinanath grass, depending upon the choice of the grower.
The land beyond this zone may be put to suitable crops of farmers’ choice. The associated
broad leaved trees with some of the bamboo species grown in home garden have been
shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Trees and agricultural crops associated with edible bamboo species in some
states of NEH region
Bamboo Elevation Tree/ crop in association in Home
Natural/ plantation forest
species (m asl) garden
B. balcoa Lower Artocarpus heterophyllus,
(100- Mangifera indica, Michelia oblonga,
200) Bambusa tulda, B. nutans, Citrus -
spp., Thysanolaena maxima, Areca
catechu, Amaranthus spp.
Higher Artocarpus heterophyllus,
(250- Mangifera indica, Bambusa tulda,
450) B. nutans, Melocanna baccifera,
-
Moringa olifera, Citrus spp.,
Thysanolaena maxima, Areca
catechu, Amaranthus spp.
D. Lower Mangifera indica, Litchi sinensis, Ficus religiosa, Terminalia
hamiltonii (100- Artocarpus heterophyllus, Bambusa spp., M. baccifera,
250) tulda, B. nutans, Areca catechu, Artocarpus lakoocha
Anacardium occidentalis
Higher Michelia champaca, Citrus spp., Tectona grandis, A.
(450- Musa spp., Areca catechu, Piper lakoocha, Pterospermum
1400) beetle and seasonal vegetables. spp., Duabanga spp. and
wild banana
Melocanna Lower Bambusa cacharensis, Areca A. lakoocha, Tectona
baccifera (150- catechu, A. heterophyllus, Citrus grandis, Toona ciliata,
650) reticulate, Piper spp., Dioscorea Terminalia spp.
bulbifera, D. alata, Gingiber spp., Schizostachyum dulloa, P.
Cucurbita spp. acicularis
Higher Cinnamomum sp., Ananas comosus, Syzyzium spp.,
(800- Piper beetle, A. heterophyllus, Pterospermum acicularis,
1200) Colocasia spp., Gingiber spp., Tectona grandis, Morus spp.
Schium edule

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C. Higher Alnus nepalensis, Ficus hookerii, Duabanga sp., Terminalia

hookeriana (1000- Albizzia chinensis, D. hamiltonii, sp., Pterospermus sp.
1300) Pyrus communis, Prunus persica,
seasonal vegetables.
D. Lower Bambusa tulda, B. wamin,
hamiltonii (300- Mangifera indica, vegetables. -
600)
Higher D. giganteus, Pyrus communis, D. hamiltonii, Ficus spp.
(1000- Prunus persica, C. hookeriana,
1300) seasonal vegetables including
Amomum subulatum.

7. Potentialities of indigenous fruit crops in AFS

A large number of wild plants or their parts still supply food to a large section of population
in the entire Himalayan and Northeastern region of India. For years, man has relied on
nature to provide wild fruits without managing or taking any effort to propagate them. This,
coupled with lack of ex-situ conservation strategies has led to loss of indigenous fruit tree
species in the natural forests. Introducing such trees on farm through suitable agroforestry
model not only has the potential for improving food security in hilly areas but it will also
conserve the biodiversity on farm. A few examples of indigenous fruit tree species that can
be fitted in various agroforestry models in this region are mentioned in Table 5.
Table 5. Indigenous fruit tree species of NEH region with their state of occurrence and
relevant potentialities.
Indigenous fruit tree
State Potentialities
species
Arunachal Actinidia sp. Wild relative of kiwi fruit (A. chinensis)
Pradesh Dendrobenthamia A wild fruit grows in temperate region
capitata
Illicium griffithii Famous ‘Star Anise’ species occur in temperate hills.
Variability may be used for production and
Fragaria spp.
processing industries.
Variability may be used for production and
Rubus spp.
processing industries.
Assam Unripe fruits used for medicinal purpose and ripe
Artocarpus lakoocha
fruits used for edible purpose.
Mature fruits are used for pickling and canning
Dillenia indica
purpose
Manipur Tree bean of Manipur with substantial nutritive
Parkia roxburghii
value.

