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SHIFTING CULTIVATION:
TOWARDS TRANSFORMATION
APPROACH

A Draft Report
Prepared by
Prof. B.K. Tiwari, NEHU, Shillong
Dr. R.M. Pant, Director, NIRDPR-NERC, Guwahati

Submitted by

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT & PANCHAYATI RAJ

NORTH EASTERN REGIONCAL CENTRE
KHANAPARA, GUWAHATI - 781022
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CONTENTS

1. Introduction 2-4

2. Chapter 1 : Consolidate The Learning On Magnitude Of Problem 5-11

3. Chapter 2 :Viable, Best Practices Having Upscale Potential 12-14

4. Chapter 3 :Assessment of Institutions and Needs of Institutions for 15-16

Transformation

5. Chapter 4 : Suggested Action Agenda (Short, Medium and Long term) 17-20

6. Chapter 5. Ascertain to what extent and which Co-benefits could be 21

delivered to Jhumias and State Agencies

7. Annexure 1 Table 1. Summary of the actions points recommended for 22-31

transformational approaches
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TRANSFORMATIONAL APPROACHES IN SHIFTING CULTIVATION

Introduction

The history of shifting cultivation can be traced back to about 8000 BC in the Neolithic period
which witnessed the remarkable and revolutionary change in man’s mode of production of food -
from hunters and gatherers to food producers. Shifting cultivation since its inception is identified
with rotation of fields rather than rotation of crops, absence of draught animals and manuring,
use of human labour only, employment of dibble sticks or hoe, and short period of occupancy
alternating with long fallow periods to assist the regeneration of vegetation, culminating in
secondary forests. Many social scientists have described shifting cultivation as a way of life of
the societies practising it. It is found that the shifting cultivation fields and their surrounding
forests provide two alternative sources of subsistence to the dependent population. In case the
crops are not good or fail, the forest resources aid the farmers by augmenting their food supplies
in addition to the provision of house building material, fuel wood and timber.

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 is considered as primary means of economic mainstay. The social organisation of
the tribes living in the hills is often built around the concepts of community ownership,
participation and responsibility. The usual process in shifting cultivation followed in the region
demands the selection of a plot on or near the hill side or jungle, usually done during the months
of October to December by the village elders, clan leaders and households. In some tribes,
community as a whole is collectively responsible for clearing of the selected jhum plots while in
others, the clearing of trees and shrubs is made by the respective family to whom the plot is
allotted. At the time of allotment of plots, the size and workforce in the family are taken into
consideration. This is the fundamental basis for ensuring equitable and universal access to land
as well as rationalisation of labour availability and is based on the principle of ‘mouths to feed’.
The area allotted per family varies between half hectare to one hectare among the different
tribes, and states in the region. The process of clearing the plots which takes over a month is
labour intensive, being undertaken almost with indigenous and traditional equipment.
Households remove useful biomass – big branches, trunks and boles – for house building, timber
and fuelwood requirements and the remaining debris are left to dry. The dried slash as well as
the tree trunks standing in the clearance area are set on fire between the months of February and
March, care being taken during the firing operations to ensure that fires do not spread out of
control. The ashes are then scattered over the ground and dibbling of seeds begin right after that,
before the advent of monsoon. The dibbling and planting of seeds is an exclusive job of the
female members. The male members broadcast seeds of crops like millets and small millets,
whereas crops like maize, pulses, cotton, sesame and vegetables are dibbled by females. Most
interestingly, before sowing starts, evil spirits and village deities are worshipped and sacrifices
are made for a good crop and prosperity of the family. At the advent of rains, the seeds begin to
germinate. In shifting cultivation, the soil is never ploughed and no irrigation is used. After
sowing the crops, the shifting cultivators pay attention to the crops regularly removing weeds
from the field. In some places the crop is, however, protected from stray cattle and wild animals
by fencing the fields with bamboo. Many shifting cultivators in the region have the custom of
constructing a hut in the field to look after the crop. Shifting cultivators practice mixed cropping
however the composition of crops varies from tribe to tribe within the region. In mixed cropping,
soil exhausting crops like rice, maize, millets, cotton and soil enriching crops like legumes are
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grown together. These crops are harvested at different periods, thereby providing the farmers a
sequential harvesting and a variety of foods throughout the year. The land is cropped for two or
three years, thereafter, it is fallowed to recuperate. Traditionally the shifting cultivators grew
only food grains and vegetables however during present times most communities have shifted to
cultivation of cash crops such as ginger, turmeric, pineapple, jute etc. Among food grains, the
traditional varieties of rice, followed by maize, millet, job tears and small millets are the
principal crops. Among vegetables, a variety of legumes, potato, pumpkins, cucumbers, yams,
tapioca, chillies, beans, onion and arum are mostly cultivated. In fact, the choice of crop is
mostly consumption oriented. Ginger, linseed, rapeseeds, upland sesamum (perilla), oranges,
pineapple and jute are the important cash crops grown in jhum fields. The cash crops are mostly
sold in the nearby weekly markets and in recent years, to a growing market in urban settlements
and larger towns and cities.

Changing Perceptions about Shifting Cultivation in Northeast India

There are divergent opinions about the adverse effects of shifting cultivation on the land, water
and biodiversity of the northeastern India. A section of researchers believe that continuance of
shifting cultivation with necessary and effective reforms can do little damage to soil as high
humidity and fairly long duration of rainfall in the region do not permit the soil to remain
uncovered for long. Some form of vegetation immediately covers the top soil which checks the
soil erosion. During the agricultural operations also, no ploughing, hoeing and pulverization of
soil is done, therefore the soil remains compact. Moreover, the jhum lands are generally located
on hill slopes on which sedentary cultivation cannot be developed easily. 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. It is practiced for livelihoods and not without the
knowledge of its adverse effects. Yet, another section of experts hold the view that jhum
cultivation is primitive and unscientific land use that depletes the forest, water and soil
resources. It is said that felling of trees and clearing of bushes accelerate soil erosion and
accentuate variability of rainfall which may lead either to droughts or floods. The overall impact
is the decline in soil fertility. The agro ecosystems lose their resilience characteristics. The
village households dependent on shifting cultivation face shortage of food, fuel wood and
fodder. Consequently, the food availability and nutritional status of the households goes down.
These processes culminate into poverty and ecological imbalance. This view is however being
challenged globally and an increasing body of literature as well as recent publications from FAO
suggest the need for re-examining such perceptions. Recent analyses of the issue has shown that
the traditional shifting cultivation (long cycle >10 years) generally prevalent in places where
population density is low and in remote places appears to be good as it provides food security
and livelihood without causing any significant degradation of land. However, the distorted
shifting cultivation (short cycle < 5 years), a consequence of increasing land use pressure, is not
good land use and therefore, requires to be transformed.

For successive governments, both at the Centre and States, the management of shifting
cultivation, has been — and still remains — a fundamental imperative for agricultural
development planning pertaining to the uplands of the northeast India. Most development
planners and policy makers perceive the practice of shifting cultivation as subsistence,
economically unviable, and environmentally destructive and hence, a major hurdle to the
agricultural development of the states where shifting cultivation is practised. Governments
therefore, have consistently tried to replace the practice with settled agriculture, allocating
substantial financial outlays to support agricultural transformation. With increasing exposure to
the outside world and rising aspirations, shifting cultivators too, desire change as much as the
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governments do and desperately seek options that would help them transgress the practice and
move towards attaining their aspiration of assimilation into the mainstream economy. Towards
this end, they perceive government programmes as a critical – often the only - means to take
them out of poverty and hence, eagerly await opportunities to avail the benefits of such
programmes. However, despite the desire of the community and efforts by the government to
usher in change, shifting cultivation remains an enigma and persists in large parts of the region
even today.

