Agrarian Change in the Hills of Northeast India: The Unlikely Story of Shifting Agriculture

A. Lozaanba Khumbah

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Chapter 7 Agrarian Change in the Hills of Northeast India

The Unlikely Story of Shifting Agriculture

In: Global Agricultural Workers from the 17th to the 21st Century

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A. Lozaanba Khumbah

A. Lozaanba Khumbah
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Pages:: 167–206

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004529427_009

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Abstract

The practice of shifting agriculture in the hills of Northeast India is undergoing significant changes. These have been mediated largely by increased accessibility to markets due to improved road connectivity in the last couple of decades. The rise of administrative and market centres have driven the demand for jhum produce which have a great appeal for being “fertiliser-free” even though shifting agriculture is generally critiqued as ecologically destructive. As markets become easier to access, the traditional family-centered mode of production is transitioning from producing for subsistence towards producing for monetary returns. In turn, this induces changes in cropping patterns impacting land use, property rights and labour arrangements. These have significant implications for ecological sustainability and socio-economic inequality. The paper draws from an intensive field-work carried out in 6 hilly villages of Tamenglong District, Manipur as part of the doctoral thesis.

Shifting agriculture is widely known as jhuming in Northeast India. It is a contested practice. It is integral to the livelihoods and landscapes of the hilly regions of India’s Northeast. At the same time, it has also been the site of active state interventions, from colonial times to the present.¹ The ecological question, specifically the sustainability of the agrarian system in the face of population growth, has been a major reason for debate. However, the rapidly transforming jhumscapes² of the region, especially in the face of intrusive state-driven markets, suggest a significant divergence from the prevailing narratives.

Since the turn of the century, an increasing number of studies have come to recognise the central role of the market in transforming local practices of shifting agriculture.³ This is hugely significant since much of the debate on shifting agriculture hinges on demography as the most important driver of change. Following Boserup’s thesis,⁴ increasing population pressure was expected to lead to shorter and shorter fallows, effectively undermining the sustainability of the system over a period of time. It formed the basis for most state interventions in the post-colonial era, as well as predictions of an “ecological disaster” in the region by some experts.⁵

The predicted disasters, however, have not occurred.⁶ On the contrary, it has become evident that shifting agriculture is transforming in ways that experts had not anticipated. For instance, in a study on Nagaland, Amba found that fallow lengths were increasing instead of decreasing.⁷ The present study also confirms a similar trend of increasing fallow lengths, much against the grain of the prevailing narrative. While this may not be the case everywhere, it does hint that there is no single trajectory of change.

Evidence from other countries, most notably Southeast Asia, indicate that changes in shifting agriculture are multilayered and uneven across space, especially with respect to market access.⁸ Cramb et al. write that simplistic linear narratives that equate increasing demographic pressure with shortening fallows and environmental destruction require more qualification.⁹ Such narratives fail to account for the movement of population within a country and the various factors that drive rural migration to urban areas.

In other words, shifting agriculture in Northeast India is affected by larger socio-economic and political changes in the country even though its practice may be confined largely to a geographical region. Indeed, farmers innovate precisely in response to these larger changes. Shifting agriculture, therefore, does not operate in isolation.¹⁰ This is mainly due to the ease with which markets can now be accessed, made possible by the robust network of roads developed by the state after Independence. While upland farmers have always interacted with markets,¹¹ the nature and scale of present-day exchanges mediated by radically improved roads and communication services is unprecedented. For instance, the growth of domestic flight services in the past few years has led to high demand for jhum products from the Northeast in certain pockets of metro cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, populated by people from the region, creating a market for jhum products that did not exist before. Commenting on the nature of agrarian change, Harris-White et al. argue that the transformation of shifting agriculture is essentially a transition to a capitalist economy.¹²

This chapter situates shifting agriculture within these larger socio-economic contexts, specifically that of increased market penetration. It seeks to identify drivers of change that are transforming shifting agriculture, characterise the changing agrarian practices, and understand the implications of these changes both on society and the environment. To make up for the lack of temporal data, and to factor in the role of geography and terrain, the study maps transformations in shifting agriculture over space. It is based on extensive fieldwork, which was carried out as part of the author’s doctoral work.

1 The Area of Study

Six villages from the hilly districts of Tamenglong and Noney, Manipur form the study area.¹³ These two districts are populated mainly by four ethnic Naga communities of Inpui, Liangmei, Rongmei and Zeme, who are traditional practitioners of shifting agriculture. Jhuming continues to be integral to the rural economy along with wet rice cultivation,¹⁴ horticulture and market-oriented farming which have emerged in the past few decades due to a combination of government policy and better access to markets. The districts represent, at a micro level, the larger socio-economic changes taking place in the region.

As mentioned earlier, the study seeks to map transformations in shifting agriculture over space. Hence, an important criterion for selecting the study villages was the “distance” from the market centres – Tamenglong district headquarter and Noney bazaar. Tamenglong is a Census Town, with a steadily expanding population that was just under twenty thousand, according to the 2011 Census. It is 164 km away from Imphal, the state capital. Noney bazaar, on the other hand, is an emerging market along National Highway 53. It is much closer to Imphal (sixty kilometres) and is, therefore, a convenient stopping point for food for travellers en route to and from Imphal. With its numerous hotels providing “home food,” a thriving hospitality industry has mushroomed in Noney with the highway as its lifeline.

The six villages chosen for the study are Chiuluan, Akhui, Karuangmuan, Ijeirong, Bakuwa and Shingra. These villages, located at varying “distances” from the market centres reflect unequal access to space – an element which is usually ignored in most studies.¹⁵ “Distance” is conceptualised not only “as the crow flies” but also in relative terms. Bad roads (unmetalled or seasonal) have further bearing on transport costs, influencing access and time taken to reach markets.

Figure 7.1

“Distance” mediates access to markets

Left: A temporary bamboo bridge connecting Karuangmuan village and Noney bazaar. It is most likely to be swept away during the monsoon. Right: A particularly bad section of the road between Shingra/Bakuwa village and Noney bazaar

Table 7.1

Characteristics of the study villages

Market centre	Villages	No. of hh	Main economic activity	Road condition	Transport service	Distance (km)	Cost of transport (Rs.)	Accessibility index	Ethnic community
Tamenglong	Chiuluan	95	Govt. jobs, jhuming, Barak river-valley vegetable cultivation, orange orchards; Supplies vegetable to Tamenglong town	Metalled, district highway	Daily/hourly/ on demand	3.5	10	D1	Rongmei
Tamenglong	Akhui	72	Govt. jobs, potato farms, jhuming, orange orchards; Military check-post acts as local market	Metalled, district highway	Daily	18	60	D2	Rongmei
Noney	Karuangmuan	88	Wet rice, banana farms, vegetable jhum; Situated on railway project	Unmetalled, all-weather road	Daily/hourly/ on demand	2	10	D1	Inpui
Noney	Ijeirong	43	Wet rice, jhuming, cane and orange orchards; Situated on adb road project	Unmetalled, all-weather road	Daily	14	80	D3	Inpui
Noney	Bakuwa	36	Wet rice, jhuming, turmeric fields, bamboo shoot; Situated on adb road project	Unmetalled, fair weather road; gentle gradient;	Daily in autumn; Hire 4x4 vehicles in rainy season	14	100 or 2500	D4	Inpui
Noney	Shingra	68	Jhuming, chilli fields, ntfp (mushroom); Mithun rearing; 1-day trek to market	Unmetalled, fair weather road; steep gradient	Hire – only 4x4 vehicles	25	4000	D5	Liangmei

map 7.1

Locating the field

source: census of india 2011. administrative atlas – manipur, (director of census operations, manipur), 30

Table 7.1 details the important variables of road length and quality, transport availability and costs to arrive at an indicator of accessibility. The indicator gives an approximate measure of the ease or difficulty of accessing nearby markets, ranked on a scale of D1 to D5, where D1 is most accessible and D5 is least accessible. This may be elaborated on with an example. Farmers from Chiuluan and Karuangmuan village (D1) hardly spend ten rupees to go to the market at any time of the year. By contrast, farmers from Shingra village have to either walk for a whole day or spend around four thousand rupees to hire a four-wheel drive vehicle to access the market. But this is possible only in the dry autumn and winter seasons. At the peak of the monsoon season, roads become practically unusable and any significant interaction with the market is effectively brought to a stop.