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Meghalaya Prunus nepalensis Fruits are processed for soft drinks

A potential semi-domesticated fruit needs proper
Myrica esculenta
commercial exploitation.
A potential semi-domesticated fruit needs proper
Elaegnus latifolia
commercial exploitation.
A potential semi-domesticated fruit needs proper
Morus acidosa
commercial exploitation.
Citrus indica A wild relative of orange
Mizoram Mangifera sylvatica A wild relative of cultivated mango.
Nagaland Citrus ichangensis A Wild relative of orange
Malus baccata A wild relative of cultivated apple
Sikkim Musa sikkimensis A frost resistant banana species

Tripura Psidium guinensis A wild relative of cultivated guava

Zizyphus mauritiana Extensive diversities are available within the state.
An endemic species and wild relative of cultivated
Citrus megaloxycarpa
orange.
Source: Hore, 2006.
Constraints
1. Planting material
The importance of type and quality of planting material in horticulture needs due attention.
Several initiatives have been taken both at national and state level; as a result, there is now
a chain of measures at ICAR Institutes, SAUs, State Dept of Horticulture, Commodity Boards
and in private sector. However, the quality of planting material still remains to be regulated.
Several other inadequacies also exist in production and supply of planting material as
detailed below:
 Acute shortage of mother plants of recommended varieties particularly of new
varieties.
 Absence of suitable mechanism to ensure quality.
 Acute gap between demand and supply in several crops.
 Micro-propagation protocols are not available in many crops for large scale
production of planting material.
 The dispersal of public sector hybrids of vegetable crops has been rather slow.
 Seed and nursery registration acts are not being implemented in letter and spirit.
 Most of the existing nurseries lack modern infrastructure.
2. Connectivity
The main problems confronting to the farmers are the remoteness from the market outlets
and of poor road connectivity from the place of production to market outlet. Products often
have to be transported by means of head load thereby increasing the cost of production.

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The perishability of fruits possess special problem, though attractive markets make it
worthwhile especially if the appropriate infrastructure can be put into place.
3. Extension System
Role specificity of extension system in promotion of horticultural crops has remained
unattended because of skewed primacy of food grain by extension workers. Some of the
crucial inadequacies identified include:
 Extremely weak horticulture extension system due to lack of extension
professionalism as well as lack of trained manpower.
 Lack of linkage, coherency and co-ordination among different extension agencies.
 Lack of centers of capacity building for farmer on advanced/ modern practices.
 Lack of mobility of the field functionaries of line departments.
 Low budgetary allocation on TOT of horticultural crops.
4. Land use planning and development strategies
The ideal alternative to jhum on hill slopes requires a total change of cultivation practice.
Plantation and horticultural crops must be simultaneously cultivated with forestry species to
ensure permanent plant cover. Cereal crops should be confined to the valleys. Two factors,
however, make this an unrealistic prospect in the near future. First, the isolation caused by
topographical distance from urban centres cannot be countered except through extensive
networks of roads. Importing cereals into the region on a large scale to compensate for
reduced local production thus is not feasible. Second, social and cultural changes have to
take place before such a system will be adopted. For immediate future, an improved jhum
cycle must be the focus of development.
The north eastern hill region can support a variety of tropical and temperate fruit trees
besides plantation crops such as tea, coffee and rubber. Planting suitable crops on a
cooperative basis among a number of contiguous villages in an area of 100-200 ha with each
family in a village being a unit, will ensure continued independence of family units, promote
economic viability and reduce the pressure on the land from jhum.
Conclusion
Although the region is very rich with respect to natural resources and biodiversity but their
exploitation and extraction with poor replenishment has become a point of concern for
their sustainability. The large scale interference due to shifting cultivation and increased
population pressure has enhanced the process of degradation. Development of horticultural
based farming system in varying topography, soil and environmental conditions, is the need
of the hour. While devising any such programmes, social, economic and cultural traditions
of the jhumias have to be introspected. Moreover, priority should be given to techniques
and practices that can enhance production and productivity with regular income at farm
level. Besides improving the value of the fallow or a shift towards settled cultivation,
horticulture has also provided the much needed capital with which further intensification of
lands can be undertaken. Horticulture can play a pivotal role for jhum improvement and
rehabilitation for ecological and economical sustainability.