Considering importance of the problem and in order to improve the livelihoods of the people,
eradicate poverty and stop the degradation of land due to shifting cultivation, the NITI Aayog,
Government of India constituted a thematic working group on ‘Shifting Cultivation: Towards a
Transformation Approach’ and suggested five action points: 1. Consolidate the learning on
magnitude of the problem, 2. Identify viable best practices having upscale potential, 3.
Assessment of Institutions (formal and traditional one’s) and needs for transformation, 4.
Ascertain to what extent and which “Co-Benefits” could be delivered (to Jhumias and State
agencies), and 5. Suggest Action Agenda (short, medium and long term). The working group
comprised of Lead Institution: NIRDPR-NERC, Director, Dr RM Pant, and NERCORMP,
MoEF &CC, DoNER, Ministry of Agriculture and Representative from ICIMOD as members.
On a later date, Professor B. K. Tiwari of NEHU was co-opted as a member.

Methodology

The working group reviewed the published and unpublished literature, reports of various task
forces, and had formal and informal consultations with experts in the field. The NIRDPR-NERC,
NERCORMP, ICIMOD, G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable
Development (GBPNIHESD) Rain Forest Research Institute submitted their inputs to the working
Group. Based on these inputs the working group prepared a draft report. The report has 5
chapters each dealing with the five action points suggested by the NITI Aayog.

Propitiating Nature before starting Jhum Cultivation

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CHAPTER 1
CONSOLIDATE THE LEARNING ON MAGNITUDE OF PROBLEM
Paucity of Accurate Statistics
i. Area under shifting cultivation Although the exact figures for the total area under
shifting cultivation and the total number of households involved in the practice are hard
to come by, the Task Force on Shifting Cultivation set up by the Government of India, in
their report of 2003 estimated a cumulative area of 1.73 million hectares under the
practice in NE India during the period 1987-97, based on a report of the Forest Survey of
India published in 1999. The Task Force also reported an estimated 620,000 families
dependent on shifting cultivation which is based on the Ministry of Agriculture Task
Force Report 1983. More recent figures provided by the Indian Council of Forestry
Research and Education published in the Statistical Year Book 2014 by MoSPI, suggest
significant reductions in the area under shifting cultivation during the last decade (2000-
2010).A comparison of the data, however, suggests that the data for the year 2010
presented in the ICFRE document is more or less the same as published in Wastelands
Atlas of India (2010)for the year 2005-6 for Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura
(Table1 and 2).The Wastelands Atlas Map shows a reduction in shifting cultivation in
northeastern states from 16435.18 sq km to 8771.62 sq km in two years. Never in the past
has so much change taken place in such a short period. Therefore, the authenticity of this
data remains uncertain. A reduction of >92% in Assam in two years and 82% in Manipur
in the same period calls for verification. The variations in data published by various
agencies raises a serious concern on the accuracy and veracity of figures provided by
different agencies and merits the need for urgently generating authentic data and/or
reliable estimates for the present area under shifting cultivation on a decadal time series
basis. This should be possible with the application of remote sensing imageries and such
an exercise should then be able to provide a reliable basis on which to assess accurately
the area under the practice for each state and also help generate the temporal trends of
change over the last few decades.
Table 1: Changes in the Extent of Shifting Cultivation in India(2000-2010)
(Area in km2)
State/Union Shifting Shifting Cultivation Change % Decadal
Territory Cultivation Area (2010) (km2) change
Area (2000)

Andhra Pradesh 13.80 16.45 + 2.65 + 1.92

Arunachal Pradesh 3088.08 1531.46 - 1556.62 -50.41

Assam 8391.48 239.56 - 8151.92 - 97.15

Bihar 45.45 0.00 - 45.45 - 100.00

Manipur 12014.06 852.20 - 11161.86 - 92.91

Meghalaya 2086.77 448.99 - 1637.78 - 78.48

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Mizoram 3761.23 2617.56 - 1143.67 - 30.41

Nagaland 5224.65 2827.74 - 2396.91 - 45.88

Orissa 115.28 1445.44 + 1330.16 +1153.85

Tripura 400.88 254.11 - 146.77 - 36.61

Total 35142.21 10306.84 - 24835.37 - 70.67

Source: Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and published under Statistical
Year Book-2014 by MoSPI

Table 2. Change in area under shifting cultivation from 2003-2005-6

(Area in km2)
State 2003 2005-6 Change % Change

Arunachal Pradesh 1613.13 1531.44 -81.69 -05.06

Assam 2930.97 239.56 -2691.41 -91.82

Manipur 4816.68 852.20 -3964.48 -82.30

Meghalaya 743.83 448.99 -294.84 -39.63

Mizoram 4017.41 2617.56 -1399.85 -34.84

Nagaland 1917.90 2827.74 +909.84 +47.43

Tripura 395.26 254.11 -141.15 -35.71

Total 16435.18 8771.62 -7663.56 -46.62

Source:Wastelands Atlas of India 2010,

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/wastelands-atlas-india-national-remote-sensing-
centre-and-ministry-rural-development-2010

ii. Households practicing shifting cultivation: While the ICFRE report provides figures
for the area under shifting cultivation, statistics for the number of households
continuing the practice of shifting cultivation could not be retrieved despite a search
in the available documents from the different concerned Ministries. Indications of the
total population or the number of households presently practicing shifting cultivation,
therefore, remain undetermined and is a serious lacunae in the information available,
compromising any serious appraisal of the magnitude of the ‘problem’. The Ministry
of Agriculture Task Force of 1983 has given a figure of 6.2 lakh families. All
subsequent publications have quoted this data. In the absence of any official data on
this aspect, inferences are to be based on published research findings available in the
public domain. Research studies conducted in the West Garo Hills, Meghalaya and
Ukhrul district, Manipur by ICIMOD in collaboration with NERCORMP and MRDS
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during the period 2002-2009, suggest that despite transformations and adoption of
multiple farming systems, 70% of the households in Ukhrul and over 90% in West
Garo Hills still continue to practise shifting cultivation, complimenting other farming
systems that they may have adopted. The findings from these studies suggest that it
would be erroneous to conclude that the mere adoption of a form of settled
agriculture by upland farmers in NE region means that the same farmers have given
up shifting cultivation. A shifting cultivator may adopt multiple settled farming
practices, but could still retain the practice of shifting cultivation. Therefore, in
addition to generating accurate estimates on the area under shifting cultivation, it is a
critical imperative to enumerate the exact number of households continuing with the
practice of shifting cultivation. These two data sets are crucial for getting a realistic
and accurate understanding of the magnitude of the ‘problem’. The generation of
exact estimates of households practicing shifting cultivation and the population
dependent on the practice, therefore, is a fundamental action required to be taken up
before effective plans to address the issue of transformation of shifting cultivation
can be drawn up. The data on geographical distribution and typology of shifting
cultivation (distorted, innovative, modified or traditional) are also required for the
purpose of designing the interventions.