The case of Shingra village (D5) needs to be highlighted. Shingra farmers prefer to sell their produce at Leimakhong market in Imphal, not at Noney bazaar, which is the nearest market, because they get better prices there. However, this requires a dawn-to-dusk march on foot, one way, not to mention that the goods are carried by the person him- or herself. Thus, for Shingra farmers, “going to the market” requires two complete days and involves considerable physical effort.¹⁶ This is in stark contrast with other villages, especially Chiuluan and Karuangmuan, where markets can be accessed in a few minutes’ time. Accessing markets in such contrasting ways has significant implications for the kind of products that farmers can sell and, therefore, on agricultural practices and agrarian change.

The bulk of the fieldwork was carried out from February to May 2018. The study used a mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative, questionnaire-based household-level surveys and qualitative interviews. The household survey was carried out over two stages. The first stage was a complete census of the village.¹⁷ This included basic information concerning household size, sources of income, agricultural output (jhum, wet rice field, horticulture) and food security. Forty per cent of the households were interviewed in detail in the second stage, selected through stratified random sampling. The qualitative aspect of the fieldwork involved participant observation, key informant and in-depth interviews with different categories of people, informal conversations both with individuals and groups, visits to the fields, and photographs. Interviews were also conducted across different age groups, including between fathers, sons and grandsons to gain an intergenerational view of agrarian change. The stories, songs and life experiences of older people, farmers both men and women, and traders provided a wealth of information that complemented data from questionnaires.

2 Drivers of Change: Significant Divergences

Most studies on shifting agriculture assume a direct correlation between population and the sustainability of the agrarian system. As pointed out earlier, this is possible only in a closed system without any movement of people or other qualitative changes. That is hardly the case: I found considerable movement of youth from the villages to towns and cities. This is push migration, due to the lack of good schools in the villages; those leaving are mainly in search of quality education, and employment (Table 7.2).

Table 7.2

Migration in the study villages

Village	Average family size	Average no. of people migrated per family (% of total)	% of students in the migrated group
Chiuluan (D1)	5.7	40.4	57.3
Akhui (D2)	6.3	53.9	76.4
Karuangmuan (D1)	6.2	38.7	66.3
Ijeirong (D3)	5.8	46.6	61.4
Bakuwa (D4)	6.3	52.4	68.8
Shingra (D5)	5.8	43.1	90.7

The table shows that in the area of study, on average 40 per cent of all family members live outside the village for most of the year, ranging from 38.7 per cent in Karuangmuan village to 53.9 per cent in Akhui village. Of all migrants, students account for no less than 57 per cent (Chiuluan) and up to 90 per cent (Shingra village).¹⁸ Access to good education is, therefore, one of the most important reasons for migration. This has resulted in the mass exodus of young people, who make up the core of the working age group, giving rise to the feeling of an “empty village.”¹⁹ During the course of the fieldwork, it was very common to find mostly middle-aged parents living in the village and working in the fields, while all or most of the children lived outside the village in the nearby towns to study.

This trend is certainly not an anomaly. Cramb et al. also found localised population decline due to out-migration in Southeast Asia.²⁰ The immediate impact of this widespread out-migration is the loss of valuable labour. As shifting agriculture is highly labour-intensive, it has resulted in farmers cultivating smaller fields.²¹ The decrease in jhum field sizes has also been accelerated by farmers diversifying to wet rice cultivation, horticulture and the cultivation of high-value crops, further reducing the labour required for jhuming. Thus, the overall population increase in the village has not resulted in a corresponding intensification of shifting agriculture and decreasing fallow lengths, as Boserup postulated.²² On the contrary, much against popular perceptions, fallow lengths are either increasing or stable (Table 7.3).²³

This counter-intuitive finding is also reported by Amba for Mokukchung, Nagaland, where jhum cycles were lengthening from eight to fourteen years due to a combination of decreasing field sizes and families leaving shifting agriculture.²⁴ The table further suggests that accessibility to markets plays a role in the fallow cycle. Villages closer to the market (Chiuluan, Karuangmuan) have lengthier fallow period than villages further away (Shingra). This may be explained by the fact that farmers with lesser access to markets are more dependent on traditional jhuming and, therefore, cultivate it more intensively.

Table 7.3

Fallow length in the study villages

Village	Fallow length (years)	Trend
Chiuluan (D1)	10–12	Increasing
Akhui (D2)	9–10	Increasing
Karuangmuan (D1)	12 +	Increasing
Ijeirong (D3)	10 +	Increasing
Bakuwa (D4)	10 +	Increasing
Shingra (D5)	8–9	Stable

On the other hand, farmers living closer to towns have greater incentive to diversify towards more market-friendly practices. Even within jhuming, farmers are moving away from traditional cereal crops that ensured food security (e.g., paddy) to crops that provide good monetary returns (e.g., vegetables). They cater to the demands of an emerging educated, middle class population who have moved out of the villages to live in the nearby towns. This population, many of them with white-collar jobs, continue to maintain strong connections with their parental villages. They also retain their culinary taste for “home food.” In other words, the much-maligned practice of shifting agriculture has, quite remarkably, found a ready market at the turn of the twenty-first century.

But jhum markets are not confined to towns and market centres close to the villages. The metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai and others with a significant proportion of the population in the Northeast have also become major consumers of jhum goods.²⁵ Apart from the cultural and regional connection, jhum produce has an extra appeal in a health-conscious era because it is “fertiliser free.”²⁶ One can also sense a certain degree of legitimacy being imparted to traditional agriculture by pitching it in this manner. This urban-based population with traditional tastes has become one of the most important markets for jhum products.

Figure 7.2

A “Northeast” shop in New Delhi

Note: A new “Northeast” shop is all set to start operations in Kishangarh, New Delhi, a locality with a high density of people from the region. The name of the shop “Roots – Flavors of the Northeast” captures the sentiment that accompanies these shops

The sudden marketability of jhum produce has led to what Delang calls a “cash orientation” where farmers “sell most of the crops that they grow, using the income earned to purchase food and other necessities.”²⁷ This, of course, depends on whether markets can be accessed and is, therefore, more pronounced in villages closer to the towns. As was mentioned earlier and will be discussed in detail later, this is leading to changes in the way in which farmers make choices about crops on jhum fields. In other words, while population development does play a significant role in determining agrarian change,²⁸ it is markets and access to markets that is driving qualitative changes in the jhum field.

The significance of roads and access to markets in transforming traditional agriculture can hardly be overstated, even though it is scarcely mentioned in literature in the Indian context. Up until the middle of the twentieth century, markets were not easily accessible for upland farmers. Due to barriers posed mainly by terrain, distance and concerns over safety,²⁹ “going to the market” was usually an annual event.³⁰ It would be undertaken mostly during the dry autumn season at the end of the agricultural calendar,³¹ in groups for the sake of security and involved at least three to four days of walking.³² Due to the considerable hardships involved, no more than four to five trips could be made in a year.

To a large extent, the season of marketing, the distance involved and the mode of transportation dictated the nature of goods that were traded. Farmers mostly sold non-perishable items, such as dry king chilli, oilseeds, forest produce, such as cane, cinnamon barks and seasonal fruits, such as oranges and parkia (stink bean or bitter bean). In return, farmers mainly purchased essential items such as salt, clothes, oil, dry fish and agricultural implements. In most cases, farmers themselves carried these goods on foot.

Interacting with markets at this scale had little or no bearing on the agricultural practice in the hills. It is also helpful to remember that jhuming was not only pre-capitalist, it also operated in a pre-monetised economy. With reference to the Mizo hills, Jackson writes that salt was locally valued more than cash as late as the beginning of the twentieth century: “Coins were more likely to be fashioned into necklaces or hammered into bullets than to play any meaningful role in financial transactions …. Money – the thing and the concept – arrived gradually and took time for the local populace to understand and trust it as a ‘purchasing medium.’”³³

However, all these circumstances have radically changed over the last few decades, especially after Independence. Money has become the sole way of payment. At the same time, the concerted efforts of the government to build roads have brought markets “nearer.” Most villages have daily access to local markets, while some villages are situated right at the edge of newly emerging towns. Markets are now accessible in a matter of hours, or even minutes. Farmers close to towns are able to sell their produce – including perishable items, such as vegetables – on a daily basis, generating good income. They are also able to hire autos, sumo pick-up trucks or even trucks collectively or individually to market their produce.

