Shifting Cultivation of Arunachal Pradesh: Its Problems and Solutions

Shifting cultivation is one of the types of agriculture practice in tropical region of the world mostly found in hilly region where plain land is absent and primitive methods are followed to grow the crops. Agriculture is purely depended on rain and is a labour intensive. Shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture is known as Jhum cultivation in North-East India. It is a labour intensive, extensive use of land, technology primitive; production and income are very low. The man who practices jhum cultivation i.e. shifting cultivator is called Jhmias. He selects the same field on the slope of the hill on rotation basis. Due to in fertility of soil the Jhumia is compelled to shift his cultivation on another plot. He keeps the land fallow for a number of years for regeneration of forests. Again, he uses the same land that is why this process is called shifting cultivation. The main characteristic of Shifting cultivation is rotation of fields in a circle wise which is known as jhum circle i.e. ‘The intervening period for which a jhum land is abandoned.