Possible Reasons why most programmes and projects on shifting cultivation did not
yield desired result

i. Department of Forest and Environment: The Forest Departments of Government of

India as well as states have implemented afforestation programmes to stop shifting
cultivation since pre-independence. This was because almost all forest policies have
considered that shifting cultivation is a ‘bad land use’, and therefore, it must be
stopped. The Forest Department personnel tried to use their knowledge of forestry to
stop or reduce shifting cultivation by bringing the land under forest cover. For this,
they implemented schemes like Social Forestry and National Afforestation
Programme for tree plantations on jhum lands. Mostly timber and fuel wood yielding
species were planted. Bamboo plantations were promoted under the National
Bamboo Mission and Medicinal Plants were planted under the Medicinal Plant
Board. These plantations did not address the food security needs of the jhum farmers;
therefore, though the jhum farmers accepted the programme they did not stop
practising jhum cultivation which was continued for production of food. Most
plantation schemes were implemented for a period of 3 to 5 years. After the scheme
was over, there was no mechanism to monitor the success achieved and the farmers at
times were also not interested in tree plantation any more. In a number of cases the
afforested lands reverted back to shifting cultivation.

ii. Department of Agriculture and allied Departments: The Department of Agriculture,

Horticulture and Rural Development generally promoted conversion of jhum with
settled agriculture, promotion of fertilizers, high yielding varieties, irrigation and
introduction of a variety of models which generally were not found akin to the
availability of skill and man power, topography, food preferences and land tenure
system of the place. Sericulture and horticulture were successful only in areas where
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market was available. Spectacular results were noted in the state of Tripura through
promotion of rubber plantation. This was mainly because of assured market
availability and financial and technical support. Tea, cashew nut, coffee, floriculture,
passion fruit were also introduced as alternatives to shifting cultivation and these
were successful in areas where it was connected to the market. The convergence of
departments was lacking and each department worked according to their own
understanding and scope of the department. Each department tried looking at the
problem through its own lenses and therefore, did not get a holistic perspective. In
fact, most personnel implementing the jhum control or rehabilitation schemes had no
scope of experimenting or undertaking any activity beyond the mandate of their
department.

iii. Task Forces: Three task forces were appointed by the government, i) Ministry of
Agriculture, 1983, ii) MoEF 2002, and iii) Interministrial Task Force of MoEF, 2008.
Each one suggested the actions to be taken up by their respective ministries. Jhum
being an issue related to food security, livelihood, culture and land tenure, and
climate and land topography, each task force could attain limited objectives, and the
extent of jhum remained almost same even after implementation of their
recommendations.

iv. Need of Cash for Modern Living: The jhum farmers need cash for education of their
children, increasing assets and enhancing their purchasing power. Most schemes and
programmes have not adequately addressed this issue hence the alternate landuse and
livelihood option suggested by such schemes does not prove any better than the one
they have been practicing at least in this respect. It is said that in places where the
MGNREGA has been implemented, the dependence of people on jhum has to some
extent declined (though no empirical data is available on this). Broad understanding
therefore is: the jhum transformation schemes must generate cash income in order to
be successful.

v. More emphasis on land management less on the livelihood enhancement: Most

jhum rehabilitation schemes emphasised on afforestation, raising of plantation crops
and converting jhum lands to settled agriculture etc. Such conversion of shifting
cultivation lands to other land uses reduced the net area available for shifting
cultivation thus have contributed to the reduction of fallow periods. Presently, jhum
cycles in most areas of northeast India have been reduced to as short as 3-4 years.
This drastic reduction in the cycle is not long enough for the soil to recuperate or for
secondary forests to regenerate. The consequences in many places has been a drastic
reduction in productivity of shifting cultivation fields as well as an increase in soil
erosion, forest degradation and loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Together,
this has resulted in gradual marginalisation of shifting cultivator communities and
making them fall into the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation
feeding each other making it difficult for the communities to come out of the trap.
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The schemes aimed at restoring jhum lands through alternate land use without
providing/enhancing livelihood options and food security have failed.

vi. Socio-economic and infrastructure development: An analysis of various projects

and programmes implemented by the government and development agencies
including the ones supported by the international donors, it emerged that socio
economic development has greater impact on jhum reduction than afforestation
works carried out by the forest departments, promotion of modern agriculture by
department of agriculture and promotion of cash crops by other land based
departments. Further, a general observation on change in geographical distribution of
shifting cultivation over a period of time supports that jhum has ‘shrunken’ to places
in remote areas, and to places where the fruits of development like good roads,
schools, markets and hospitals are yet to reach. The learning from this analysis is that
the social, economic and infrastructure development are keys to jhum control. In
particular, poor connectivity limits access of the people to market and technology
which in turn promotes perpetuation of shifting cultivation.

Possible reasons as to why do upland farmers continue with the practice?

i. Crop Diversity and Food Availability: Government schemes in the context of managing
shifting cultivation have promoted settled agriculture by providing support for
construction of terraces or towards development of plantation crops. This process has
predominantly prioritized cereals and plantation crops and has caused reduction in
the diversity of crops that farmers were hitherto able to access. The new crops and
cropping pattern have severely limited the seasonal availability of food crops and in
the case of plantation crops, has restricted and compromised food availability during
the gestation period, resulting in a growing sense of food insecurity. Food
availability, and a compromised sense of nutritional security, thus becomes an issue
of concern during transition. This is one of the reasons why a good number of
farmers continue shifting cultivation even after adopting some alternative farming
system.

ii. Changing Land Use and Tenurial Security: Transformation to settled agriculture
means change in land use, and hence in community access and ownership of land or
the tenurial framework. Under shifting cultivation, land is managed customarily as a
common property; the changes to private ownership of land compromises tenurial
access to land and often means that farmers, particularly women farmers, are left with
either less land or no land at all. This has implications for both tenurial access and
livelihood security for affected households. Such changes also modify institutional
regulatory frameworks (often bringing in conflicting roles) and hence require a
thorough understanding of how changes in the institutions that govern these resources
are to be managed. Insecurity of tenure also demotivates the farmers for making any
investment in up keep of the land which in turn accelerates land degradation. In
villages where the community institutions have lost control over land, landlessness
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has become a major socio-economic issue. In many places the farmers continue jhum
in order to keep the right over the land intact and not to become landless. In many
states of northeast landlessness is emerging as a big concern among the tribal
communities. Any jhum transformation that encourages landlessness cannot be
sustainable.

iii. Challenges to Ecosystem Services: Promotion of cash crops and overall changes in
land use patterns is not only promoted through government programmes, but often
through aspiration of communities, who seek better integration with expanding
market forces. The focus on economy, and the resultant changes in land use,
however, has implications for ecology, in particular for vegetal cover. With settled
farming, the regenerative fallow cycles undergo changes in land cover, often being
converted into non-forest vegetation, leading to a loss of vital ecosystem services and
land degradation. Drying of water sources and depletion of soil fertility (and the
ramifications there of) and reduced availability of fuel wood, fodder and wild edibles
are serious concerns under conditions of agricultural intensification. Any land use
change suggested for transformation of shifting cultivation, therefore needs to
consider its impact on ecosystem services in general and hydrology in particular.