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Development packages must be specially designed for a given cluster of villages, taking into
consideration the microenvironment and the socioeconomic condition and cultural
background of the people. The aspiration of the tribal people are unique because of their
independent nature and closeness to the forest ecosystem, provisions to protect these
unique characters need to be established during the planning process. Scientists, planners
and administrators often have tried to impose plans for development that they consider
good for the people in the region without trying to understand the process that operate in
the traditional ecosystems. Rather, the strategy for development should be one with which
the people themselves can identify. Traditional value systems should be incorporated as
much as possible rather than ignored or even undermined. Development packages of this
type not only will find ready acceptance by tribal societies but also will ensure participation
of the people in the development processes.
References
Anonymous. 2010. Annual Report (2009-10), ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region,
Umiam.
Anonymous. 2016. Annual Report (2015-16), ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region,
Umiam.
Barthakur, M. (2004). Weather and climate. In Brahmputra basin water resources. (eds.) V.P.
Singh, N. Sharma, S. Shakhar and P. Ojha. Kluwer Academic Publisher: Netharlands.
pp. 17-30.
Bhan, S. 2009. A case study on shifting cultivation practices in Mon district of Nagaland.
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 8(2): 8-13
Datta, M., Das, A. and Ngachan, S. V. 2012. Innovations in Agroforestry based Farming
System for Sustainable Land Use and Rural Livelihood in Tripura. In: Innovations in
Integrated Farming System for Livelihood Improvement. Book of Extended
Summaries of the National Seminar On Livelihood Options for Small and Marginal
Farmers Livelihood Options for Small and Marginal Farmers in Fragile Ecosystems, 9-
10th August, 2012. pp 58-64.
Deka, B.C., Rymbai, H., Deshmukh, N.A. and Talang, H.D. 2016. Horticulture based Farming
System: The Engine for Prosperity in Northeast India. Souvenir cum Invited Paper
Abstract of the Platinum Jubilee of HIS, the 7th Indian Horticulture Congress,
Doubling Farmers Income through Horticulture, New Delhi, November 15-18th, 2016
pp. 264-265.
Hore, D. K. 2006. Potential of minor forest produce and other economic plants in socio-
economic development of NER. In. North East Emerging Horizons in
Agribusiness (eds. Akali Sema, Amod Sharma, [Link] and Imti Naro L.). Published by
Seminar Organizing Committee N.E. Agri Expo 2006.pp125-139.

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Jha, A.K., Verma, V.K., Deshmukh, N.A., Rymbai, H., Assumi, S.R., Devi, M. B. and Talang,
H.D. 2017. Spices for income enhancement in NE Region: Needs and focus. (in)
Theme 4: Horticulture for Nutrition and Assured Income. National Seminar on ‘Smart
Farming for Enhancing Input Use efficiency, Income and Environmental Security’
organized by Indian Association of Hill Farming in collaboration with ICAR Research
Complex for NEH Region during 19th -21st September 2017. Pp 109-118.
Maithani, B.P. 2005. Shifting cultivation in the North-East India: Policy Issues and Options.
Mittal Publications, New Delhi. 179 p.
Ramakrishnan, P.S. 1992. Shifting agriculture and sustainable development: An
interdisciplinary study from North-Eastern India. UNESCO-MAB series, Paris,
Parthenon Publications, Cornforth, Lancs, UK.424p.
Rathore, S.S., Karunakaran, K. and Prakash, B. 2010. Alder based farming system, a
traditional farming system in Nagaland for amelioration of Jhum land. Indian Journal
of Traditional Knowledge 9(4): 677-680.
Singh, B.P. and Dhyani, S.K. 1996. An appraisal of indigenous landuse systems in Meghalaya
for developing sustainable rainfed hill agriculture. In. Proceedings IUFRO-DNAES
International Meet on Resource Inventory Techniques to support Agroforestry and
Environemntal activities. Eds. R.K. Kohli and K.S. Arya. DNAES, Chandigarh. Oct 1-3,
1996. Pp. 61-72.
Singh, J. S. and Singh, S. P. 1992. Forests of Himalaya, Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital, p.
294.
Singh, A and Singh, M.D. 1981. Effect of various stages of shifting cultivation on soil erosion
from steep hill slopes. Indian Forester 106(2): 115–121.