The scale of market-induced changes in traditional agricultural practices is perhaps captured by a line oft-quoted by the women of Chiuluan village: “We have raised our children by selling vegetables …” It is an unmistakable indicator that the traditional role assigned to shifting agriculture as subsistence agriculture is changing – jhum fields have become an important source of monetary income. Therefore, the dominant narrative of agrarian change simply based on demographic pressure needs to be revisited.

3 Characterising Agrarian Change

This section highlights three major ways in which shifting agriculture and the larger hill economy is changing: diversification away from jhuming, mainstreaming of horticulture and the transition from subsistence towards producing for the market within jhuming. There are variations across space due to physiological (topographical) constraints and cultural reasons (tribe, agricultural history), apart from “distance” to markets. Despite these specificities, current jhumscapes are generally characterised by these three features.

3.1 Diversification Away from Jhuming

The multiplicity of agrarian practices is one of the most conspicuous characteristics of present-day hill economies. There is a multitude of agrarian practices in the study area, where shifting agriculture was once the most dominant and the only agricultural practice, particularly before the 1960s.³⁴ Apart from traditional jhuming, one can also find non-paddy or vegetable-only jhum fields, wet rice cultivation, different types of horticulture, and fields for specific high-value crops such as chilli, turmeric, potato and ginger, as well as vegetable fields and kitchen gardens (Table 7.4).

This is perhaps best understood as diversification away from jhuming towards more market-friendly practices. Many of these practices, however, are minor modifications of traditional jhuming and closely resemble it in many respects, especially in field preparation. Horticulture has emerged out of the local practice of growing fruit trees, though government policies accelerated its growth. Wet rice cultivation is the only practice that was introduced top-down by the government, and has now become an intrinsic part of the hill economy.

Table 7.4

Diversity of agrarian practices in the study area

Field type	Chiuluan (D1)		Akhui (D2)		Karuangmuan (D1)		Ijeirong (D3)		Bakuwa (D4)		Shingra (D5)
Field type	No. of hhs	% of total	No. of hhs	% of total	No. of hhs	% of total	No. of hhs	% of total	No. of hhs	% of total	No. of hhs	% of total
Total farming hhs	78		69		83		43		36		68
Horticulture	67	85.9	65	94.2	81	97.6	42	97.7	36	100	57	83.8
Jhum paddy	43	55.1	52	75.4	2	2.4	25	58.1	14	38.9	64	94.1
Jhum veg. field	6	7.7	2	2.9	43	51.8	12	27.9	9	25.0	4	5.9
Wet rice/terrace	-	-	-	-	45	54.2	36	83.7	32	88.9	9	13.2
Jhum + Wet rice	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	60.5	10	27.8	7	10.3
Potato field	-	-	57	82.6	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1.5
Chilli field	-	-	4	5.8	-	-	-	-	3	8.3	23	33.8
Turmeric field	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27	75.0	1	1.5
Vegetable field	16	20.5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Others	8	10.3	6	8.7	2	2.4	-	-	-	-	1	1.5
Avg. no. of fields per farming hh	1.3		2.2		1.6		2.0		2.4		1.6
Avg. no. of plantations per farming hh	1.5		1.7		3.1		3.4		1.9		1.5
Total hhs surveyed	95		72		88		43		36		68
No agriculture	17		3		5		1		0		0

Notes:

“HHs” denotes “Households.” Also in other tables.

Farming households include any household involved in any form of agricultural work. One household may have jhum fields, wet rice fields and plantations. Other households may be managing with only one plantation or a potato field.

Others include ginger fields, kitchen garden and sugar cane fields

In most villages, the importance of traditional jhuming has been overshadowed and even replaced by some of these new practices. In fact, as later discussions show, horticulture has become the most dominant practice in the study area in terms of the number of families involved. In areas with favourable terrain, wet rice cultivation is highly sought after as a reliable source of food security. It has become an integral part of three villages in the study area (Karuangmuan, Ijeirong and Bakuwa), with terraces dominating in Ijeirong.

Farmers have also built on existing practices, adapting them to suit the local ecology, adjusting to labour constraints and in response to market opportunities. Jhuming without paddy or only for vegetables is one of these new practices and is likely to become more popular. Potato cultivation by Akhui farmers and chilli cultivation by Shingra farmers are traditional practices which have intensified recently. However, turmeric cultivation in Bakuwa village and vegetable cultivation on the banks of the Barak river by Chiuluan farmers are new practices that have emerged in response to demand from the market.

Diversification can also be seen in the way in which farmers have started to cultivate multiple varieties of fields at the same time. Each household manages three fields and farms on average. Ijeirong farmers have a remarkable 3.4 plantations to add to two fields per household. This trend suggests that farmers no longer depend exclusively on shifting agriculture. This is perhaps what Ramakrishnan meant when he argued for diversification “to take the pressure off shifting agriculture.”³⁵

Across space, farmers with better access to markets (Chiuluan, Karuangmuan, Akhui) have diversified away from jhuming more than others (Shingra). Shingra is the only village in the study area where jhuming is more important than horticulture with 94 per cent of households still involved in it. As later discussions show, they are also more dependent on it. Even though a handful of households are experimenting with new practices, the bulk of their labour is still directed towards ensuring food security. By contrast, all other villages have more families involved in horticulture. Qualitatively though, the villages of Chiuluan, Karuangmuan and Akhui have benefitted most from diversification, aided by easy access to markets.

3.2 Mainstreaming of Horticulture

Perhaps the most distinctive marker of the shift away from jhuming is the way in which horticulture has become mainstream. It has overtaken jhuming to become the most prominent agrarian practice with more than 80 per cent of farming households managing at least one plantation across all the villages (Table 7.4). Many families have, in fact, moved out of jhuming to focus on horticulture. The economy of Karuangmuan village, for instance, is almost entirely based on banana plantations. Many salaried households have also invested in plantations with the aim of making a profit.

Table 7.5

Distribution of plantations by type (number of farms)

Plantation type	Chiuluan (D1)	Akhui (D2)	Karuangmuan (D1)	Ijeirong (D3)	Bakuwa (D4)	Shingra (D5)
Orange	82	88	10	40	2	54
Banana	10	19	233	22	6	14
Timber	3	1	4	25	42	27
Parkia	2	4	3	1		7
Pineapple	1		1	5	1	1
Bamboo	3				8
Cane				44
Others	17	9	1	6	12	1
Total plantations	118	121	252	143	71	104
Total farming hhs	78	69	83	42	36	68
Avg. plantations per farming hh	1.5	1.7	3.1	3.4	1.9	1.5

Note: “Others” include galgal, or hill lemon, jackfruit, litchi, mango, heiribob and gan-lwak.

The almost ubiquitous presence of horticulture in the region is unique to the present. Fruit trees have always been an essential part of the home garden. In the past, growing fruit trees was a secondary activity that mainly completed the food basket and supplemented monetary income. However, the rise of urban centres of demand coupled with improved access to these areas, along with government incentives, have quickly propelled horticulture as the most important agrarian practice today.

This is highly significant because it marks a radical shift from producing to fulfil subsistence needs, as in traditional jhuming, to producing for the market for monetary income. Table 7.6 shows the distribution of plantations and horticultural farms by type. It provides a broad glimpse of the scale of horticulture in the study area. The cultivation of native species, such as orange, banana, and timber trees, is most common.³⁶ Cane is, however, native to and cultivated on a large scale only in Ijeirong village. Farmers are also experimenting with other varieties, mainly in response to demands from the market. For instance, galgal, also known as hill lemon (Citrus Pseudolimon), fetches a better price than oranges and has prompted many farmers to start cultivating it on a large scale. Other emerging varieties include pineapple, mango, litchi, jackfruit, heiribob (Citrus Latipes)³⁷ and gan-lwak.³⁸

The villages closest to the market (Chiuluan and Karuangmuan) also have the biggest orange orchards and banana plantations. While local climatic factors have played a role (oranges are favoured in the cooler climate of Chiuluan and bananas are favoured in the warmer climate of Karuangmuan), the growth of horticulture, especially that of banana plantations in Karuangmuan is best explained through the lens of market penetration. In fact, the growth of these two horticultural crops needs to be explored in some detail.

