ICAR plan for alternative farming system

Interventions by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in developing alternative farming systems to address the detrimental effects of jhum cultivation (slash and burn method) practiced by the tribals in the North East, is slowly yielding results, an official said today.
The interventions whereby recommendations for introduction of high yielding varieties of crops and other cash crops were introduced as part of the ICAR's flagship programme on Jhum improvement on participatory mode across the NE region.
"We are seeing viable results after our intervention in certain villages like in Sonidan in Ri-Bhoi district," project principal investigator and Principal Scientist (Forestry) A Venkatesh told PTI.

He said there were tangible results in the village where nearly 1,000 farmers in the village have benefitted directly from the program and 51 ha area was covered.
Sonidan will act as a model village for the Jhum improvement, he said.
Stating that over six lakh tribal families depend upon jhum cultivation as their main source of livelihood in the entire region, the official said, 80 per cent of areas under jhum in the country is in the region.

He said the reduction in jhum cycle to 2-3 years has made the land vulnerable and leads to various degradation in land besides soil loss.

Terming jhum as 'unsustainable cultivation', he said, 80 per cent of the cultivated area is under the threat of moderate to severe erosion threatening ecological balance and food security for future generations.
K W Khymdeit, Sonidan village headman said we are happy with the initiatives taken up by the ICAR and we will continue adopt the viable technologies for productivity and sustainability.
A progressive farmer, Esterlin, who converted part of her jhum field (1500 sq meter) in to bench terraces for ginger cultivation is awaiting her final harvest.