Traditional Agricultural Practices in Meghalaya, North East India

Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 5(1), January 2006, pp. 7-18 Traditional agricultural practices in Meghalaya, North East India Solomon Retna Dhas Nadar Jeeva, Roytre Christopher Laloo & Bhanu Prakash Mishra* Ecology Research Laboratory, Department of Botany, Northeastern Hill University, NEHU Permanent Campus, Umshing, Mawkynroh, Mawlai, Shillong 793 022, Meghalaya, Email: [email protected] Received 27 September 2005; revised 24 October 2005 The paper deals with traditional farming systems practiced by indigenous communities of Meghalaya. Majority of tribal people (ca. 83 per cent) in the state is engaged in agriculture. The shifting cultivation and terrace (bun) agriculture are two major farming systems, prevalent in Meghalaya. Tree based farming practices are also prevalent in the state. The crops are grown in association with tree species like alder, Aquilaria, areca nut, coconut, bamboo, Khasi pine, etc. Due to undulating topography and hilly terrain, the farmers predominantly use bamboo drip irrigation practice. The harvesting of crops adds a new dimension towards improvement of soil fertility. The farmers pick up ear heads of crops only, other parts of plant are left on cultivated land. The farmers store grains in structures, made of soil and plant materials. The seed storage structures are traditional and resistant to insects. Keywords: Bamboo drip irrigation, Bun agriculture, Indigenous agricultural practices, Shifting cultivation, Traditional agriculture system, Traditional storage system, Terrace cultivation IPC Int. Cl.7: A01B1/00, A01B15/00, A01B19/00, A01C3/00, A01C5/00, A01C7/00, A01G1/00, A01G13/00, A01G25/00,C05G3/00, A01M1/00, A01M5/00, A01M31/00, A01N3/00, A01F25/00 Traditional agriculture is often considered a step Meghalaya (25.47–26.10N latitude and 89.45– between the local hunt-and-gather practice, which 92.47 E longitude) is one of the most picturesque provides communities with subsistence levels of food, states of India (Fig.1), offering a spectrum of sylvan and the practices of modern agriculture, used for surroundings, rich cultural heritage and luxurious mass-production of food for global distribution. This vegetation comprising of a large variety of flora and traditional agriculture practice develops a balance fauna. Meghalaya is one of the seven sister states of between meeting our present needs, conserving the North-eastern region, bounded by Assam on the natural resources, and protecting the environment for North and East, and on the west partly by Assam and the benefit of future generations. Traditional Bangladesh. Bangladesh forms the southern boundary agricultural approaches are not practical for mass food of this state. Meghalaya is divided into seven districts, production, but accounts for a substantial amount of Jaintia hills, East Khasi hills, West Khasi hills, Ri- local food production in the developing world1. bhoi, East Garo hills, West Garo hills and South In recent years, documenting the traditional Garo hills. It is among the wettest places on earth and wisdom has gained significant attention world over, is the home of an extraordinary diversity of people because of its importance in developing a high that includes the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo tribes. potential environment and sustainable management. Meghalaya experiences two distinct seasons, i.e. Identification and utilization of such indigenous winter and monsoon, and is characterized by a cool knowledge from the elderly people of rural and tribals climate throughout the year. The village of will surely bridge the gap between the current science Mawsynram (about 16 km West of Cherrapunji) in and age-old practices2. Indigenous knowledge linked the southern slopes of Khasi hills district receives the with the manipulation and use of natural resources in heaviest rainfall (11690 mm) in the world7,8. various ways, forms the basis for their link with Numerous rivers flow through Meghalaya although nature, and the varied levels refinement depend on the none of them are navigable, due to steep slope, rocky level at which the society finds itself in the social beds followed by strong water currents. evolutionary basis3-6. Predominant tribal populations, the original ___________________ inhabitants of this state are Khasis, Jaintias and *Corresponding author Garos. Khasis and Jaintias trace their ancestry to the 8 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 5, No. 1, JANUARY 2006 Mongolian race, while the Garos belong to the systems have a sustainable agriculture base and are Tibeto-Burman race. Their cultural traits and ethnic practiced since centuries in some isolated pockets of origins remain distinctive, mainly due to their Meghalaya and other northeastern states. These geographical isolation. The