NAGALAND EMPOWERMENT of PEOPLE through ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (NEPED) PROJECT TITLE: STRENGTHENING NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND FARMERS’ LIVELIHOODS IN NAGALAND Submission of Final Technical Report 2001 to 2007 Prepared by: Project Operations Unit Box No. 231, P.O. Kohima - 797 001, Nagaland Tel. No : 0370 / 2290390-3, Telefax : 2290392 E-mail : [email protected] i TITLE PAGE Project Title : STRENGTHENING NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND FARMERS’ LIVELIHOOD IN NAGALAND IDRC Grant Number : 100925 Institution Name : Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development (NEPED) Kohima, Nagaland, India Working Currency : Indian Rupees Currency of Bank Account : Indian Rupees Commencement Date : 11th November, 2002 Day/Month/Year i CONTENTS Page Acronyms vi CHAPTER – I RESEARCH FINDINGS I. SUSTAINABLE CROPPING SYSTEMS FOR EXTENSION OF THE CROPPING PHASE IN THE JHUM SYSTEM SYNTHESIS 1 RESEARCH PROBLEM 3 1. Experiences of Up scaling the SARS Model in Eight District 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Objective 2 1.3 Methodology and Implementation 2 1.4 Case study on quantitative soil erosion measures 2 1.5 Farmers’ evaluation 3 2. Documentation of Local Communities Practising Improved Jhum System 5 2.1 Extension of cropping phase through crop intercropping with legumes in Leangkunger village 5 2.2. Extension of cropping phase through soil management in Lazami village 6 2.3 The transition from jhum to sedentary agriculture through relay cropping in Pfutsero 8 2.4 Alder Based jhum of Khonoma 9 2.5 Changes of Land Use Patterns in Nagaland : A case study of Sungratsü 10 2.6 The Konyak Jhum System and Its Management Strategies 13 2.7 Sakraba Villagers Developed Natural Resources Management Strategies 15 3. Dissemination 16 4. Results of trials on extension of cropping phase by state agriculture research station 17 4.1 Mokokchung Village 17 4.2 Chare and Mopungchuket 18 4.3 Wokha district 19 4.4 On-Station 20 II. DEVELOPING AND EXTENDING IMPROVED APPROACHES TO MORE PRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT OF JHUM FALLOWS 1. Background 22 2. Methodology for identifying fallow management crops 22 3. Off-farm testing of cultivation fallow management practice crops 24 3.1 Phek District 24 3.2 Mokokchung District 25 3.3 Wokha District 25 3.4 Dimapur 27 3.4 Tuensang District 28 3.5 Mon District 28 4. Conclusion and recommendation 30 5. Gender role in the management of plantation 31 6. Enabling factors and problems of cultivating fallow management crops 32 6.1 Fallow Management 33 6.2 Soil Conservation 35 6.3 Agro-Forestry 37 6.4 Control of Thatch Grass using Tithonia 38 ii 6.5 Multipurpose Tree Species in Jhum fields 38 6.6 Survey on use of Salt as Weedicide 39 6.7 Researchers Observation 40 6.8 Study of Weeds Under Different Altitudes in Jhum Fields and Permanent Farm Lands 41 6.9 Study of Cardamom Mortality 43 6.10 Study on Various Tree Management in Jhum and Forest Lands (Past and present) through PR &D in Mokokchung District 45 6.11 Package of Practices of Aochisang Plant 49 III. IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES AND STRENGTHENING FARMERS’ ABILITY TO MARKET CROPS AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS Synthesis 52 1. Background 52 2. Research methodology 52 3. How villagers were marketing the ‘menu crop’ products 52 3.1 Cardamom 52 3.2 Passion fruit – 55 3.3 Leangkunger village: Kholar (French beans) 58 3.4 Bade village : Turmeric 59 4. Augmenting marketing of Ginger, Cardamom, Passion fruit 60 and Turmeric in Nagaland 4.1 Ginger 61 4.2. Cardamom 64 4.3. Passion Fruit 67 4.4. Turmeric 68 4.5. Pineapple 69 5. Assessment of Production Cost for Ginger, Cardamom, Passion