Oranges (Citrus Reticulata)³⁹ are native to Tamenglong⁴⁰ and have been grown for more than a hundred years.⁴¹ The seasonal nature of oranges (November to February) allows for easier marketing in the dry winter months when more labour is available. They were perhaps the most important horticultural crop in the past.⁴² Today, the state promotes horticulture as an alternative to jhuming by sponsoring the annual “Orange Festival” of Tamenglong. The incentives provided by the state, however, benefit those who have access to capital and market mainly due to the peculiarities of growing oranges.

Table 7.6

Who owns the largest orange orchards in Chiuluan village?

Income source 1	Income source 2	No. of trees (P1 + P2 + P3)
Government job	Government job	3000 + 1000
Government job	Government job	2500 + 300 + 50
Government job	Pension	1000 + 1000 + 1000
Wage labour	Plantation (Orange)	1200 + 100
Government job	Pension	1000 + 900
Government job	Jhum vegetable and ntfp	1000 + 400
Government job	Government job	1000 + 100 (Others)
Government job	Government job	900 + 500 + 200
Government job	Government job	800 + 500
Government job	Government job	800 + 100 (Other fruits)
Pension	Vehicle owner	700 + 200 (Banana)
Plantation (Banana)	Plantation (Orange)	500 + 200 (Banana)
Private-sector job	Plantation (Orange)	500 + 100 (Banana)
Government job	Jhum vegetable and ntfp	500
Vegetable farm	Plantation (Orange)	500

Note:

“p” denotes “Plantation.” also in Table 7.7.

All plantations are orange plantations unless otherwise indicated. Only plantations with five hundred trees or more on a single farm were chosen. The plantations in the table do not account for the age of the trees, which would reflect returns.

It takes ten years or more for orange trees to mature before farmers can begin to get profitable returns. But orange trees are highly sensitive to weedicides and, therefore, require manual weeding three to four times a year. In a context where labour has become scarce due to the out-migration of youth, poor farmers are unable to manage large farms without extra labour. As a result, the salaried rich who have access to capital and can afford to hire wage labourers manage the biggest orchards. This is seen in Chiuluan village, which has the largest orange orchards in the study area (Table 7.6). Out of the sixteen families managing a minimum of five hundred orange trees, only four families actually depended on the orchard as a major source of income. The rest of the families were salaried, with the orange orchard as an investment for additional income and for profit. This translates to a gradual cementing of economic inequality in a society which has otherwise been known to be relatively egalitarian.

The banana plantations of Karuangmuan village give rise to a different challenge. Bananas have grown in popularity recently, as an alternative to oranges. Unlike oranges, banana cultivation provides returns within a year of planting. Bananas are also harvested throughout the year and are a consistent source of income. They have become highly sought after and are especially popular when market access is good.⁴³ This is exemplified by Karuangmuan village, where banana plantations exploded in the last ten years to replace shifting agriculture almost completely.

Many families manage plantations at a commercial scale with more than a thousand banana groves. These are managed with the widespread use of weedicides, such as “Roundup” by Bayer (earlier, Monsanto), and pesticides. The extensive use of these inputs levels the playing field by drastically reducing the need for labour to clear weeds. As a result, there is not too much difference in the economic profiles of families involved in banana plantations (Table 7.7). Those owning large banana plantations in the village included a construction worker, a mason and others engaged in private-sector jobs (private school, shops, etc.).

Table 7.7

Who owns the largest banana plantations in Karuangmuan village?

Income source 1	Income source 2	No. of groves (P1 + P2 + P3)
Private-sector job	Plantation (Banana)	1000 + 200
Plantation (Banana)	Private-sector job	750 + 200 + 50
Plantation (Banana)	Private-sector job	700 + 500 +400
Private-sector job	Plantation (Banana)	700 + 500 + 200
Plantation (Banana)		600 + 500 + 400
Construction worker	Plantation (Banana)	500 + 500 + 400
Plantation (Banana)		500 + 450 + 200
Plantation (Banana)		500 + 400 + 300
Private-sector job	Plantation (Banana)	500 + 400 + 350
Compensation money	Plantation (Banana)	500 + 400 + 300
Government Job	Plantation (Banana)	500 + 400 +200
Private-sector job	Plantation (Banana)	500 + 300 + 300
Plantation (Banana)		500 + 150 + 80
Mason	Plantation (Banana)	500
Animal husbandry	Plantation (Banana)	500

However, the traditional system of land rights and the process by which land is allocated for cultivation has been disregarded in favour of profit making from the plantations.⁴⁴ In addition, the large-scale use of the weedicide Roundup is bound to have implications for the health of the farmers⁴⁵ and the soil. While the long-term effects on the soil and local ecology are yet unknown, it appears that these are significant. Chiuluan and Akhui farmers report that the sustained use of Roundup hardens the soil and makes it unfit for cultivation – due to which they had given up its use. Regarding the short term, farmers from Karuangmuan report that Roundup softens the soil a few days after it has been sprayed. This has resulted in a few incidents of banana plants collapsing under their own weight on steeper slopes.

The orange orchards of Chiuluan village and the banana plantations of Karuangmuan village illustrate that horticulture has become mainstream. Most farmers are likely to shift away from traditional jhuming and into horticulture as roads improve and markets become more accessible. Agriculture in the region is likely to change in this direction. However, these developments also give rise to new challenges of socio-economic differentiation and ecological sustainability. In all likelihood, the current scenarios in Chiuluan and Karuangmuan are a precursor to change that will engulf the region in a short period of time.

3.3 From Subsistence Farming to Production for Market

The shift away from traditional jhuming can not only be seen in the changes outside the jhum field. It is also evident in the changing cropping patterns, specifically the diminishing role of paddy in the jhum field. In the past, food security was the primary motive for production, with almost all of the produce being consumed by the family. As farmers adapt to take advantage of market opportunities, this is no longer the case. Farmers’ priorities are being reordered in such a way that crops generating good monetary returns (vegetables) are increasingly preferred over those that ensure food security (cereals).

Paddy is no longer the most important crop in a jhum field, except in Shingra village. This can be seen both in terms of the quantity produced and the number of months it sustains a family.⁴⁶ A family in Shingra village produces an average of 145 tins of paddy, more than twice the amount of paddy produced by Chiuluan (sixty-nine tins) and Akhui (seventy tins) (Table 7.8). The paddy produced sustains a family for an average of almost eleven months for Shingra village and six months for Chiuluan village (Table 7.10).

Figure 7.3

Jhum fields in Shingra village, 2016

Note: The wet rice fields of a neighbouring village along the banks of the iring river can be seen in the background. Shingra village has the largest jhum fields in the study area and produces the maximum quantity of paddy

Shingra farmers cultivate paddy extensively due to the prohibitively high costs involved in buying and transporting rice from the market.⁴⁷ On the other hand, Chiuluan and Akhui farmers do not put as much emphasis on paddy production, as rice can be easily procured from the market. They focus more on growing market-friendly crops with high returns. Many farmers, especially in Chiuluan and Akhui village, explain that paddy is grown mainly out of concern for “health,”⁴⁸ taste, and to give “company” or “aid” in the growth of other high-value crops, such as chilli. In other words, in places with good access to markets, paddy has already taken a secondary role in the jhum field.

In villages such as Karuangmuan, Ijeirong and Bakuwa, where suitable terrain is available, the burden for paddy production is being shifted to wet rice fields (Table 7.9). Farmers prefer cultivating paddy in wet rice or terrace fields over jhum fields for a number of reasons: it is less labour-intensive both in field preparation and weeding, paddy production is more consistent over time, and paddy from wet rice fields is softer and tastier. Though suitable land for wet rice fields is scarce, the fields are central to the food security needs of the farmers who own them. For instance, the bulk of paddy that sustains Bakuwa farmers for 10.8 months is derived from wet rice paddy (tables 7.9, 7.10). In addition, 55 per cent of Karuangmuan households who cultivate wet rice paddy depend on it to provide food for 8.4 months (Table 7.10).

