Jhum cultivation of rice is an ancient practice of the tribal people living in the hill tracts of bangladesh. Shifting cultivation locally referred to as jhum, podu, pothu, penda and kumri etc in india. Jhum cultivation, also known as the slash and burn agriculture, is the process of growing crops by first clearing the land of trees and vegetation and burning them thereafter. The downed vegetation, or slash, is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. The farmers then move onto the other land to repeat the same process there and they keep on shifting it. Jhum cultivation and its impact on ecology need for viable alternatives ceety khongsai jhum cultivation seen in this breathtaking landscape of manipur pix bullu raj. Sriram ananthanarayanan examines how the cycle of jhum cultivation is getting adversely affected, causing immense hardship to. Dec 10, 2017 shifting cultivation is a type of cultivation in which an area is cultivated temporarily for a period of time which differs from place to place and then abandoned for some time so that it restores nutrients in the plot naturally. Evaluation of nerica rice mutant in jhum cultivation. Harmonizing jhum shifting cultivation with pgs organic. The variety of rice and millet grown are considered best for brewing traditional beverages.
Government of nagaland has promoted terracing as an alternative to jhum cultivation. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. This is extensively practiced by the tribals throughout the tropical and. These traditional crops are reported not growing well in other systems. Remarks1 we make the frame of only those households in villages who are practicing jhum cultivation to avoid zero information. Sriram ananthanarayanan examines how the cycle of jhum cultivation is getting adversely affected, causing immense hardship to the people dependent on it. This paper intends to add to current debates surrounding jhum cultivation, forest conservation, and.
Jhum or the shifting system of cultivation is being replaced with more scientific cultivation methods, bringing land under permanent cultivation. Shifting cultivation known as jhumming is one of the most ancient system of farming believed to have originated in the neolithic period during 7000 b. Sustainability of jhum cultivation as perceived by the tribal people of tripura article pdf available january 2014 with 1,085 reads how we measure reads. Schedules on jhum cultivation yere canvassed in the entire rural areas of arunachal pradesh, meghalaya and tripura, and in tvo hill districts. Home share your files disclaimer privacy policy contact us prohibited content. The topography of the region apart from fertility of the soil. Manipur is a hilly region with large portion of its geographical areas being covered by forests. Landlessness and rural deprivation have historically been virtually absent in the uplands of northeast india. The topography of the region apart from fertility of the soil can be attributed as one of the factors for widespread practice of jhum cultivation.
Slashandburn agriculture, also called firefallow cultivation, is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. Jhum cultivation is the most common and traditional livelihood of the people of arunachal pradesh. Vegetables, potato and fruits are marketed as harvested. The period of cultivation is usually terminated when the soil shows signs of exhaustion or, more commonly, when the field is overrun by. This is done by clearing a patch of land for cultivation. In 2004, 74 hhs opened 75 plots for shifting cultivation, with an aggregate area of 179. This system involves cutting back and clearing large areas of the hillside through fire, which also acts as a fertiliser, to obtain.
Such regenerating fallows add to the forest cover of an area. Shifting cultivation destroys the protective and productive vegetation in preference to a very brief period of immediate crop production and this results in soil loss and other consequential damages. Pessimistic attitudes toward jhum cultivation practice are driven largely by the rise of liberal economic policies, and concern for potential ecological crises. This is the reason it is named as shifting cultivation. Jhum cultivation causes pollution of the air which ultimately leads to global warming.
Initially, the vegetation or the forest on the land is cleared where the. It is practiced for livelihoods and not without the knowledge of its adverse effects. Jhum or podu or shifting or slash and burn cultivation is one of the primitive practise of agriculture systems. Land cultivation in india is having its distinct feature in different regions of the country. The history of shifting cultivation is as old as the history of agriculture itself. The challenge is not only in jhum areas but also in traditionally non jhum areas which is equally facing huge land degradation and soil erosion due to rising land pressure owing to phenomenal population growth in the last. Previously, jhum or swidden cultivation would produce subsistence crops such as rice in abundance, but in.
Mar 25, 2014 a short film about variant of jhum cultivation practiced in nagaland which is sustainable and does not involve tree felling. The agricultural practices of one of these indigenous groups of forest farmers the tawahka in honduras illustrate that agriculture can be sustainable without. The objective is to estimate, the total area under jhum cultivation in the state. Jhum shifting cultivation is a primitive practice of cultivation in states of north eastern hill region of india and people involved in such cultivation are called jhumia. Diversity of livelihood there is a diversity of household livelihood strategies due to differential landholding pattern and availability of different opportunities.