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OPTIONS FOR NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION FOR JHUM

IMPROVEMENT IN NEH REGION
S. Hazarika
Natural Resource Management Division, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Meghalaya

India’s North Eastern Region consists of eight states–Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura–occupying 262,179 square kilometres
and with a population of over 45.58 million (Census 2011) which is 3.77% of India’s
population. The North Eastern Region is socially, culturally, and politically very complex and
contains great environmental and natural resource diversity. More than 200 dominant
tribes and many sub-tribes reflect the complex social structure of the region. Agriculture is
the mainstay of the economy of northeast India, where more than 80 percent of the total
population is rural. Jhum (shifting) cultivation is the predominant land use system in the hilly
states of the region. A lack of enterprise and the decline in local income generation in the
once fairly self-sufficient villages resulted in large-scale migration of young people to cities
and other urban areas, including outside the region. Consequently, the decline in the
number of young people in the villages makes it more difficult to meet the labor-intensive
requirements of most agricultural practices in the hilly regions. Further, poor market access
and lack of opportunities for value addition for cash crops and locally abundant horticultural
crops hinder the tapping of alternative sources of income.
Natural resources
In terms of its natural resources, the region is identified as one of the world’s biodiversity
hotspots, with species-rich tropical rainforests supporting diverse flora and fauna, and is the
center of origin of several species, including citrus, cereals, and orchids. The North Eastern
Region has abundant water resources accounting for 34% of the country’s water resources
and almost 40% of India’s hydropower potential. One-third of India’s runoff flows from the
Northeast through the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers. The abundant surface water resource
imposes severe distress and costs on the region through frequent flooding and erosive
processes. The region also has a substantial unutilized groundwater resource. The total
forest cover in the region 171,964 sq km which is 65.59 percent of its total geographical
area (TGA) in comparison to national forest cover of 21.34%. Recent assessment (ISFR,
2015) shows a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 628 sq km (0.37%) in the NE region.
The reason behind such decrease is attributed to the biotic pressure and shifting cultivation
in the region. State wise forest cover along with the changes as compared to previous
assessment (2013) is given in Table 1. The quality of land in the region is favourable for a
wider range of crops livestock-forestry-fishery activities. Furthermore, there are large
reserves of petroleum and gas in the region, which constitute a fifth of the country’s total
potential. Industrial raw materials such as coal, hydrocarbons, and mineral resources,
including thorium and limestone, are also abundantly available

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Table 1. Status of forest cover in North Eastern states (ISFR, 2015)

Forest cover Change

TGA % of % Change
States in 2015 w.r.t. 2013
(Sq km) TGA over 2013
(Sq km) (Sq km)
Arunachal Pradesh 83,743 67,248 80.30 -73 -0.11
Assam 78,438 27,623 35.22 -48 -0.17
Manipur 22,327 16,994 76.11 +4 +0.02
Meghalaya 22,429 17,217 76.76 -71 -0.41
Mizoram 21,081 18,748 88.93 -306 -1.63
Nagaland 16,579 12,966 78.21 -78 -0.60
Tripura 10,486 7,811 74.49 -55 -0.70
Sikkim 7,096 3,357 47.31 -1 -0.03
Grand total 266,179 171,964 65.59 -628 - 0.37
Shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation (jhum) is believed to have originated during 7000 BC. A considerable portion of
the landmass of the North East is under shifting cultivation (Table 2). This practice of food
production is refined and intensely associated with tradition and socio-cultural values that
the people perceive towards livelihood sustenance in the hills. There are different arguments
with regard to the impacts of shifting cultivation on forest cover, soil and environment; however the
practice in present form with very short cycles is shown to be affecting the forest cover and soil
fertility. Though, this practice has been projected as harmful, no good alternatives such as
agro-forestry or horticultural intervention could infiltrate into the jhum areas substantially.
The traditional lifestyle, culture and resistance to government policies by the local
inhabitants have led to non-adoption of any suggested alternatives to jhum cultivation.
Since complete eradication of shifting cultivation is practically impossible, research for
prescribing resilient shifting cultivation for sustainable development is needed. The existing
scenario of shifting cultivation practice and its impact on livelihood has been studied during
the past several years. Effort to develop strategies for resilient shifting cultivation with a
goal of sustainable development and livelihood security is the need of the hour.
Table 2 : Area under current and abandoned jhum land in North East
Change Change %
Abandoned jhum Current jhum Total jhum
State (sq km) (sq km) change*
2005-06 2008-09 2005-06 2005-06 2008-09 2005-06 2008-09
Ar. Pradesh 506.39 1078.52 +572.13 1025.07 961.04 -64.02 1531.46 2039.56 +33.2
Assam 79.41 136.33 +56.92 160.15 258.86 +98.71 239.56 395.19 +65.0
Manipur 100.10 201.32 +101.22 752.10 270.31 -481.79 852.2 471.63 -44.7
Meghalaya 157.12 268.11 +110.99 291.87 272.52 -19.35 448.99 540.63 +20.4
Mizoram 1589.03 1049.37 -539.66 1028.53 612.71 -415.82 2617.56 1662.08 -36.5
Nagaland 1588.65 842.47 -746.18 1239.09 1514.95 +275.86 2827.74 2357.42 -16.6
Tripura 164.83 68.99 -95.84 89.28 33.20 -56.08 254.11 102.19 -59.8
Total 4185.53 3645.11 -12.9% 4586.09 3923.59 -14.4% 8771.62 7568.70 -13.7%