iv. From Sustainable Management of Community Resources to a Tragedy of

Commons: Management of common property resources under traditional customary
norms ensured a sustainable natural resource management regime that respected
conservation and regeneration of resources while ensuring equitable access and
benefit sharing founded on the principles of Common Property Regime framework.
As government programmes and schemes designed to replace and eradicate shifting
cultivation through settled agricultural practices began to be promoted, traditional
institutions and customary norms gradually eroded, resulting in increasing elite
capture and a rapid erosion of traditional access and benefit sharing frameworks. This
has resulted in degrading a fairly sustainable natural resource management approach
into a tragedy of commons. Most deforestation and land degradation in the northeast
is directly or indirectly a result of this tragedy of commons. With increasing elite
capture and the resultant transformation into private property regime, common lands
such as shifting cultivation fields are rapidly shrinking with a growing uncertinity
about the continuity of long-term access to such lands. Consequently, the Jhum
farmers, has therefore no incentive and motivation to look after the land. The
changing circumstances, therefore, force him to protect his interests and look for
temporal, short term gains. The vast stretches of land degraded due to the practice of
‘distorted jhum’ in the landscapes of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Manipur and Mizoram are a product of this ‘Tragedy of Commons’. There is a need
to develop institutional set up to reverse this tragedy of commons and make the
‘Ostrom’s Principle for Managing Commons’ work. A reappraisal of existing legal
instruments – Sixth Schedule Constitutional Provisions, FRA and existing Jhum
 11

Control Regulations for different states – is urgently required to strengthen local level
decision making in regard to land use and access to land resources.

v. Access to Programs and Scheme, Credit, and Market: Successful transformation of

shifting cultivation requires a range of enabling programmes and policies that can
provide the right environment to support communities to overcome the challenges
related to transformations. Most programmes and schemes for addressing
transformations in shifting cultivation are designed for selected watersheds or
localities, and do not always cover large areas, limiting implementation of such
programmes and schemes to a section of the population. The access and benefits of
such programmes, therefore, are restricted to the populations inhabiting these specific
areas and are not universally applicable to the whole population. This raises the issue
of equity and the problem is tackled only in a small area. Gender is also a major
concern on the issue of access to such programs and schemes. Consequently, even if
shifting cultivators want to adopt transformative changes, they have no access to
support services that would help them to undertake the transformation. Therefore, the
issue of universal coverage over a state or region needs to be examined so that the
issue can be settled for all time to come and there will not be a requirement of
another scheme for transformation of shifting cultivation in the same village after
some time, as is happening presently. A related issue of concern is with regardto
access to credit and markets. Credit facilities are extended against land mortgages
and for shifting cultivators, this effectively deprives them from accessing credit as
they lack any land title deeds. Credit facilities, therefore, need to explore possibilities
of extending credit against group/institutional guarantees. Such guarantees could be
extended by the clan or the village council/institution. It has been observed that cash
and plantation crops based programmes in shifting cultivation areas have often not
achieved the desired success if the market and related infrastructure is not
concurrently evolved. Failure of orange and pineapple plantations in remote places of
Arunachal Pradesh is a living example of such actions. Not being able to fit in the
modern agriculture which requires cash input they continue the practice of jhum
which does not need any cash or credit for producing food.
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CHAPTER 2
VIABLE, BEST PRACTICES HAVING UPSCALE POTENTIAL

i. Home Gardens: An effective, fairly easy to replicate and scale up approach to

transformations is the promotion of home gardens (or extended home gardens).
This approach, based on the model developed by villagers in Chandigre, West
Garo Hills, has been successfully promoted by NERCORMP across many of their
project districts. Home gardens allow households to grow many of their crops
cultivated in the shifting cultivation fields around their household. This not only
gives the households access to food crops for which they are habituated over the
seasons thereby contributing to the household’s nutritional security, but also
allows an income generating opportunity. Combined with horticulture and animal
husbandry, the promotion of home gardens has helped many households to
increase income significantly and improve their economic status. More
significantly, home gardens give tenurial security of this productive system to all
households, irrespective of their economic or social status. This security
encourages households to further invest in their home gardens thus increasing
their options for economic returns and in the process, gradually reduces
dependency on shifting cultivation. For women in such households, home gardens
have helped in reducing drudgery and increasing nutritional and economic
security.

ii. Fallow Forestry In Nagaland, NEPED has, over the years provided a good model
for fallow forestry promotion. NEPED’s approach of encouraging native species
promotion for provisional and regulatory services over exotic tree species has
proved to be the underlying rationale for the widespread acceptance of this model
by villagers across Nagaland. This is an excellent model for replication and
promotion of fallow forestry practice.

iii. Traditional Practices of Cultivation of Food Crops: Aji system of Apatanis,

Zabo system of Chakesangs, Bun system of Khasi Hills, Alder-based system of
Angamis, Tree based rice cultivation of Konyaks are some of the best practices
being followed by traditional communities. They are successful in their respective
areas but there is hardly any example where they have been replicated
successfully. However, while trying to transform shifting cultivation, these
traditional food production systems must not be disturbed.

iv. Agroforestry: NEPED has improved jhum by introducing a strong component of

agroforestry. Large scale plantation of fast growing timber and economically
important tree species with intercropping of ginger, turmeric, black pepper, lemon
grass etc have proved to be ecologically viable, economically sustainable and
socially acceptable. The success of the programme is attributed to strong
leadership, community participation and need based research support.

v. Cash Crop Cultivation: There are numerous examples where cash crops have
totally replaced shifting cultivation. Broom grass cultivation in Meghalaya,
Rubber plantation in Tripura, Tea cultivation in Tripura, Manipur Meghalaya and
Arunachal Pradesh, Cashew Nut plantation in Garo Hills of Meghalaya,
 13

Floriculture in Mizoram and Passion Fruit Cultivation in Nagaland, Manipur and

Mizoram are a few examples where cash crop cultivation has transformed shifting
cultivation in the area. But the fundamental requirements of this transformation
have been the market and handholding by various government agencies. In some
places, shifting cultivation has been totally stopped and people are buying their
staple food from the market while in some other places, jhum continueswhere the
jhumias cultivate cash crop for attending to their cash needs. A caution has to be
introduced here. In the quest for promotion of cash crop plantations (and
conversion of shifting cultivation fallows into settled agriculture), an important
ramification for landuse and landcover is overlooked. Fallows, where cash crop
plantations are expanding into, ensure forest regeneration and the development of
secondary forests over time. Indiscriminate expansion of plantations has been at
the cost of fallow forests and hence, of a drastic erosion of forest cover and
depleting ecosystem services that is irreversible. This has also reduced fallow
cycles, marginalising the practise of shifting cultivation and been responsible for
the distortion of the practice. In addition, this has compromised universal to land
and resulted, in many places, in elite capture and landlessness among upland
communities. Promotion of cash crop plantations, therefore, has to be conducted
with serious assessments of implications for forest cover change, access to land
and inclusiveness.

vi. Timber Tree Plantations: In villages where the land is enough and people have
moved out for service or business (de-population), a large area of shifting
cultivation land has been converted into timber tree plantations. This has
happened in the states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and on a small scale in
Meghalaya. This practice has helped in restoration of land creation of wealth for
the land owners. However, caution has to be exercised here as such conversions
have led to increased elite capture of land, depriving the poor and marginalised of
access to land for their basic livelihood needs and a rapid depletion of quality,
mixed forest cover. Further, a rigorous assessment needs to be done for
calculating opportunity costs and making such approaches inclusive and
universally acceptable.

vii. Models Developed by Various R&D Institutions: A good number of hill farming
models have been developed by the national research institutes viz., ICAR,
GBPNIHESD etc and have been demonstrated across several villages. However,
very few have been accepted by the farmers on large scale and for a long period
of time. Also, there is hardly any mechanism of follow-up and feedback for
redesigning and revamping the same as per local needs.

