Production of ginger and the role of adi women in ginger Cultivation: A case study of mebo sub-division, east Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh

Tribal people are economically dependent on agriculture. Adi tribes of Mebo Sub-Division East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh are not exempted from this. They cultivate wet rice and jhum/shifting cultivation. They cultivate various crops in their jhum field like pulses, papaya, yam, taro, chilly, maize, eggplant, green onion, cucumber, watermelon, bitter brinjal, bitter gourd, ginger etc. Among this ginger is one of the important cash crops cultivated in jhum field by them. Ginger cultivation plays an important role in Adi society as it significantly helps in the improvement of living standard of the people. Traditionally also ginger is an important ingredient of tribal culture for rituals. It has multitude of uses during the time of birth, death, festival, rituals, etc. Women in Adi society are engaged in almost every step of ginger cultivation starting from the clearing of jungle to the harvesting. Activities like sowing, weeding and harvesting are mainly done by them. Women also sell the produce to the local market for earning their day-to-day livelihood. However, the role of women in such activities has been never reflected. The survey is based on both primary and secondary data. 70 households of Adi tribes were selected for the collection of information from seven sample villages of Mebo Sub-Division, East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh. Therefore, the study attempts to analyze and document the role of women in agriculture, especially ginger cultivation in Adi society. 51.4 percent of the total women respondents were illiterate and 95.7 percent were farmers. Siluk is the largest and Bodak is the lowest ginger producing villages of the Mebo division. As a result, ginger farming improves the economic situation of Adi women, and it is impossible without their involvement.