IN THIS CALCULATION, THE WHOLE VILLAGE IS CONSIDERED, AND NOT JUST...

2. In this calculation, the whole village is considered, and not just the farming families.

Third, horticulture and plantation have become an integral part of the shifting agriculture hill

economies (Table 1.8). It may be noted that the government, beginning with the colonial British

government consistently pursued policies to encourage farmers to grow market-friendly crops.

The Indian state had also followed suit, laying special emphasis on horticulture. To this end, it

promoted various agro-festivals like the ‘Orange Festival’ in Tamenglong District ¹³ and ‘Lemon

Festival’ in Ukhrul district. Various incentives are provided through these festivals to induce

farmers to take on horticulture. Better connectivity that enabled marketing have mediated the

transition to mainstreaming of horticulture amongst farmers.

Table 1.8. Which is the most important plantation?

Karuangmuan Chiuluan Akhui Ijeirong Bakuwa Shingra

Type of

No.

% to

plantation

of

total

HHs

Banana 78.0 96.3 3.0 4.5 2.0 3.1 12.0 28.6 3.0 8.3 6.0 10.5

Orange 62.0 92.5 62.0 95.4 21.0 50.0 36.0 63.2

Parkia 2.0 2.5 1.0 1.5 1.0 2.4 2.0 3.5

Other

fruits 2.0 3.0 4.0 9.6 4.0 10.1

Timber 1.0 1.2 4.0 9.5 26.0 72.2 13.0 22.8

Bamboo 3.0 8.3

Total 81.0 100.0 67.0 100.0 65.0 100.0 42.0 100.0 36.0 100.0 57.0 100.0

Total HHs 88 95 72 43 36 68

Fourth, migration of young people for education and work opportunities coupled with the shift

towards growing market-friendly crops and horticulture has resulted in smaller fields as compared

to the past. Many families have also voluntarily moved out of shifting agriculture in favor of other

employment opportunities, especially construction. This has meant that in all the study villages

except one, the fallow length is increasing (Table 1.9). Amba (2015) also presented similar

findings from Mokokchung district of Nagaland. Thus, at least in some places, the ‘traditional’

critique on shifting agriculture is negated. However, increased fallow length in itself may not be a

good indicator of the quality of forest.

Owing to the success of the ‘Orange Festival’, a number of agro-fests have come up in the last five years in

Tamenglong District alone: ‘maize festival’, ‘chilly festival’, ‘banana festival’. These are still in their nascent stage

and organized only at the district level, unlike the Orange Festival which is a state level event.

Table 1.9. Fallow length in the study villages

Village Fallow length

(years) Trend

Karuangmuan 12 + Increasing

Chiuluan 10 – 12 Increasing

Akhui 9 – 10 Increasing

Ijeirong 10 + Increasing

Bakuwa 10 + Increasing

Shingra 8 – 9 Stable

From the above discussion, a few things are evident. Shifting agriculture, in its near-traditional

form is confined to those areas where access to market is significantly hampered. In areas with

decent or good access to markets, shifting agriculture is being done not for food-security, but

primarily as a source of monetary income. Due to a combination of various factors, not least

because of market penetration, the fallow length has increased in almost all villages. The

transformation of shifting agriculture is, therefore, driven primarily by market penetration and not

decreasing fallow length. As the practice of jhuming transitions to a capitalist economy (Harris-

White et al., 2009), it raises some pertinent questions even as ‘traditional’ questions seem to fade

away.

Emerging fault lines

As shifting agriculture transitions from subsistence-based to production for profit, central features

of the system come under strain. First, the diversity of crops that is usually associated with jhuming

is giving way to specialization of certain crops with high demand in the market. Second, even as

fallow length is increasing as a whole, more accessible areas are under threat of over-exploitation.

The use of pesticides and insecticides further complicate the situation. Third, traditional

institutions which regulated shifting agriculture are under considerable pressure as individual

interests take precedence. Institutional breakdown appears to be hastened by the entry of global

capital in the region. All these factors pose a serious challenge to the ecology, both in the short

term and in the long run.

First, the immediate impact of market-penetration is reflected in the jhum field. This is represented

by the increasing ratio in favor of cash-crop to subsistence crops as one moves closer to the market.

Crop diversity also reduces along the same direction. This is particularly evident in the case of

paddy. The importance of paddy in the traditional practice of shifting agriculture had meant that

communities had cultivated an incredibly diverse pool of paddy varieties (Table 1.10). However,

as farmers stop cultivating paddy, as in the case of Karuangmuan village, these gene pools

disappear.

In addition to the loss of invaluable gene pool, it renders the system more vulnerable to climatic

variations. Preference for certain crops over others can also have adverse impact on the local

ecology. For instance, in Bakuwa village, farmers have taken widely to cultivating turmeric fields

as it fetches a good price in the market. Farmers, however, find that the soil fertility of a turmeric

field gets completely exhausted in a year. In a similar fashion, the demand for king chilly has also

led most families in Shingra village to cultivate it separately, destroying older forests as king chilly

does not do well otherwise ¹⁴ .

Table 1.10. Paddy varieties found in Puichi and Haochong villages ¹⁵

Colour Specificities

Name Sub-types Climate type

Sl.

(Cold/warm)