Shifting cultivation is the primitive form of soil utilization, usually of tropical. Nov 07, 2017 jhum or podu or shifting or slash and burn cultivation is one of the primitive practise of agriculture systems. Sustainable land and ecosystem management in shifting. Area under jhum cultivation significantly reduced in. In the hilly region of arunachal pradesh, assam, manipur, meghalaya, mizoram, nagaland and tripura, shifting cultivation, locally known as jhum, continues to be a dominant mode of food production and the economic mainstay of many rural households. Traditional management practices of natural resources of. The national programme for organic production npop in india includes fallow lands for promotion of organic farming goi, 2005. Rice cultivation is mostly done in the plain area of dimapur, wokha, mokokchung and mon districts. As the authors of the thai case study point out, in this dual economy, shifting cultivation and paddy fields are providing a safety net that allows engagement in more risky, cashoriented production p. This type of cultivation is mainly practised in much of the worlds humid lowlatitude, or climate regions, which have relatively high te. Jhum cultivation which is popularly known as shifting cultivation is one of the oldest types of cultivation practices of india and is practiced majorly in the northeastern states of india.
Jhum cultivation is woven into the traditions and culture of the nagas with major land use is under jhum. Pdf sustainability of jhum cultivation as perceived by. The jhum ecosystem is based on a cycle of forestagricultureforest. Commonly known as jhum this practice was valid only during those days where human population was sparse and pressure on land was negligible. This is very essential for the fertility of the land. Jhumming, a traditional lifestyle than merely a cultivation.
The shifting cultivation is briefly known as agriculture in the cultivate manner that is in the form of the jhum. Most of the varieties are traditional which are low yielding and long duration 140160 days. It plays an important role for providing livelihood and food security to many people in hilly areas where the other opportunity of cultivation is not feasible. Pdf sustainability of jhum cultivation as perceived by the.
Stracey listed a number of problems caused by slashandburn shifting cultivation or jhum as commonly practised by indigenous tribes in north east india. Thus jhumming is a cultural choice and traditional lifestyle rather than a cultivation method. This cultivation has a particular pattern that has to be followed according to the cycle or the period of jhum cultivation. Jhum cultivation practices of the bangnis nishis of. Tripura in the year 1961 was 3, 60,070, the number of tribal people depending on jhum cultivation were 1, 75,000, dev varman 1999 i. Jhum agriculture involves an intricate combination of land and labour management or gainful employment intertwined with strong cultural linkages. In 2003, 62 hhs opened 65 plots for shifting cultivation, which covered 141. Dec 10, 2017 this is the reason it is named as shifting cultivation.
Shifting cultivation fallows must be legally perceived and categorized as regenerating fallows, which may, if given sufficient time, regenerate into secondary forests. This primitive form of agriculture, according to him, resulted in serious environmental problems. Shifting cultivation is a type of cultivation in which an area is cultivated temporarily for a period of time which differs from place to place and then abandoned for some time so that it restores nutrients in the plot naturally. Thus, for cc mitigation in a policy perspective, tea gardens could represent the best land use to store increasing amounts of soc in the longterm perspective and optimize farmers. Traditionally all the tribes in the state practice. For jhumias jhum cultivators the importance of shifting cultivation goes beyond mere economic concerns. Jhum cultivation has been devised over generations and terraced rice cultivation has been practised for decades. The practice of shifting cultivation, therefore, could increase forest cover through the regenerating fallows.
Pdf shifting cultivation jhum in the chittagong hill. Treatment of claims relating to practice of jhum cultivation. These people often consider that jhum cultivation is a way of life, evolved as a reflex to the physiographical character of land under special ecosystems. The jhum products are also used in ceremonies, occasions, celebrations, etc. Currently, due to the increasing presence of a monetarised market oriented economy, rural destitution is becoming an everyday reality. Shifting cultivation, livelihood and food security. An empirical study of shifting cultivation in kombo jinyo.