Table 7.8

Paddy production from jhum fields

Harvest (in tins)	Chiuluan		Akhui		Ijeirong		Bakuwa		Shingra
Harvest (in tins)	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs
0–50	24	55.8	22	42.3	19	76	10	83.3	8	12.5
51–100	12	27.9	22	42.3	6	24	2	16.6	15	23.4
100–150	3	6.98	6	11.5					15	23.4
151–200	1	2.33	2	3.8					16	25.0
> 200	3	6.98							12	18.7
Total harvest	2977		3642		944		316		9287
Jhuming hhs	43		52		25		12		64
Total hhs	95		72		43		36		68
Average production per farming hh	69.23		70.0		37.8		26.3		145.1

Table 7.9

Paddy production from wet rice or terrace fields

Harvest (in tins)	Karuangmuan		Ijeirong		Bakuwa		Shingra
Harvest (in tins)	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs	No. of hhs	% of total farming hhs
0–50	11	23.4	7	20	2	6.3	1	14.3
51–100	12	25.5	10	28.6	11	34.4	2	28.6
101–150	9	19.1	12	34.3	5	15.6	1	14.3
151–200	5	10.6	6	17.1	9	28.1	3	42.9
> 200	10	21.4			5	15.6
Total Harvest	6293		4201		4815		880
hhs doing wr	47		35		32		7
Total hhs	88		43		36		68
Average production per farming hh	133.9		105.0		150.5		125.7

Note:

1 tin holds approximately 7 kg of paddy (or, approx. 14 kg of rice)

1 tin = 7 kg; 100 kg = 1 quintal; 50 tins = 3.5 quintals

200 tins = 14 quintals = 1.4 metric tons

9287 tins = 650 quintals = 65 metric tons

6293 tins = 440 quintals = 44 metric tons

Table 7.10 suggests that the degree of market accessibility determines whether farmers produce for the market or for subsistence. In villages with good market access (Chiuluan, Akhui and Karuangmuan), at least 70 per cent of families depend on the market for food. By contrast, when markets are relatively difficult to access (Ijeirong, Bakuwa and Shingra) farmers prioritise being self-sufficient in food production (67 per cent of families and above), through jhum, wet rice cultivation or a combination of both.

Table 7.10

Main sources of food security

Villages	Paddy from field (Jhum + wet rice)			Rice from the market
Villages	Paddy cultivating hhs (% of total)	Avg. no. of months sustained by local paddy	hhs dependent on local paddy (% of total)	hhs (farming + non-farming) dependent on rice from the market (% of total)
Chiuluan (D1)	45.3	5.9	13.7	86.3
Akhui (D2)	72.2	7.1	29.2	70.8
Karuangmuan (D1)	55.6	8.4	28.4	71.6
Ijeirong (D3)	95.3	10.1	67.4	32.6
Bakuwa (D4)	100	10.8	88.9	11.1
Shingra (D5)	97.1	10.7	77.9	22.1

Note: A family is considered to be primarily dependent on locally produced paddy (jhum + wet rice) if it sustains them for at least eight months or two-thirds of the year

With reference to the Southeast Asian context, Cramb et al. note that there are two stages of transition from subsistence to production for the market.⁴⁹ The first stage involves farmers using spare land and labour to produce for the market – a characteristic of Shingra, Bakuwa and Ijeirong farmers. The second stage involves using spare land and labour for subsistence – found in Chiuluan and Karuangmuan village, and to an extent in Akhui village. In the study area, however, both stages seem to be at work simultaneously, mediated by unequal access to markets.

Figure 7.4

Graph showing the income of jhum farmers from different villages

The obvious advantage of generating income from jhuming in villages close to the market is reflected in Figure 7.4.⁵⁰ The huge gap in earnings amongst the villages can be properly appreciated in the context of Table 7.4 (which details the number of families engaged in jhuming) and Table 7.8 (which shows the production of paddy). A typical jhum farmer from Chiuluan village earns almost five times more cash than his counterpart in Shingra village with a larger field (even though Shingra farmers produce twice as much paddy; see Table 7.8). A closer analysis reveals that farmers from Chiuluan and Akhui village sell mostly vegetables and other perishable goods. By contrast, Shingra farmers mostly sell non-perishable goods such as ash gourd, dried beans and dried chilli in the dry winter months.⁵¹

The changing role of the jhum field as a source of income is captured by the story of Mrs Kambuiliu Gangmei (forty-three years old), a jhum farmer from Chiuluan village. Her work cycle incorporates both farming and marketing, as she takes on the dual role of a farmer as well as a vegetable vendor in Tamenglong bazaar. Prior to the weekly “market day,”⁵² she harvests crops that can be sold at the market. These include green leaves, vegetables, maize and chilli, depending on the season. After returning home, she organises and arranges the vegetables, preparing them for sale the next day. On the “market day” she makes her way to the market at dawn. In the past, she would walk along with other women, but commercial vehicles that started plying the route recently bring her to the market in minutes. By eight o’clock in the morning, she has either finished selling her vegetables or sold the unsold ones to a retailer at a wholesale rate. After arriving back home and refreshing herself, she heads to her field where she spends half the day tending to it. The other half is spent in gathering crops and vegetables that can be sold the next day. This routine is repeated throughout the year with variations depending on the peaks and troughs of labour requirements.

Over the course of the whole season (2017–2018), Mrs Gangmei earned approximately seventy thousand rupees from the jhum field alone. This was more than twice the value of the 160 tins of paddy that she harvested the same year.⁵³ This weekly, if not daily, income from the sale of jhum vegetables pays the school fees for her children and helps run the family. It also goes without saying that the field provided for the kitchen needs of the family throughout the year. As jhum produce becomes “marketable,” a subsistence form of agriculture has completely transformed into a viable source of income. It is for this reason that Chiuluan women folk often say that “we have raised our children by selling vegetables …”

By contrast, the farmers of Shingra village are forced to sell mostly non-perishable items at the end of the year to traders who come to the village and buy from the farmers at wholesale rates. Hence, it is very common to hear Shingra farmers lamenting the terrible condition of the roads time and time again. Easy access to markets means that shifting agriculture is becoming increasingly cash oriented. In fact, farmers are innovating in order to take advantage of the new opportunities by introducing non-traditional crops, including hybrid varieties, in their jhum fields. At the same time, the lack of access means that Shingra farmers continue to jhum in the traditional way. Agrarian change in the Northeastern hills of India is likely to fall somewhere between these two extremes.

4 The Implications of Agrarian Change

The unique characteristics of present-day agrarian change open up a new set of challenges that are yet to be completely understood. The traditional question of sustainability, centred on decreasing fallow length, is now open for debate, though we are faced with new questions. The immediate consequences of current agrarian change are twofold. The first is the unravelling of traditional institutions due to the rise of commercial agriculture. The second major consequence, accentuated by the breakdown of traditional institutions, pertains to the environment. The present section attempts to provide pointers in uncovering these challenges.

4.1 Unravelling Institutions and Ramifications

Traditional institutions that regulated shifting agriculture have come under great strain. Changing agricultural practices inform changing ideas of land and resources and, therefore, necessarily have a bearing on the efficacy of traditional institutions.⁵⁴ The fault lines are visible in the study area, where a special provision of the Constitution of India (Article 371C) allows villages to manage resources according to their traditional norms and customs.

First, as agriculture becomes market driven, it also becomes more privatised. This is more evident in horticulture, which is transitioning into a capital-intensive practice. Increased privatisation, in turn, usually involves the side-stepping of traditional practices in favour of greater returns from the land. As communal safeguards are set aside to ensure profit making, communities are in danger of descending into a cycle of unsustainable resource use and exploitation. This can have long-term repercussions both on the local ecology and society. Such a scenario is highly likely in Karuangmuan village.

Second, property rights regimes, which are generally a mix of communal-private ownership and management, are being reworked comprehensively. This is largely driven by the emergence of the permanent and semi-permanent land use systems of wet rice cultivation and horticulture. In most such cases, communal control is becoming redundant as the rights of individuals become more pronounced. This, in turn, is excluding farmers who do not own land from certain agrarian practices. It must be pointed out here that farmers regularly “borrow” plots of land for shifting agriculture.⁵⁵ However, this is not extended to plantations or wet rice fields, as they involve more permanent use of land.