Village level micro planning is the key to success. Cash crops integrated with other
livelihood options have been successful in many places, particularly where market is
available and transport network is in place. However, often this has not helped the jhum
farmers to come out of the poverty; added to it, the degraded lands continue to degrade or
remain as such. The object of transformation of shifting cultivation must not be to stop
shifting cultivation all at once. It has to be a gradual process as it is not only a food
production practice but is also linked with the culture and tradition, in particular the food
habit of the people practising it. In order to make the transformation sustainable, it must
result in improvement of the standard of living of the jhumias. From the review of
various projects and programmes implemented for rehabilitation of jhum farmers, it
 14

could be concluded that there is no one best practice which can be up scaled on a large
scale at a regional or even state level. The variation in agro ecological conditions, land
tenure, traditional governance/institutions and tribes and sub-tribes make the situation so
unique and incomparable that a practice that proves to be very good at one place
completely fails in another situation. It is true to the extent that the system of jhum
practiced by the people of Khonoma does not work in the neighbouring village of
Mezoma. Therefore, there can be no one technology that can be replicated everywhere
following the dictum that there is no size that fits all.
 15

CHAPTER 3

ASSESSMENT OF INSTITUTIONS AND NEEDS OF INSTITUTIONS FOR

TRANSFORMATION

For assessment of institutions the two common meanings of Institutions have been used. i) the
common man’s understanding of the term that relates to the organisations and the other ii) which
is understood by the sociologists and political economists and relates to established laws,
customs, policies, practices, procedures, traditions, and rites and rituals.

i) The Organisations:

At the village level, traditional tribal institutions command great power and often act as leaders
of their communities. While traditional institutions lack access to information on modern
technologies, approaches and options, they are a rich repository of local resource management
approaches (including sustainable management of ecosystem services). A dialogue and discourse
with the heads of these institutions on the needs of transformation of jhum can help in
introducing new technologies and in making the contemporary practices more efficient and in
tune with current needs and aspirations of the communities.

A number of government officials belonging to land based departments routinely interact with
the jhum farmers for implementation of projects and programmes related to rural development,
forestry, agriculture, horticulture etc. These extension service providers often do not possess
latest development in the field and therefore require knowledge and capacity enhancement at
two levels – first, regular updating on the latest technological advances in agriculture and
simultaneously educating them with the different dimensions of the practice of shifting
cultivation, particularly tenurial arrangements and intricacies of common pool resource (CPR)
management. An understanding of the latter will ease their ability to suggest approaches which
facilitate acceptance of new alternatives and thus in effecting transformation. At the higher
levels, there is a need for facilitating a better understanding of the practice of shifting cultivation
so that the strengths of the practice – maintaining crop diversity, fallow forestry management
and conservation of ecological services, access and tenurial frameworks can be retained while
facilitating transformation.

The Agricultural universities, ICAR Research Complex for North-Eastern Hill Region, Rain
Forest Research Institute, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and State
Institutes of Rural Development have not taken research and development programmes on
shifting cultivation as much as was expected from them. These institutes and organisations need
to be more proactively involved in finding solution to the problem. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra
and other village level formal or informal institutions e.g. JFM Committees(under Forest
Department), Village Employment Council (under MGNEREGA) etc need to be educated about
the ill effects of distorted jhum and be involved in planning and implementation of the projects
for transformation of jhum.The ICAR Research Complex for North-Eastern Hill Region was
established with primary object of conducting research on shifting cultivation and find solution
to the problems relating to shifting cultivation. Therefore the institute is expected to be
repository of up to date data on the extent and status of shifting cultivation in northeast India.
However, over the years the institution has transformed itself to such an extent that jhumhas
 16

become a subsidiary component of their overall activity and does not seem be in focus anymore.
There is a need that ICAR RC NEHR takes a lead role in transformation of shifting cultivation.

The traditional universities of the region have confined their research on shifting cultivation to
the area of documenting the practice and analysing the impact of jhum on the soil and vegetation
of the region. By and large they never ventured into the realm of finding solution to the problem.
Another major shortcoming that emerges from the analyses of organisations engaged in research
and development in the field of shifting cultivation is general lack of cooperation and
convergence among various institutions and departments. Central as well as state government
Departments of Forests and Environment, Agriculture and allied departments often have
divergent approaches towards shifting cultivation. This creates confusion at grassroots level
workers and also among the jhum farmers.

ii) The established laws, rules, customs, traditions including policies.

In northeast India shifting cultivation has been working on an institutional framework which by
and large followed Ostroms principles on common pool resource. The communities have
evolved a set of customary laws, rules and traditions which governs the common pool resource
and regulates the tenure. Over the years due to modernisation, population increase and pressure
of market forces these institutional arrangements have weakened leading to distortion of jhum
and degradation of the CPR. In several places the land has been privatised leading to jhum being
practised on private lands or on leased lands. Thus any transformational approach for shifting
cultivation has to keep in mind this development in order to protect the interest of poor jhum
farmers.
The inconsistency and incongruence among policies of various departments of government of
India and state governments with respect to shifting cultivation needs to be done away with. The
dispute of land use of jhum should be settled once for all. The shifting cultivation land should be
recognised as agricultural land where farmers practice agroforestry for production of food. The
land should not be classified as forest land which needs to be converted into forest as claimed by
department of forest and environment.

Jhum fields getting ready

 17

CHAPTER 4
SUGGESTED ACTION AGENDA (SHORT, MEDIUM AND LONG TERM)

Managing transformations in shifting cultivation areas and bringing shifting cultivators into the
mainstream of economic development is a complex process requiring action from various
quarters. Given the complexity of the issue and the immediate area of action that the NITI
Aayog can galvanise action, the Working Group suggests the following action points in the
immediate, medium and long-term time frame:

i. Facilitating transformations; Institutional mechanism: Managing transformation

of shifting cultivation areas is a complex process, requiring the active participation of
multiple Ministries and agencies. Assigning the responsibility of effecting change to
a single Ministry and expecting the cooperation of other Ministries in achieving the
objectives of transformation is unrealistic (and has proved to be ineffective, given the
lack of coordination and synergies already witnessed). For an effective management
of transformation in shifting cultivation areas, it is recommended that a Special
Project/Programme Vehicle (SPV) be set up under the direct supervision of the PMO
or the NITI Aayog. This will ensure accountability of all related Ministries and
agencies that need to actively contribute to the process while also strengthening
coordination among agencies as well as monitoring of the progress and achievement
of set targets. Participation of State Governments needs to be built in while designing
the institutional mechanism for planning transformation strategies, operational plans
and implementation of planned programmes/schemes.

ii. Bridging Data Gaps: Non-availability of reliable data on temporal variation and
extent of jhum in terms of area, population involved and geographical distribution
makes proper planning and implementation of any project/scheme difficult. This
needs to be addressed immediately and on a Mission mode.
a. Remote Sensing approaches can be immediately harnessed to determine the area
affected and temporal changes in area under jhum. This exercise can be entrusted to
the appropriate agency but should have a close link to the actions initiated under WG
on Data Base. This will also require adequate ground truthing and the appropriate
involvement of District Revenue department and District Councils.
b. Village survey: Enumeration of the number of families (households) and
percentage of population who are dependent on shifting cultivation in an area also
need to be carried out as an immediate measure complimenting the action
suggested in i(a). Unit of this survey shall be the village; and the officials to be
made responsible shall be the village level workers of Rural Development
Department viz., Gram Sevak. This survey should also include information on the
type of shifting cultivation being practiced in a village viz., Distorted or Traditional
and land tenure i.e. community land, traditional chief’s, clan land, private land
including the custodian of the land. Jhumias need to be categorised for their degree
of dependence on jhum i.e. 100%, 50-100% and <50%.
 18

c. Census of Jhumias: This may be included in 2021 Census of India as a long-term

action.