Estimates produced between 1975 and 1983 of the area affected annually by shifting cultivation in india varied enormously from 9,956 to 90,000 square kilometres. Feb 12, 2010 jhum cultivation in the hill tracts 12022010 at 5. The major crops grown on this land are dry paddy, maize etc. Jun 27, 2008 jhum cultivation under conflict in the northeast shifting cultivation in the northeast, called jhum, is under stress because of conflicts and industrialisation. Fields in established and stable shifting cultivation systems are cultivated and fallowed cyclically. Traditionally jhum cultivation is a slashandburn process where a. The jhum cultivation practices were closely studied right from land selection to storag e. Jhum or slash and burn cultivation, is a form of cultivation carried out on the slopes of a hill. They can grow rice only once a year in the aus season. The practice involves clearing vegetativeforest cover on landslopes of hills, drying and burning it before onset of monsoon and cropping on it thereafter.
Pdf shifting cultivation and its merit and demerit. Jhum cultivation under conflict in the northeast india together. Changes in the extent of shifting cultivation in india 20002010. The apatani tribe of arunachal pradesh practice traditional irrigation system in the terraced paddy field, practicing fishcumpaddy cultivation. The objective is to estimate, the total area under jhum cultivation in. Jhum cultivation under conflict in the northeast shifting cultivation in the northeast, called jhum, is under stress because of conflicts and industrialisation. In some regions of india, in the shifting cultivation, there is the use of agriculture which will be full of the slashandburn agriculture, migratory primitive agriculture, nomadic agriculture, hoe and burn, forest field rotation. A short film about variant of jhum cultivation practiced in nagaland which is sustainable and does not involve tree felling. Traditionally jhum cultivation is a slashandburn process where a certain area is cleared and cultivated. Pdf practices of shifting cultivation and its implications in. Post harvest practices are traditional and depend on types of crops. Primary methods apart from the collection of secondary source of data, field survey was carried out to assess the different parameters based on some sample villages under mokokchung district. Following the partition of india large number of bengali displaced persons immigrated into tripura for settlement. Changes in shifting cultivation in mizoram some preliminary.
Indigenous system of paddy cultivation in terrace and jhum. It is often considered responsible for causing soil erosion, triggering landslide, flash floods and thereby degrading the primary land resource. In line with the centres stress on conventional methods of cultivation, the state with a 72 per cent forest cover had been able to reduce the total area under jhum cultivation from 1,10,000. Naga farmers had been practicing jhum and terrace form of paddy cultivation. A case study of traditional shifting cultivation in.
Rearrange individual pages or entire files in the desired order. G g g y 1, the total area under jhum cultivation in the state. Inspite of its minor variation, these cultivation processes are classified into two distinct patternsa settled farming on the permanent and developed land in the plains and valley areas and b tribal agricultural practices, popularly known as. Shifting cultivation has been practiced in europe until the middle of the 20th century, and the method is still prevailing in many tropical countries worldwide. The distributional pattern of shifting cultivation in southeast asia has been show in figure 5. Jhum cultivation practices of the bangnis nishis of arunachal pradesh vishal gupta divisional forest officer, seppa forest division, seppa 790 102, arunachal pradesh email. Jhum cultivation or shifting swidden cultivation is prevalent since ancient time. Shifting cultivation government policies focused on eliminating jhum in mizoram, strategy is to distribute goods in hopes that people will abandon jhumming. The period of cultivation is usually terminated when the soil shows signs of exhaustion or, more commonly, when the field is overrun by weeds. May 30, 2012 jhum cultivation seen in this breathtaking landscape of manipur pix bullu raj. Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot. Jhum cultivation is an ageold, rainfed cultivation method, practiced by the indigenous people on the hills and slopes of the chittagong hill tracts, because of the lack of flat land suitable for farming.
Jhum or shifting cultivation is a widely distributed and main form of agriculture in the upland areas of north east india. Sustainability of jhum cultivation as perceived by the. Jhum or jhoom cultivation is also called as shifting cultivation or cultivation or slash and burn cultivation. Improper cultivation in hill slopes, terrace land and piedmont plains shifting cultivation on the hills, locally known as jhum, is a common practice among the tribal communities in the greater chittagong hill tracts. Shifting cultivation or jhum cultivation in nagaland is a complex p and there are variations from district to district and tribe to tribe. It is known as jhum in northeasten india, podu in odisha, andhra pradesh and some southern indian states. Calibration approach for estimation of area under jhum. All the rituals and ceremonies related to the system were obser ved closel y.
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