Thus, commercial and increasingly capital-intensive agriculture is effectively restructuring society. For example, the largest owners of orange farms in Chiuluan village or Akhui village are government employees who are able to hire labour and invest in inputs. This trend is found across the board in all the villages to varying degrees. One can observe the gradual concretisation of socio-economic inequality in these once egalitarian societies. This is bound to have long-term social and ecological side effects because effective management of communal resources is not possible in a community where every member does not have an equal stake.

Third, the current study has also found cases in which traditional institutions have not evolved to meet the challenges brought on by changing agrarian practices. For instance, the system of annually demarcating areas for the purpose of shifting agriculture is not done for cultivating chilli fields (Shingra village) and turmeric fields (Bakuwa village), unlike in Akhui village, which regularly sets aside the colder, mountainous regions for potato fields. This leaves a lot of ambiguity, which farmers can exploit to their own benefit and to the detriment of the environment. Both chilli and turmeric require fresh fields every year and will most likely result in the increased fragmentation of forests in the absence of any regulation.

Fourth, institutional efficacy is also often undermined by internal contradictions, which get further accentuated by market forces, including global capital. In the region where the present study was conducted, disputes that sometimes turn bloody and lengthy legal battles over ownership rights to land and resources are not uncommon. This is exacerbated by the fact that traditional rights are oral and unwritten and, therefore, open to interpretation and manipulation. Karuangmuan village had a protracted and acrimonious dispute between two clans over landownership. While the inner contestations were always present, it was triggered in 2006 when monetary compensation was announced for constructing railway tracks and a platform on the village land. The dispute resulted in a severe erosion of social capital represented by a split in the church, amongst other things.

The direct fallout of this dispute is that Karuangmuan village has not been able to continue with the traditional system of ramrai nu, in which the village council identifies land to be cultivated in a particular year. The situation is further exacerbated by the desire to cultivate as many banana plantations as possible. As a result, farmers are given a free hand to “open up” forests for all kinds of agrarian activity without any sort of community-imposed checks. While this may lead to short-term individual profit, it will most certainly lead to significant ecological problems later.

While the inner contestations played out in the open in the case of Karuangmuan village, there is simmering tension in almost every village. These situations threaten to get out of control and disrupt the social fabric from time to time, especially with respect to the allocation, extraction and exploitation of resources. Another potential trigger, which adds to institutional strain, is the construction of the World Bank-funded Asian Highway passing through Ijeirong and Bakuwa village.

Figure 7.5

The constitution of Chiuluan village

Proactive communities and villages have sought to minimise conflict and confusion by drafting traditional rules and regulations in the form of a village constitution. Chiuluan village has written a constitution that clearly defines the norms that govern resource use. During the fieldwork, Bakuwa village was actively deliberating writing one such document. Such initiatives hint at the huge gap between constitutional provisions granting traditional institutions the right to manage their own resources and the challenges faced by local institutions in adapting to the changing socio-economic contexts driven by the market and, in some cases, by global capital.

4.2 The Ecological Consequences of Commercial Agriculture

The current agrarian changes have affected the environment in two important ways. First, the changes have led to a loss of species diversity. Second, in the context of ineffective institutions, they have led to increased forest fragmentation and the overexploitation of available land and resources. The new, “cash-oriented” nature of shifting agriculture is leading to crop specialisation; and farmers have become particularly focused on producing crops with a high market value. The increasing number of fields dedicated to specific high-value crops points to this trend. Farmers are cultivating less of a variety of crops as they focus on marketability.

As a result, the genetic pool, represented by the diversity of seeds, is becoming depleted, as crops that are no longer sown are lost forever. This reduced crop diversity is clearly visible in farming communities that live closer to the market. For instance, jhum paddy is almost extinct in Karuangmuan village. Even in Chiuluan village, where paddy continues to be grown, only three varieties of paddy were reported by the majority of respondents. By contrast, Shingra farmers have a rich pool of over twenty varieties of paddy, not to mention other crops.

The shrinking gene pool is perhaps one of the most significant fallouts of agrarian change in the hills. However, not enough attention has been given to it. It is an invaluable loss, which compromises the resilience of the shifting agricultural system and negatively impacts farmers’ food and livelihood security. It makes fields more vulnerable to pests and weeds, while exposing farmers to market uncertainties and climatic variations at the local level. At the macro level, the loss of species severely impacts efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Second, the emergence of intensive commercial cultivation is likely to lead to the overexploitation and fragmentation of forests. Banana plantations in Karuangmuan village are causing pressure due to a combination of unrestricted access to forest land and the widespread use of weedicides in the plantations. As farmers prefer plantations close to the village for easy transportation, these are situated in a five-kilometre radius from the village. Land close to the village is thus in danger of overexploitation in a few years’ time, as farmers have to shift to a new plot every three to five years. The likelihood of ecological challenges in the near future is exacerbated by the fact that farmers extensively employ weedicides, such as Roundup by Bayer (Monsanto), in managing banana plantations. As mentioned earlier, the commercialisation of banana plantations has been made possible by the widespread use of labour-saving techniques such as weedicides and pesticides. However, these have implications on the health and well-being of farmers as well as the environment.

The pace of forest fragmentation is also being hastened by the cultivation of turmeric, chilli and potatoes. Though the fields on which these crops are grown are usually smaller in size, they are not cultivated over compact areas, like the traditional jhum fields. In addition, they require fresh plots every year. In fact, farmers report that a plot of land used to grow turmeric cannot be used to grow any other crop in the next two to three years, as soil fertility is completely exhausted. In case of king chilli, farmers seek plots of land which have not been cleared for ten years or more.

The full impact of commercial farming and plantations on the environment and, in certain cases, the health of farmers is yet to be fully known. Many practices have emerged only in the last few years. However, in their wake, fragile and sensitive ecologies have come under extreme pressure. Across the board, there is a loss of crop diversity. Additionally, in cases where local traditional institutions are rendered ineffective, the environment is left to the mercy of private interests. In a context where property rights regimes are not well defined, the overexploitation of available land and resources, leading to long-term environmental degradation, is highly likely.⁵⁶

5 Conclusion

Present-day agrarian changes in the hills of Northeast India are multilayered and uneven across space. They are driven by a host of factors, such as education, which has caused large-scale out-migration from villages to towns and cities, leading to localised population decline and contributing to lengthening fallow lengths. The improvements in connectivity, particularly roads, have also radically transformed agrarian practices as jhum produce found a niche market among the rapidly expanding middle class.

The present study mapped changing agrarian practices across villages with varying degrees of access to markets. It found that there is a general shift away from traditional jhuming towards more market-friendly practices, such as horticulture. In fact, more families are involved in orange orchards, banana plantations and other horticultural farms as compared to shifting agriculture. This is highly significant because it marks the turn from subsistence farming to producing for the market, which Harris-White et al. call a “transition to the capitalist economy.”⁵⁷ This is visible within the jhum field itself, where farmers prefer crops with a high market value to those which ensure food security.

Agrarian transition, however, is far from uniform across space, especially with respect to distance from the market. As a result, the two distinct stages of agrarian transition identified by Cramb et al. are at work within the study area.⁵⁸ Shingra, Bakuwa and Ijeirong farmers use spare land and labour to produce for the market, while Chiuluan, Karuangmuan and Akhui farmers use their spare land and labour for subsistence. In other words, farmers who live close to towns and marketplaces prioritise income security, while those who do not have easy access to markets prioritise food security. These choices play out in the jhum fields and shape the jhumscapes – orchards and plantations on the edge of towns, and paddy fields as one moves further away from market centres.

The current pattern of agrarian change, driven by an increasingly “cash-oriented” agriculture, is undermining the efficacy of local traditional institutions. This has ramifications for society as a whole, in which inequality is becoming concretised. Ineffective and weakened institutions are also unable to regulate private interests for sustainable resource use. In the absence of a well-defined legal framework, individual villages are responding to powerful market and global forces on their own. In the present context, efficacious and robust institutions are central to both societal and environmental sustainability.