iii. Addressing food and nutritional security during transition and transformation: One
of the main concerns of shifting cultivators is the rapid depletion of the diversity of
crops that are available from jhum fields subsequent to conversion to settled
agricultural practices and the consequent non availability of food crops during
different seasons. Immediate action that requires to be taken to address this issue are
suggested below:

a. Promotion of Home Gardens for cultivating season local crops and fruits:
Promotion of home gardens will ensure the cultivation of native crops,
vegetables and fruits that are presently grown in jhum fields. Home gardens also
ensure secured tenure for all participating households, can safeguard native crop
species (hence provide nutritional security, income with surplus) and reduce
drudgery for women. Homegardens are not included in any agricultural
promotion schemes or programmes for rural areas. Such a promotion needs to be
encouraged immediately through the state governments. Access to this scheme
must be made to all, but should provide special considerations for the poor and
marginalized. This scheme should be rolled out immediately through the State
Agriculture and Horticulture Departments, with adequate technical support from
the KVKs in each state/district and regular backstopping by extension agencies.
Successful models have been implemented by NERCORMP and this agency
could be enlisted for wide implementation.

b. Addressing Food Security issues during transition: Strengthen and broaden

PDS systems to ensure widespread access to cereals and other basic food items.
The PDS can be broadened and strengthened by enlisting well established and
well performing SHG Cluster Federations already established in several of the
NE states through NERCORMP and other projects. Where such SHG Cluster
Federations have not been established, efforts should be made to do so drawing
from existing programmes that are mandated to facilitate the establishment of
such institutions. In addition, widen the list of food grains that are procured and
distributed through the PDS to include local food grains such as local rice
varieties, millets and other local food grains.

iv. Promotion of jhum agricultural and fallow produces: Although the organized
market mechanisms do not formally recognize produces from jhum fields or fallow
forests, the unorganized market actors have been procuring several such produces for
years – oilseeds, NTFPs. This needs to be corrected and produces from these systems
promoted in an organized manner. This will help shifting cultivators in getting a fair
return from such produces, open up opportunities for value addition at the local level
and also opportunities for promotion of enterprises and local entrepreneurs, thus
contributing to the local economic growth and in long term transformations.
 19

a. Conduct market surveys to identify produces from jhum fields and fallows that
are being traded locally and assess the volume of trade. Such surveys and
assessments will provide insights for identification of produces with high market
demand, the volume of trade (quantities and fiscal market values) as well as an
understanding of the value chains. This exercise can help in identifying potential
produces, the clusters which can be developed viably for their promotion and
help in drawing up programmes for development and promotion of these
produces.

b. Forest Development Agencies in conjunction with District Councils (where

existing) in each state should conduct extensive surveys to list NTFPs that are
being traded from these areas. On identifying NTFPs that are being traded and
determining their trade volume, develop schemes (through JFM and/or FDA) that
encourage assisted afforestation/regeneration of fallow forests and
simultaneously support local processing and value addition initiatives. Such
schemes could enlist local, village level institutions to encourage the promotion
and management of Village Forests.

v. Ensuring Tenurial Security and management of ecosystem services during

transformation: The universal access to land and other resources have been severely
disrupted in many areas as a result of landuse changes consequent to agricultural
transformation through the promotion of wet rice terraces and cash crop plantations.
While this has severely affected access to land for the poor and marginalized, it has
also resulted in uncontrolled expansion of plantations at the cost of regenerating
fallows and encouraged elite resource capture. This needs to be arrested, if not
reversed and needs immediate action.

a. Perspective Landuse Planning: PLP exercises need to be conducted for each

village, involving the village institutions (Traditional institutions that determine
tenurial access and landuse), line departments (Agriculture, Horticulture, Forest
and Revenue as well as the District Councils). PLP determine/record present
landuse as well as future/planned landuse changes. Such planning incorporates
existing landuses as well as planned expansions for plantations, rice terraces,
forests and settlements. Such planning should also respect traditional tenurial
arrangements that have been respected and perpetuated by the local institutions.
This will provide a degree of tenurial security and help reduce elite capture. PLP
exercises can also facilitate land zonation which will result in identification of
landuses that need to be conserved and managed for ensuring continuity of
ecosystem services – catchment forests that are essential for continuity of
springs, streams and other water sources, areas that are fragile and need to be left
uncultivated etc. Once PLP mappings are agreed upon by all parties (villagers,
District Council, line departments), they need to be ratified by the district
administration and no deviations entertained for any purpose. Such an exercise
will help in ensuring forest cover and the sustainable management of ecosystem
services.
 20

b. Formalise traditional tenurial arrangements and provide Tenurial titles to

households: Shifting cultivators and upland communities usually do not have
ownership rights in common property resources, but have tenurial security that is
handed over through generations. The formal regulatory system presently does
not have provisions for providing tenurial titles to such households. Traditional
institutions should be encouraged to provide such tenurial titles and this should
be formally recognizedand ratified by all statutory bodies. While this measure
cannot be executed immediately, it is essential to mobilise discussions from all
quarters so that necessary changes in legislation can be initiated in the long run.

vi. Access to Credit: Shifting cultivators cannot access credit from banks and other
financial agencies due to the absence of land ownership titles of their jhum land.
Steps need to be initiated so that a guarantee and vouchership from the village
institution can be recognized as a viable alternative to land titles required as
mortgages for credit from Banks and financial institutions.

vii. Policy Coherence: Forest Policy (1988) considers jhum as ‘not a right to land use’
and aims to ‘discourage shifting cultivation’ and ‘rehabilitate the jhum lands through
social forestry and energy plantations’. Agriculture Department is promoting
agriculture, horticulture and cash crops on jhum lands. Multiple agencies of state and
central government target jhum lands for cultivating cash crops like timber trees, tea,
coffee, rubber etc. The Supreme Court ban on timber extraction and coal mining has
made shifting cultivators return to jhum practice. There is an urgent need therefore,
for bringing about a policy coherence that will help in transformations while reducing
the unwanted negative impacts.

viii. Policy synchronization is a necessity. All government departments should look at

the jhum land as an agricultural land. A land use policy needs to be evolved
restricting land use change. Definitely, jhum land should not be considered as
wasteland as done by some government departments.

ix. Jhum must not be attributed as a reason for loss of forest (Refer: ISFR 2015). A
jhum fallow may look as a forest when sensed from a remote satellite but it is a
temporary phase and the jhumias have a right to convert it back to agriculture. If all
jhum lands are converted to forest where from the farmers will produce their food,
the Forest Department must not look at the jhum lands as prescribed in Forest Policy
1988. Forest Policy needs to be suitably revised.

x. Encouraging universal access to government schemes and programmes:

Although the government has developed several programmes to help transformation
in shifting cultivation areas, many of these programmes are implemented in selected
areas and do not offer access to programmes for all (eg Watershed Management in
shifting cultivation areas under MoA). Programmes need to be designed at state
levels with coverage of the whole state and access for all. Mechanisms to do this
needs to be looked into by the NITI Aayog and concerned ministries.
 21

CHAPTER 5

ASCERTAIN TO WHAT EXTENT AND WHICH CO-BENEFITS COULD BE

DELIVERED TO JHUMIAS AND STATE AGENCIES

Co-Benefits to Jhumias: If the suggested actions are undertaken, the socio-economic

scenario of rural northeast will be transformed. There will be better infrastructure, roads,
schools, hospitals and markets. Availability of loan and employment for jhum farmers will
improveand the public distribution system will be revitalised in the villages where jhum is
practised on large scale. With reduction in land degradation, availability of water too will be
enhanced through rejuvenation of springs and return of green cover. There will be a reduction in
out migration, leading to better use of natural resources and even better care of the elderly in
family. The increased availability of medicinal herbs will rejuvenate the local traditional health
care system.