Khasi language spoken farming systems make use of locally available here is believed to be one of the few surviving resources and there is need of an in-depth study to dialects of the Mon-Khmer family of languages in know the secrets of their success. India9, 10. Shifting cultivation Present status of agriculture Shifting cultivation or slash and burn agriculture Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of (Fig. 1) is the most prevalent form of agricultural Meghalaya. About 83 % of the total population of practice of the ethnic people and is commonly called state depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Jhum or Swidden cultivation, which is one of the most However, agricultural land is accounted as only 48 % ancient systems of farming believed to have 13 of the total geographical area of the state. The state originated in the Neolithic period around 7000 B C . offers scope for cultivation of a wide variety of This system is a primitive cultivation technique and is agricultural crops because of highly diversified transition between food gathering and hunting to food topography, altitude and climatic conditions. Rice production. The system of farming is still in vogue in (Oryza sativa Linn.) and maize (Zea mays Linn.) are Meghalaya as well as whole northeast Himalayan 14 the major food crops. Important fruits grown are region . About 350,000 people practice shifting orange (Citrus reticulata Blanco), pineapple (Ananas cultivation on about 4,160 km² of unsurveyed land. comosus Merrill), lemon (Citrus limon Burm. f.), Shifting cultivation is a very wide term covering a guava (Psidium guajava Linn.), jack fruit (Artocarpus number of very different forms of land use, its heterophyllus Lam.) and bananas (Musa sp.). Potato essential feature beings that the land is cleared and (Solanum tuberosum Linn.), jute (Hibiscus agricultural crops are grown for a limited period, cannabinus Linn.), cotton (Gossypium sp.), arecanut which may range from one to over ten years, after (Areca catechu Linn.), ginger (Zingiber officinale which the cultivation is moved to a new site. The Rosc.), turmeric (Curcuma domestica Valeton), betel cultivators may or may not intend to return to the old 15, 16 leaf (Piper betle Linn.) and black pepper (Piper site after the fertility of the soil has recovered . nigrum Linn.) are the chief commercial crops. Jhum The practice of shifting cultivation is short and has or the shifting cultivation and Terrace cultivation are a variable fallow period. In general, hill people who predominant in the state, bringing land under live in tropical region practice shifting cultivation. permanent cultivation in later case11. After a piece of land is selected, trees or bushes are cut down partially or fully, left to dry and then burnt Cultivation practices in situ. In the cleared land, seeds of crops are dibbled The ethnic communities of Meghalaya follow two into holes or broadcast, without using ploughs or major types of agricultural practices such as shifting animal power (Fig. 2). When the crop yield begins to cultivation or slash and burn agriculture, and terrace decrease after some years, the cultivator moves to a or bun cultivation. Shifting cultivation is practiced in new patch of forest to repeat the process, and allows and around forests, and terrace cropping is practiced the abandoned land to recuperate. After a period in valleys and foothills, and inside plantation forests. varying from 2-20 yrs, they return to the same land These traditional systems of cultivation practices for cultivation17. At present the duration of the fallow are well adapted to the environmental conditions and cycle has been reduced to 3 – 5 yrs in most of the the traditional knowledge of indigenous communities northeastern states of India, this may be due to growing cereals and other agricultural crops have overwhelming pressure on land18 – 22. Shifting enabled them to maintain an ecological balance. cultivation is the most primitive form of cultivation of Enormous increases in human population have led to agricultural crops. This practice has continued for massive coverage of land under shifting cultivation12. thousand of years and stood the test of time. This Besides shifting cultivation and bun agriculture, there practice has an in-built mechanism of sustenance and are some other potential indigenous farming systems conservation. However, due to anthropogenic pressure in northeast India developed by the tribal farmers on land use for shifting cultivation adversely affecting using their ingenuity and skill. These techniques and eco-restoration and ecological process of forests. This JEEVA et al.: TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES OF MEGHALAYA 9 leads to degradation of land causing soil erosion and denudation of hill slopes, exposure

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