To conclude, the transformation of shifting agriculture has taken an unlikely turn from what was expected by many experts. It has neither become obsolete nor has it disintegrated into a cycle of unsustainable resource use. On the contrary, two decades into the twenty-first century, it continues to be an important source of livelihood for farmers in the hills of Northeast India. While the geographical peculiarities of the region have certainly played a role in this transformation, the agency of farmers needs to be recognised. In fact, the large-scale disruption of markets caused by the pandemic-imposed lockdowns is expected to push farmers to jhum more intensely in the next few years.

In the context of climate change on the one hand and increasing market penetration on the other, the pace of agrarian change is likely to pick up. The next few decades will be crucial for sustainability, not only with respect to the environment, but also concerning the communities engaged in shifting agriculture. As traditional property rights regimes get reworked in the face of a market-driven capitalist system of production, issues of social differentiation and economic inequality are likely to become more prominent. Shifting agriculture in Northeast India is, therefore, faced with new questions of sustainability that go far beyond that of decreasing fallow lengths.

Examples of state intervention during colonial times can be found in Verrier Elwin, The Baiga (Delhi: Gian Publishing House, [1931] 1986), 100–31. Government interventions post-independence are examined by Debojyoti Das, “Demystifying the Myth of Shifting Cultivation Agronomy in the North-East,” Economic and Political Weekly 41, no. 47 (November – December 2006): 4912–17, amongst others.

Or “jhuming landscape.” The idea of “jhumscape” is further developed in the paper.

The Task Force on Rehabilitation of Shifting Cultivation Areas (2006) reported that farmers were cultivating lesser areas for food crops, giving way to vegetables or other crops with a higher market value. In the West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya, farmers are slowly “reviving” cash crop cultivation, which had met with limited success a few decades earlier. Amba Jamir, “Shifting Options: A Case Study of Shifting Cultivation in Mokokchung District in Nagaland, India,” in Shifting Cultivation, Livelihood and Food Security: New and Old Challenges for Indigenous People in Asia, ed. Christian Erni (Bangkok: Food and Agricultural Organization, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs and Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, 2015), 175, also found that farmers were capitalising on local tastes and food habits by adding value to crops that ensured good returns from the market.

Ester Boserup, The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1965).

Malcolm Cairns and Harold Brookfield, “Composite Farming Systems in an Era of Change: Nagaland, North-East India,” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 52, no. 1 (2011): 57.

Cairns and Brookfield, “Composite Farming Systems,” 57.

Jamir, “Shifting Options.”

Nathalie van Vliet et al., “Trends, Drivers and Impacts of Changes in Swidden Cultivation in Tropical Forest Agriculture Frontiers: A Global Assessment,” Global Environmental Change 22 (January 2012): 418–29.

R. A. Cramb et al., “Swidden Transformations and Rural Livelihoods in Southeast Asia,” Human Ecology 37 (May 2009): 323–46.

Perhaps one of the most enduring assumptions or myths about shifting agriculture is that it operates in isolation. This is, of course, closely linked to similar views on indigenous communities who tend to be located on the frontiers of nation states, and away from mainstream imaginations of the country. For instance, the most prominent criticism of shifting agriculture – that it becomes unsustainable with increasing population – assumes a closed and static system, isolated from the rest of the world.

See Michael R. Dove, “Theories of Swidden Agriculture, and the Political Economy of Ignorance,” Agroforestry Systems 1 (1983): 85–89; S. N. Mithra, “Arunachal’s Tribal Economic Formations and their Dissolution,” Economic and Political Weekly (October 1983): 1837–46; Jelle J. P. Wouters, “Keeping the Hill Tribes at Bay: A Critique from India’s Northeast of James C. Scott’s Paradigm of State Evasion,” European Bulletin of Himalayan Research 39 (2012): 41–65.

Barbara Harris-White, Deepak K. Mishra, and Vandana Upadhyay, “Institutional Diversity and Capitalist Transition: The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Arunachal Pradesh, India,” Journal of Agrarian Change 9, no. 4 (2009): 512–47.

Noney district was carved out of Tamenglong district in 2016. In instances where information is not available for the newly formed district, data for Tamenglong is used for both districts. K. Sarojkumar Sharma, “Okram Ibobi Singh Inaugurates Two More Districts,” Times of India, 17 December 2016, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/imphal/okram-ibobi-singh-inaugurates-two-more-districts/articleshow/56030775.cms.

Wet rice cultivation or terrace cultivation is not a traditional practice in the study area. It was introduced by the government with the help of other communities from the Northeast, like the Angamis from Nagaland, who are traditional practitioners of wet rice cultivation.

Or, assumed to be uniform, which is not the case.

Shingra village provides a glimpse of how upland farmers usually interacted with markets before modern-day roads.

A census of the villages was necessary because official numbers in the census did not match with the reality in the villages for two important reasons. First, negligence on the part of government officials who, in most cases, do not go to the villages but instead summon the village Chairman and Secretary to the towns, where details of everyone in the village are entered. Apart from the census, many families whose doors were marked as having been surveyed by the National Health and Family Survey (nhfs) reported that they were not interviewed. Second, conducting a census from afar works to the advantage of village authorities who intentionally swell household numbers so that the village can receive a greater share from various government schemes. In all the villages, the number of households reported in the census is much higher than the real number of households in the village. The village authority members were open about their practice of swelling household numbers to get more grants.

By virtue of being close to the town, students from Chiuluan village have access to good quality primary and secondary education. This explains the lower percentage of students in the migrated group. Student migration consists mainly of those seeking a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in metro cities. By contrast, most student migration from Shingra village is for primary and secondary education within the state. There are very few instances of migration to metro cities for higher studies. The comparatively low proportion of students among the total migration in Ijeirong village (61.4 per cent) may be attributed to the presence of a private school in the village that started a few years ago.

Older people very often referred to this feeling of an “empty village,” contrasting this to, and longing for, the winter season, in which young people return to the village during the holidays, especially for Christmas.

Cramb et al., “Swidden Transformations,” 323–46.

Mr Hungamang Thiumei, aged eighty, from Shingra village points out that four to five families presently cultivate the same patch of land that he and his family cultivated while he was in his prime, some forty years ago. He attributes this change to education, which has broken up the family labour. Other, older farmers have similar opinions.

Boserup, Conditions.

Quite significantly, Shingra farmers narrated that they “borrowed” forest land from a neighbouring village for jhuming for a particular year because their own forests were not “mature enough” yet. This prevented the jhum cycle from becoming non-sustainable. A similar instance was also reported in Puichi village (not a part of this study). These instances are highly significant for three reasons. First, they show that farmers are keenly aware of the ecological limitations of jhuming and work to safeguard it. Second, robust traditional institutions are central for sustainably managing resources, especially during such crucial moments. And third, most studies that simply predict decreasing fallows do not appreciate local realities, such as property rights regimes, in which it is possible for a village to “lend” a significant area of forest to another village for a particular year.

Jamir, “Shifting Options,” 175.

This is a recent development that is perhaps only a decade old. It began as more frequent (daily) flights enabled faster communication with the region.

Or “chemical free.” Local farmers use this as an effective sales pitch in the towns. They do not use the term “organic,” which consumers in the metro cities use. It is also highly ironic, because shifting agriculture is considered to be ecologically destructive.

Claudio O. Delang, “Social and Economic Adaptations to a Changing Landscape: Realities, Opportunities and Constraints,” in Living at the Edge of Thai Society: The Karen in the Highlands of Northern Thailand, ed. Claudio O. Delang (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), 155–82.

Though, in the case of the study area, it has led to change in a direction, contrary to what is generally assumed.

Safety was a significant concern then, which can be easily overlooked today. The danger posed by wild animals was very real. But more than wild animals, farmers risked head-hunting or being caught up in inter-tribe warfare. Adequately armed menfolk were, therefore, an essential part of the marketing group.

It appears to have been an important part of their annual calendar, but not only due to practical reasons or compulsions. Older respondents recall their trips to the market with more than nostalgia, imparting a festive hue to the whole “occasion,” both in gearing up for the trip and in the warm welcome extended by the children to the returning elders. The experience and expectations, especially for children, of “keithian kanu,” an Inpui term for “going to the market,” was an essential part of the lived agrarian stories.