Co-Benefits to the State Agencies: The emission of GHG due to burning of vegetation
and emission of CO2from the soil due to cultivation will be substantially reduced. This will help
achieve the national commitment on carbon emission reduction. The restoration of lands
degraded due to shifting cultivation will also contribute to India’s commitment to Bonn
Challenge. Transformation of shifting cultivation will end hunger, achieve food security and
improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture which is same as Sustainable
Development Goal 2. Thus, this will contribute towards achieving the SDG Goal 2. The
migration of people from rural to urban centres will be substantially reduced which will check
unregulated growth of cities and towns. Transformation of shifting cultivation will also
contribute to achieving the SDG Goal 15 i.e. reduce poverty, enhance ecosystem services, and
forest cover. Better standard of living in rural areas will increase demand for manufacturing
goods which will increase industrial growth and create more jobs in the secondary sector.
Reduction in poverty will cause a reduction in social conflict and political unrest emanating
from unhealthy competition for natural resources. With reduction in area of jhum, frequency of
forest fires may come down thus reducing the emission of GHGs and degradation of forests.

Acknowledgements

The working group would like to thank ICAR RC NEHR, Umiam, RFRI, Jorhat, ICAR Natural
Resource Management Division, New Delhi, PCCF Mizoram, GBPNIHED, Itanagar,
NERCORMP, Shillong, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, NERIST, Nirjuli for sending their inputs which
were useful in preparation of this draft report. We are also thankful to all the researchers whose
publications helped us develop the idea and enhanced our understanding of the issues relating to
shifting cultivation in northeast India. Help received from Mr. Dilip Haloi in fine-tuning this
report is also acknowledged.
 22

Annexure 1

Table 1. Summary of the actions points recommended for transformational approaches

Sl. No. Problem Suggested Action Time Agency/Department

Frame

Data Gap: Non- i. Remote sensing: To Short i. National Remote

availability of reliable determine the area term Sensing Agency
data on temporal affected and (1-5 (NRSA)
temporal change in
variation and extent of years)
area under jhum. It
jhum in terms of area, may be done using ii. State Department
population involved remote sensing with of Rural
and geographical adequate ground Development BDO
distribution makes truthing. through Gram
proper planning and Sevak or similar
village level
implementation of any ii. Village survey: The
number of families official under the
project/scheme control of BDO.
difficult. and percentage of
population who are
dependent on
iii. Registrar of Census
shifting cultivation
of India
in an area. Unit of
this survey shall be
the village; and the Note: Regional
officials to be made
Coordination&
responsible shall be
the village level Funding: DONER,
workers of Rural North Eastern
Development Council (NEC)
Department viz.,
Gram Sevak. This
may also include the
type of shifting
cultivation viz.,
Distorted or
Traditional and land
tenure i.e.
community land,
traditional chief’s,
clan land, private
land including the
custodian of the
land. Jhumias need
to be categorised for
their degree of
dependence on jhum
 23

i.e. 100%, 50-

100%, <50%.

iii. Census of
Jhumias: This may
be included in 2021
Census of India
1. Land Tenure: Most i. Land tenure needs to Short i. Village Councils in
jhumias do not have a be made secure term Nagaland and in
secure land tenure or through a legislation (1-5 Naga inhabited
areas of Manipur
ownership. The years)
and Mizoram,
tenurial system is ii. Areas of Unclassed
Anchal Samities in
different in each state State Forests and
Arunachal Pradesh,
and often in each tribe unclassed forests
Autonomous District
should be
and sub-tribe. As a declassified in Councils, territorial
result, land favour of jhumias or Councils and State
management and Village Council. Governments,
investment in land This is not a large Ministry of Law
care is lacking. Land area and there is no and Justice
cannot be mortgaged hope that in near
future the forest State Forest
and no loan can be
department will be Department and
taken on the land. in a position to
There is existence of MoEF & CC
claim the land and
unclassed state forest bring under their
e.g. Arunachal custody.
Pradesh and unclassed Note: Regional
forest in other states Coordination&
which are at times Funding: North
under shifting Eastern Council
cultivation. Although (NEC)
no data is available, it
is likely that parts of
some Reserved
Forests and PAs may
also be under shifting
cultivation.

2. Poverty and Land i. Employment Short i. Ministry of Rural

Degradation Nexus: generation among term Development,
The jhumias are poor the shifting (1-5 Government of
cultivators is a India, State Ministry
subsistence farmers. years)
must to motivate of Rural
Primarily, they them to stop the Development and
practise jhum for food practice and to NITI AAYOG
security. They do not bring them out of Government of
 24

have access to modern poverty –land India

agricultural inputs to degradation nexus. ii. Department of Food
increase the It has been and Civil Supplies
observed in several of State
productivity of their
villages of Governments and
jhum lands. As land Meghalaya and hill Government of
degrades due to districts of Manipur India
shifting cultivation, that the farmers
their productivity have stopped
further declines and shifting cultivation
they become poorer. in favour of
MGNEREGA but
This nexus needs to
have not come out
be broken. of poverty as the
number of days is
too less to suffice
their cash needs. It
is suggested that
the number of days
of guaranteed
employment under
MGNEREGA be
increased from
present 100 to 200
days for jhumias.
Food security needs
to be enhanced
through
strengthening of
Public Distribution
System (PDS) and
making available
staple food at
subsidised price.
3. Policy Mismatch: i. Policy Short MoEF &CC,
synchronization is a term Government of India
Forest Policy (1988) necessity. All (1-5 North Eastern
considers jhum as ‘not government
years) Council (NEC),
a right to land use’ departments should
look at the jhum Ministry of
and aims to Development of North
land as an
‘discourage shifting Eastern Region
agricultural land. A
cultivation’ and land use policy (DoNER), State
‘rehabilitate the jhum needs to be evolved Forest Departments,
lands through social restricting land use Ministry of
forestry and energy change. Definitely,
Agriculture of
plantations’. jhum land should
not be considered as Central Government
Agriculture and State
wasteland as done
Department is
by the Department
 25

promoting agriculture, of Soil and Water Governments

horticulture and cash Conservation
crops on jhum lands. (Meghalaya) and
Department of
Multiple agencies of
Wastelands
state and central (Nagaland).
government target
jhum lands for
ii. Jhum must not be
cultivating cash crops attributed as a
like timber trees, tea, reason for loss of
coffee, rubber etc. forest (Refer: ISFR
As a result, the jhum 2015). A jhum
farmers are confused. fallow may look as a
At times, they also forest when sensed
from a remote
resort to illegal
satellite but it is a
practices like charcoal temporary phase and
making (Meghalaya), the jhumias have a
and poppy and right to convert it
cannabis cultivation back to agriculture.
(Manipur) for cash. If all jhum lands are
converted to forest
The Supreme Court
where from the
ban on timber farmers will produce
extraction and coal their food,theForest
mining has made Department must
shifting cultivators not look at the jhum
return to jhum lands as prescribed
practice. in Forest Policy
1988. Forest Policy
needs to be suitably
revised.
5. Poor Infrastructure Build and maintain Short Ministry of Road and
and roads. Build and run term Transport, Ministry of
Underdevelopment: schools and hospitals. (1-5 Education, Ministry
Make Public health years) of Health, Ministry of
Most shifting care centres Commerce and Civil
cultivation areas are functional and more Supply
now in remote importantly, develop
locations like interiors markets. Once the
of Meghalaya, road conditions are
Nagaland and improved, the market
Arunachal Pradesh. may develop on its
These relatively own and the
isolated places have government personnel
very poor may also start
accessibilityand reaching these places
almost defunct
 26

schooland hospital regularly.