*change in total jhum area during 2008-09 over 2005-06

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Natural resource conservation options for jhum improvement

Jhum lands are classified into two categories i.e. current jhum land and abandoned jhum
land. Current jhum lands are the area that are used for cultivation by the process of jhuming
which are clearly perceptible on the current season satellite image that are in pre-
burnt/post-burnt condition. Abandoned jhum lands are the areas that were under shifting
cultivation, left idle for more than one year but less than 5 years thereby giving a scope for
the regeneration of secondary vegetation, especially bamboo or grasses. This category has a
tendency to get mixed with forested areas. The area under current and abandoned jhum
land in the North East are given in Table 2. Keeping in view of the diversity in bio-physical
conditions and resource availability, the approaches for natural resource conservation in
two different categories of jhum lands will be different. Some of the approaches for
conserving natural resources for jhum improvement are highlighted:
Current jhum land situation:
 The jhum is a unique agro-ecosystem having distinct agro-biodiversity, considered to be
an important natural resource, adapted only to the fragile hill ecosystem and
maintained through the tribal communities. Biodiversity in this jhum agro-ecosystem
comprises of cereals, millets, tuber crops, vegetables, oil seeds, spices, condiments and
culinary herbs, floricultural and medicinal plants. Farmers cultivate more than 40 species
in the jhums. There also exists wide genetic diversity within the species. Besides the
agrobiodiversity farmers also use wild plant species as food plants linked with food
security. Traditional cultivars of these crops have been conserving from time
immemorial through jhum practice. These traditional cultivars are either fertilizer non-
responsive or very less responsive. There is little scope for replacement of these
cultivars with fertilizer responsive HYVs of crops. The farmers are reluctant to apply
fertilizers in the jhum fields, so HYVs can’t give expected yield. Moreover, the fertilizer
use efficiency will not be encouraging since most of the applied fertilizers will be lost
from the system through surface runoff because of high rainfall in the region. Therefore,
effort to develop varieties having good yield potential with low inputs using existing
genetic pools of traditional cultivars has merit. It will also help in conserving diversity of
traditional cultivars and protecting soil and water resources from degradation. Tagging
of products of jhum field as organic will fetch higher prices for which policy intervention
is needed for developing market linkages for such products. Expansion of trade to South
East Asia under Act East Policy, GOI may provide ample opportunity for marketing of
such product.
 Maintenance of high species diversity contributes to the agro-ecosystem stability. With
high crop diversity it would be possible to achieve high productivity thorough
maintaining high organic biomass content in the system as a whole. Maintenance of
higher level organic matter in soil of jhum field (organic by default) helps crops to
overcome moisture stress particularly during winter months. High organic matter in soil
also prevents soil loss due to erosion. Due to burning, the biomass availability in jhum

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field for soil application is less and therefore, farmers need to be motivated for
collection of biomass from adjoining forests. Integrated farming system (IFS) is a
production system being followed in the entire north east and livestock/birds
component of IFS may serve as an important source of manures for jhum fields.
Motivation of farmers to dig compost pit adjacent to jhum field for utilization of biomass
from crop and non-crop areas for production of manures should be given due
importance.

 Microbial diversity is an unseen natural resource that deserves greater attention.

Microorganisms are essential for the earth to function. They play many roles both on
land and in water, including being the first to colonize and ameliorate effects of man-
made disturbed environments. As the jhum is virtually organic production system, bio-
fertilizers can play significant role in managing soil nutrients in jhum fields. Microbial
biodiversity of jhum field should be exploited for production of biofertilizers.
Biofertilizers produced from native strains of microbes will be far more effective than
that of commercial biofertilizers produced elsewhere.

