Jhum cultivation (Shifting)

Some rural people destroy biological communities and haunt endangered species because they are poor and have no land of their own. In many countries there is extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth, with the majority of wealth (money, good farmland, timber resources etc.) Owned by a small percentage of the population. The local poor people with their traditional way of life in rural areas have often established local systems of rights to natural resources. These local people are quite distinct from settlers who have arrived more recently and not closely linked to the land. In  fact tropical areas of the world have had particularly a long association with human societies, since the tropics have been free of glaciation and are particularly amenable to human settlement.people have lived in every terrestrial ecosystem for thousands of years as hunters, fishermen, gatherers and farmers.

A common pattern in many countries of the developing world is that local farmers are forced of their Land by large landowners and business interests, often backed up by the government, the police and the army. The local farmers often have no choice except to move to remote undeveloped areas and attempt for their livelihood through shifting cultivation.This commonly practiced agricultural system is also known as Swidden agriculture, slash and burn agriculture and jhum cultivation. It greatly affects forest structure and species composition by creating a mosaic of forest touches of different ages. In Shifting cultivation,plants of natural tree vegetation are burnt away and the cleared patches are formed for two or three seasons, after which their fertility goes down to a point where adequate crop production is no longer possible. The trees are cut down, following material is burnt and crops are planted in nutrient rich ash. After two or three harvests, the nutrients are washed out of soil by the rain. The farmer then  abandons this patch and cuts down a new patch of forest trees elsewhere for crop production. 

This system, jhum cultivation in North Eastern India is practiced in these areas because the farmers are unwilling to spend the time and money required to develop more permanent forms of agriculture on land that they do not own and may not occupy for a very long time. This system works well and does not degrade environment much as long as human population density is low and there is abundant forest land available. Political instability, lawlessness and war also force farmers off their land and move to remote, undeveloped areas where they feel more safe. In such situations, rather than being called shifting cultivators, however,these newly arrived people would be more appropriately described as shifted cultivators in order to distinguish them from traditional farmers who have long in habitated rainforest areas.

The North East region of India comprises the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Various ethnic groups with different languages, practicing different forms of agriculture inhabit this region. Agriculture is the main stay of economy. Rice is major crop, though maize and millets also grown. Traditional agricultural systems of the region are Zabo or Ruza, where is construction and jhum or shifting cultivation. Zabo is an indigenous farming system of Chakhesang farmers of Nagaland, which combines agroforestry and animal husbandry. This system is common to individually owned lands of about 2.5 hectare. For terrace construction the area is cleaned by cutting and burning the forest vegetation. Jhum cultivation is the most common system practiced by roughly 5 lacs tribal farm families. In India,total land area of 4.36 million hectares is being affected by jhum cultivation out of which 2.7 million hectare is in the North East region. Due to increasing pressure on land the jhoom cycle has reduced to 4 - 5 years in Meghalaya, 5-10 years in Mizoram and Tripura, 6-15 years in Nagaland and Manipur and 5-10 years in Arunachal Pradesh.

Jhum cultivation has resulted in to soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Due to tree cutting the loose top soil is lost and also the stones rolling down the foot hills cause soil erosion. In areas where bamboos are cut and burnt, potassium rich ash accumulates for jhum crop. This fallow land invite several weeds and it may take a very long time when the soil supports the growth of crop plants.

Intensive modern agriculture with longer cycles of 10 or more years and agroforestry system have been suggested for the control of jhum cultivation in this region.