facility. School
dropouts are more.
Poor road
connectivity makes
the area less
accessible to
government
personnel. Presence of
government is close to
negligible.
Government schemes
are poorly executed.
There is limited
market for the
agricultural and forest
produce and at times
it takes 4-5 hours to
travel 40-50 kms by
vehicle in some
shifting cultivation
areas like
Churachandpur
(Manipur) and in the
interiors of West
Khasi Hills
(Meghalaya).

6. High Rate of Education, Health Short Ministry of Education

Population Growth: Care and Family term and Ministry of
Many states have very Planning awareness. (1-5 Health of Central and
fast decadal years) State Governments,
population growth. Women Ministry of Tribal
Meghalaya: Empowerment, Affairs
27.82%,Arunachal Promotion of Income
Pradesh 25.92%, GeneratingActivities
Mizoram 22.78%, for Women
Nagaland average
25% in past two
decades. In rural
areas, it is higher than
the state average.
This increase in
population puts
 27

increasing pressure on
land and natural
resources and
contributes to
perpetuation of
poverty.

7. Insurgency and Poor Infrastructure Short Government of India,

Governance: Shifting development, term Ministry of Home,
cultivation is mostly settlement of the (1-5 Ministry of Tribal
prevalent in remote issues politically and years) Affairs, Ministry of
villages. These places better administration Development of North
are also often infested Eastern Region
with insurgency and
poor
access/implementation
of development
schemes. The two
feed each other
leading to
perpetuation of
poverty, illiteracy,
migration of able
bodied people and
also probably
militancy and
insurgency.

8 Culture and Education extension Short Government of India,

Tradition: Jhum programme for village term Ministry of Human
farmers have been leaders highlighting (1-5 Resource
practicing jhum for the ill-effects of jhum years) Development,
generations. The and suggesting better Ministry of
knowledge relating to alternatives and or Information and
jhum is transferred providing them Public Relations,
from generation to support to improve Ministry of
generation. Lack of their jhum cultivation Agriculture,
exposure to Government of India
exogenous knowledge and State
compels them to Governments
continue the
livelihood practices of
their forefathers as
they do not know any
 28

other means of
producing food. The
type of food habit and
life style they are
tuned to gets
supportfrom jhum. In
absence of any other
alternative livelihood
option, they continue
practising jhum even
if it is lowly
productive and does
not yield enough for
the year round food
requirement.Many
jhum farmers prefer
the rice, oil seeds and
vegetables grown in
Jhum as they say this
food is healthier and
they do not feel
hungry for a long
time.

9. Reluctance to Accept In places and for the Short Department of

Modern Agriculture: produce where the term Agriculture, NEDFi,
market is developed, (1-5 North Eastern
Modern agriculture is the jhum farmers have years) Regional Agricultural
generally not suitable switched over to cash Marketing
for hill slopes. It crops. For example, Corporation
requires high inputs in Passion fruit
terms of money, cultivation in
energy and material Nagaland,
which is not available Floriculture in
with the jhum Mizoram, Broom
farmers. grass cultivation in
This makes the Khasi Hills,
farmers dependent on Meghalaya, Cashew
the market which is nut cultivation in
poorly developed. The Garo Hills ,
sale price of Meghalaya and
agricultural and Rubber Cultivation in
horticultural produce Tripura. However,
except Rubber and
 29

in remote places is Broom grass, the

very less, making the other cash crops could
cultivation of cash not be scaled up
crops less primarily due to
remunerative. Also, market constraints.
the traders exploit the There is a need that
farmers in order to before introducing
maximise their cash crops or any
margins. Therefore, agricultural produce
jhum continues. As a that is produced for
result, the farmers the market,
remain poor and land infrastructure for
continues to degrade. transport and market
availability needs to
be put in place.
Modern agriculture
often does not
produce food of their The traditional crops
liking; therefore, even must not be
if they adopt some discouraged in favour
exogenous crop, they of cash crops and high
continue to cultivate yielding varieties as
the traditional jhum food preference do
crops for self- not change overnight.
consumption.

10. Security of Tenure, Promote Home Short Department of

Nutritional Security, gardens. Promotion of term Horticulture, Rural
Drudgery to women, home gardens will Development
Loss of man hour in ensure secured tenure
travel to jhum fields for all participating 1-5
which are often far households, can years
away. safeguard native crop
species (hence
provide nutritional
security, income with
surplus) and reduce
drudgery for women.

11. Need of Cash for Promote and support Short Department of

Modern Living mountain niche crops term Horticulture, Rural
as health food, Development,
The jhum farmers especially crops found Department of
need cash for sending in shifting cultivation:
(1-5
 30

their children to rice, millet, sorrel, oil years) Commerce

school, buying seeds (perilla) – and
medicines, mobiles, promote native
TV, Fridge and other species in
household gadgets. horticulture. Some of
the shifting
cultivation crops can
be promoted as health
food. A variety of
spices, condiments,
wild edibles and local
fruits can also be
cultivated. There is a
big market in the
metropolis for such
foods. This will help
in facilitating
transformations for
shifting cultivators.
12. Absence of Land use Facilitate Short Department of
Plan. This causes Participatory term Agriculture and Rural
unscientific land use Perspective Landuse Development, Village
and thereby Planning – Village Council, Autonomous
degradation of land. level land use maps District Councils
(of existing and (1-5
planned years)
interventions), which
will then facilitate
conservation and
management of
forests, biodiversity
and ecosystem
services. These land
use maps to be
endorsed by
traditional and
statutory authorities –
all future land based
interventions by
different departments
must adhere to the
agreed land use maps.
13. Loss of Agro Promote Conservation Short Department of
Biodiversity of Agro biodiversity: term Agriculture,
Shifting cultivation Horticulture and
farms are a large
 31

repository of agro Rural Development

biodiversity. Pro-
actively promote and (1-5
support community years)
managed agro-
biodiversity living
gene banks – agro-
biodiversity
sanctuaries at
landscape levels (e.g.
Potato Gene Bank
Landscapes, Peru)

14. Lack of Research Introduce, encourage Short ICAR Research

and Education on special focus on term Complex for NE H
Mountain mountain agriculture Region, Barapani
in agricultural 1-5
Agriculture
institutes and Years Central Agricultural
universities of the University, Imphal
region. The ICAR
Research Complex for Assam Agricultural
NE Hill Region must University, Jorhat
play a greater role
Rain Forest Research
than it is currently
plying in the Institute, Jorhat
transformation of
shifting cultivation.
Finding solution to
shifting agriculture
should be mandated to
these Institutions.
They should act as
knowledge bank for
Shifting Cultivation