 Replacing slash-and-burn with slash-and-char can improve the quality of Jhum field
soils (Hazarika, 2014). Slash-and-char is a carbon and nutrient conserving alternative to
existing slash-and-burn technique. Carbon will rather be retained in the system
compared to slash-and-burn, since only biomass from the same cropping area will be
used for producing the charcoal. A global analysis revealed that up to 12% of the total
anthropogenic C missions by land use change (0.21 Pg C) can be off-set annually in soil, if
slash and burn is replaced by slash and char. The production of charcoal for soil
amelioration purposes could establish a C sink and could be an important step towards
sustainability and soil organic matter conservation in jhum agriculture. To popularize the
slash-and-char practice among the hill farmers of North East, research focus and policy
initiatives on popularizing low-cost biochar production technologies is urgently needed.

 The shifting cultivation adversely affects soil fertility of jhum fields due to soil erosion,
loss of organic matter and leaching of plant nutrients. Studies on steep slopes (44–53 %)
have indicated soil loss to the tune of 40.9 t/ha, and corresponding nutrient losses per
ha are 702.9 kg of organic carbon, 63.5 kg of P and 5.9 kg of K (Ram and Singh 1993). The
soil loss from hill slopes (60–79 %) under first year, second year and abandoned jhum
was estimated to be 147, 170 and 30 t/ha/year, respectively. Soil loss can be suitably
minimized through adoption of soil conservation measures such as contour trenches,
contour bunds, vegetative bunds, grass water ways etc. Introduction of leguminous
cover crops in current jhum field will minimize soil loss, improve soil health, suppress
weed, provide food to human and feed to animal besides adding cash incomes. Bio-
terracing of jhum field with fast growing hedgerow species like Tephrosia candida,
Crotalaria tetragona, Crotalaria juncea, Indigofera tinctoria, Flemingia macrophylla and
Cajanus cajan has scope for minimizing soil loss and improving the productivity of the
soil of current jhum fields. Hedgerows alone abridged soil loss by 94% and runoff by 78
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%. Use of twigs and tender stems of hedge plants as mulch conserved ~83% of soil and
42% of rains water. In an experimental trial conducted at Changki, Nagaland, soil loss
was abridged by 22% with integration of hedgerow species in jhum plots as compared to
traditional jhum site (38.1 t/ha/year). Therefore, contour hedgerow technology provides
an alternative farming on hill slopes on a sustainable basis. Alegre et al. (1996) reported
that combined use of earthworm inoculation and organic inputs is an efficient way to
improve the fertility of jhum fields.
 Crops in jhum field suffers from severe moisture stress particularly during winter months
that drastically reduce the productivity of the crops. Despite having heavy monsoon
rainfall in North east region, there is acute shortage of water in winter months. The
geological formation does not permit water retention; run-off is quick and springs and
small streams dry up when there is no rain. In order to improve the jhum productivity,
water/moisture conservation options suitable for sloppy land need to be explored.
Construction of low cost micro water harvesting structures with minimum seepage and
evaporative losses (Jalkund 30,000 l capacity) depending on availability of suitable space
in sloppy land will be a viable option for life saving irrigation of crops. Harnessing
perennial spring water, if available near jhum field, through diversion channels hold
promise to overcome the water scarecity problem in jhum fields. In-situ conservation of
soil moisture through organic mulch may be one of the ideal options. Forest biomass of
adjoining jhum field may provide source of availability of organic mulch. Vegetative
barrier with hedge row species in jhum field may provide alternative source of biomass
for organic mulch.
 Adoption of Alder based jhum system, wherever possible, should be encouraged
because it is an outstanding model of sustainable land use system for hilly ecosystem
evolved through numerous years of testing. Alder based jhum fields are managed
typically in four year cycles, with two years of cropping between the alder trees fallowed
by two more years while the soil is rested and the coppices allowed to grow.
Abandoned jhum lands situation:
The declining productivity of jhum lands is the main threat for sustainability of shifting
cultivation. One of the main reasons for rotation of land in shifting cultivation is exhaustion
of soil fertility and search for new fertile land. To make the abandoned jhum lands fertile
and less prone to soil erosion, following intervention can be made for its improvement for
sustainable agriculture.
 Adoption of soil fertility restoration measures through recommended practices viz.
cover cropping, introduction of legume in cropping system, carbon management
through manure/compost application, green manuring etc.
 Adoption of suitable crops and cropping sequence for soil improvement. Raising of close
growing crops like grasses and good canopy-producing crops like legumes controls soil
erosion and improves soil structure due to good canopy, higher root mass and root