Marketing in the middle of an agricultural season was rare. A popular saying of the time, recalled by Mr Keihiamang Thiumai, aged ninety-one (born 1926), from Shingra village reflects this: “If you take two-three trips to the market, weeds will overtake your field.”

Considering all the preparations required, a single trip to the market could easily take up a week.

Kyle Jackson, “Globalizing an Indian Borderland Environment: Aijal, Mizoram, 1890–1919,” Studies in History 32, no. 1 (2016): 48.

Older respondents from different villages concur that wet rice cultivation was introduced to the region through government initiatives in the 1960s. Before this, shifting agriculture was the sole agrarian practice. Mr Keihiamang Thiumai from Shingra village (born 1926) actively persuaded his contemporaries to take to wet rice farming in his capacity as chairman of the village during that period.

P. S. Ramakrishnan, “Shifting Agriculture in Transition: The Way Forward,” in Shifting Agriculture in Asia: Implications for Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Livelihood, ed. K. G. Saxena, Luohui Liang, and Kanok Rerkasem (Dehra Dun: Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, 2007), 1–16.

Parkia (stink bean) was an important cash crop till the 1990s before they died en masse in the region due to various diseases. There are few surviving trees from that period. It discouraged farmers from investing in parkia though it does fetch a good price.

Heiribob is a citrus fruit whose thick skin is dried and used to flavour non-vegetarian dishes.

Gan-lwak (in Rongmei) is a semi-wild plant with distinctive pungent leaves that are consumed mostly as chutney in early spring and rainy season. These trees grow up on their own in the first year of fallow following jhuming. However, some farmers have domesticated it and grow it in in plantations in order to maximise on the good price that it commands on the market.

“Tamenglong Orange / Mandarin (Citrus reticulata),” Manipur Organic Mission Society, accessed 1 June 2021, https://momamanipur.com/tamenglong-orange/.

Sobhapati Samom, “Manipur Expects gi Tag for Its Unique Orange in Tamenglong,” Hindustan Times, 3 September 2020, https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/manipur-expects-gi-tag-for-its-unique-orange-in-tamenglong/story-4YtoxfVOJ5xmtshfUYajsN.html.

Akhui village has many orange trees that are more than a hundred years old.

It was an important item of trade for farmers in the study region in the past. Older respondents from Shingra and Chiuluan village narrated how they would undertake a full day’s journey to Phalok or Sonparam village to buy oranges at the rate of Rs. 1 for one hundred pieces. They would return to their villages, rest a day and then travel to Imphal or Sekmai to sell them at around Rs. 4–5 per one hundred pieces. The whole thing easily took up five man days, but, despite the physical rigours involved, it was considered highly profitable.

One respondent, in fact, calculated that owning three to four hundred banana groves is equal to being a Class C primary school teacher with the government.

In an interview, the chairman of the village Mr Jonesh Khumba replied that there has been no “ramrai nu” in the village for the last two years. “Ramrai nu” is the tradition in Inpui villages in which the elders of the village sit together and decide on which part of the village to allocate for jhuming that particular year. This was central to maintaining the jhum cycle with an appropriate fallow length.

Roundup is reported to have cancer-causing components and the company is being sued in various courts. Patricia Cohen, “Roundup Maker to Pay $10 Billion to Settle Cancer Suits,” New York Times, 24 June 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/business/roundup-settlement-lawsuits.html.

Every family was asked about the number of months they can subsist from the paddy they produced. They were also asked about the quantity of rice they need to buy from the market in a year. This was matched with the estimated food requirements of the family, arrived at through thorough calculation. After cross-checking with various responses, it was calculated that, on average, 0.25 kilograms of rice was needed for a person for the morning meal. The amount gets reduced to 0.20 kilograms for the evening meal. A larger quantity of rice is usually prepared in the morning, keeping in mind both lunch and the midday meal. Thus, a family of five would need 1.25 kilograms (5 * 0.25) for the morning and 1 kilogram (5 * 0.20) in the evening, or a total of 2.25 kilograms a day. Of course, there are variations in the amount consumed by men, women and children. The same amount is not consumed on a non-working day either. At the same time, most families also factor in the needs of pets (dogs and cats, especially). Keeping in mind all these considerations, calculations derived from this amount (250 grams for the morning and 200 grams for the evening) generally matches the food estimates of most families.

A fifty-kilogram bag of rice, which costs Rs. 1,000 at Noney bazaar, incurs a transportation cost of at least Rs. 200 when it reaches Shingra village, making the effective price Rs. 1,200. Shingra farmers, therefore, have to spend more money than others to buy the same quantity of rice from the market. But they have to spend more time and effort compared to others to earn the same amount of money (walking for two days to Leimakhong, Imphal).

Food is prepared by mixing rice produced from the jhum field and rice bought from the market.

Cramb et al., “Swidden Transformations,” 327.

Karuangmuan village is an outlier, because it has mostly given up on traditional jhuming. Their jhum vegetable fields are small scale and done mainly for subsistence, as maximum labour is devoted to banana plantations.

The relatively higher average income of Shingra farmers as compared to Ijeirong and Bakuwa farmers must be understood in the context of much larger jhum fields in Shingra village. Farmers in these two villages distribute their labour across wet rice fields.

Tamenglong bazaar has three “market days,” on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Though the vegetable market is open every day, the market day attracts more shoppers as well as sellers.

160 tins = Rs. 32,000 at Rs. 200 per tin.

Mariteuw Chimère Diaw, “Si, Nda Bot and Ayong: Shifting Cultivation, Land Use and Property Rights in Southern Cameroon” (network paper 21e, Rural Development Forestry Network, Summer 1997).

The six villages under study generally follow a combination of private and communal landownership and management. There are tracts of land that belong to the village, whose usage and management is directly under the village. In addition, families also own one or several plots of land in different areas of the village. However, these plots of land cannot be utilised by the family at their discretion. The community “grants” a family access to their land when their plot of land falls under the area marked by the village council for jhuming for that particular year. Farmers, therefore, freely “borrow” plots of fields for jhuming without any written agreement, with the land returning to the owner the following year. There are no costs involved in borrowing, and no share of crops given to the owner. Sometimes a token of one kilogram of sugar or chicken is given to the owner of the plot. However, fields are usually not “borrowed” for farming, as this involves a more permanent use of land. This is leading to privatisation of land with little or no communal control.

Diaw, “Si, Nda Bot and Ayong.”

Harris-White, Mishra and Upadhyay, “Institutional diversity,” 512–47.

Cramb et al., “Swidden Transformations,” 327.

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Global Agricultural Workers from the 17th to the 21st Century

Series: Studies in Global Social History, Volume: 50

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004529427

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 14 Dec 2022

Subjects
- History
- Social Sciences
  - Global Studies

Front Matter

Part 1 The Agrarian Question and the Resilience of the Peasant Family Farms

Part 2 Coerced Labour Relations in the Global Countryside

Part 3 State Intervention and Agricultural Labour Mobility

Back Matter

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Chapter 7 Agrarian Change in the Hills of Northeast India

The Unlikely Story of Shifting Agriculture

Abstract

1 The Area of Study

“Distance” mediates access to markets

Characteristics of the study villages

Locating the field

2 Drivers of Change: Significant Divergences

Migration in the study villages

Fallow length in the study villages

A “Northeast” shop in New Delhi

3 Characterising Agrarian Change

3.1 Diversification Away from Jhuming

Diversity of agrarian practices in the study area

3.2 Mainstreaming of Horticulture

Distribution of plantations by type (number of farms)

Who owns the largest orange orchards in Chiuluan village?

Who owns the largest banana plantations in Karuangmuan village?

3.3 From Subsistence Farming to Production for Market

Jhum fields in Shingra village, 2016

Paddy production from jhum fields

Paddy production from wet rice or terrace fields

Main sources of food security

Graph showing the income of jhum farmers from different villages

4 The Implications of Agrarian Change

4.1 Unravelling Institutions and Ramifications

The constitution of Chiuluan village

4.2 The Ecological Consequences of Commercial Agriculture

5 Conclusion

Bibliography

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Global Agricultural Workers from the 17th to the 21st Century

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