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secretions helping in binding soil particles. Cropping sequences that provide early and
continuous ground cover permit less erosion. A suitable cover crop such as pigeon pea
(Cajanus cajan), stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis) and velvet beans (Psophocarpus
palustris) used in crop rotation helps to improve soil properties.
 Nutrient management through conventional sources of nutrients (organic manure,
green manure, crop residue, compost etc) should be given due emphasis since the
farmers are reluctant to use chemical fertilizers.
 The SALT approach (Sloping Agriculture Land Technology) when suitably adapted to the
local conditions has the potential to offer the hill tribes with an alternative method of
agriculture, which while being climate smart, will also provide the farmers with a means
of sustainable livelihoods.
 Soil and water conservation through adoption of site specific land use systems viz.
horticultural based land use system, horti-silviculture based land use system, agri-horti-
silvi-pastoral land use system, agro-forestry based land use system etc. Agroforestry has
been a long-standing custom in the region, where cereals, rhizomes, pineapple, coffee,
tea, spices and vegetable crops are grown along with fruits and other trees such as pine,
pear, plum, areca nut, mandarin, guava, coconut, jackfruit, banana and large cardamom
with alder trees.
 Adoption of soil and water conservation measures through bio-terracing, contour
trances, vegetative bunds etc.
 Terracing of hills with abandoned jhum land. Creation of micro water harvesting
structures in steep hill slope of jhum fields is difficult for rain water harvesting. Terracing
not only helps in reducing hill slopes but also provide platform for creation of micro
water harvesting structures. Terraced land could be used for planting commercial crops
like tea, rubber etc. Terracing of hill is a costly affair and so concerned government
should introduce land use policy for terracing of jhum lands for enhancing agricultural
productivity and livelihood security. For example Government of Mizoram has
introduced New Land Use Policy (NLUP) for conversion of hill slopes in to terraces.
 Development of the abandoned jhum land following watershed approach.
Conclusion
As the jhum system has cultural linkages with the traditional communities, improvement of
jhum is the only option left out with the researchers and developmental workers for
motivating people to mitigate the ecological degradation of the production system.

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Literature cited
Alegre et al. (1996). Dynamics of soil physical properties in Amazonian agroecosystems
inoculated with earthworms. Soil Science Society of America Journal 60(5): 1522-
1529.
Hazarika, S. (2014). Abstract of National Seminar on Shifting Cultivation (Jhum) in the 21st
Century: Fitness and Improvement November 28-29, 2014 at CPGS, CAU, Umiam,
Meghalaya, India
ISFR (2015). Indian State of Forest Report 2015 published by Forest Survey of India, Ministry
of Environment & Forests, GOI, New Delhi.
Ram and Singh 1993. Ram, Munna and Singh, B.P. (1993). Soil fertility management in
farming systems. Lecture notes. Off-campus training on farming system, Aizawl. 5-7
October, pp. 46-50.

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AUTHOR INDEX

Name Page Name Page

Alone R. A. 1 Kandpal B. K. 57
Ansari M. A. 13 Krishnappa R 20
Assumi S. Ruth 89 Kumar Amit 20
Babu Subhash 20 Layek Jayanta 20
Baishya L. K. 42 Lungmuana 33
Barman J. 42 Mohapatra K. P. 20, 73
Baruah M. S. 1 Prakash N. 13
Bhowmik S. N. 57 Punitha P. 13
Boopathi T. 33 Rajkhowa D. J. 42
Chandra Puran 73 Ray Sanjoy Kr. 42
Das Anup 20 Roy S. S. 13
Datta D. 1 Rymbai H. 89
Dayal V. 33 Saha Saurav 33
Deshmukh N.A. 89 Sharma Ph. Romen 42
Devi M Thoi Thoi 20 Sharma S. K. 13
Devi M.B. 89 Singh A. R. 33
Dutta S. K. 33 Singh Gulab 20
Ezung N. Khumdemo 42 Singh I. M. 13
Hazarika S. 103 Singh S. B. 33
Jha A.K. 89 Talang H. 89
Jini D. 1 Verma V.K. 89
Kalita H. 1

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