fruit & Turmeric 69 5.1 Ginger 70 5.2 Cardamom 70 5.3 Passion fruit 72 5.4 Turmeric 74 CHAPTER- II I. INVENTORY OF TREE POLES PLANTED DURING NEPED PHASE-I AND VOLUMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF TREES REGENERATING DURING FALLOW PERIOD OF JHUM Background 77 1. Sustaining Trees During the Fallow Period through Management of Natural Regeneration In Jhum Fields Of Nagaland 79 1.I Background 79 1.2 Study Area 80 1.3 Methodology for inventory of tree species regeneration 81 1.4 Result and Discussions 81 2. Assessment of firewood consumption 85 3. Cost Estimation Of Timber Operation And Profit Margin 86 3.1 Background of study site 86 3.2 Methodology 86 3.3 Result and discussion 87 3.4 Conclusion 87 II. ADDING VALUES TO THE FARMERS PRODUCTS 88 1. Passion Fruit 88 2. Cardamom 88 2.1 Improving the methods of drying cardamom 88 iii 2.2 Impact on Government 89 2.3 Farmers View 89 2.4 Lessons learned on harvesting and curing processes in-situ 89 2.5 Recommendations 90 3. Turmeric 91 4. Exposure of farmers to market and processing units 91 4.1 Some technical information gained on the passion fruit 91 4.2 Feedbacks from participants 92 4.3 Lessons learnt and Recommendations 92 CHAPTER - III I. ENHANCING THE CAPACITY OF STAKEHOLDERS ON NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Synthesis 102 1. NEPED project workshops and capacity building activities 103 1.1 Training on Accounts 103 1.2 District level Experience sharing workshop 103 1.3 Empowering the community 104 1.4 Dissemination of technology by SARS Team 104 2. Lessons learned 105 2.1 Transect and rapport building 105 2.2 Market survey and information 105 2.3 Market survey to West and South India 105 3. Other Capacity Building Activities 106 A. INCREASED RESEARCH OR ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS OF THE RESEARCHERS INVOLVED 1. Capacitate project members on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) 107 2. Training in land treatment 107 3. Participation at the International Thematic PRA Training Workshop 107 4. Training in Soil and Water Management 108 4.1 Study tour to Sikkim 108 4.2 General Green House Management 108 4.3 Study tour to Udagamandalam 108 5. Other Capacity Building Activities 109 5.1 Other related Activities 110 B. CONTRIBUTION TO CAPACITY-BUILDING OF WOMEN 1. Capacitating and empowering women 110 1.1 Workshop feedbacks from the women 111 2. Experiences and Lessons learned 111 2.1 Women study tour to Khonoma village 112 3. What people said about women SHGs 112 4. Capacity-Building for Rural Farming Groups 113 4.1 Instate field exchange visits for selected farmers 113 5. Lessons learnt 113 5.1 In-state farmers’ exchange visit 113 5.2 Sapotimi village visit 114 5.3 Visit to Khonoma and SARS Mokokchung 114 6. Report on visit to Khonoma by cluster of villages 115 7. Farmers’ Exposure Trips 116 8. Other Capacity Building Activities 116 9. Capacity building of SARS team 116 iv CHAPTER – IV PROJECT MANAGEMENT 119 CHAPTER – V IMPACTS I. NEPED’s CONTRIBUTION TO THE TRANSITION OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NAGALAND 1. Bringing about Farmers’ transition from subsistence agriculture to market economy 120 2. NEPED shows good governance to Government 124 II. POST PROJECT EVALUATION OF NEPED VILLAGES 1. Rationale 125 2. How the evaluation was conducted 125 CHAPTER – VI OVERALL ASSESSMENT 126 CHAPTER – VII RECOMMENDATIONS 128 ANNEXURES 1. LIST Of NEPED PUBLICATIONS 1 2. ESTIMATION OF MAXIMUM POPULATION DENSITY ON JHUM SYSTEM OF NAGALAND 3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEPED 4. NEPED-II PROJECT VILLAGES MAP 5. NEPED-III PROJECT VILLAGES MAP v Acronyms AE A : American Evaluation Association AP MC : Agricultural Marketing Produce Committee DA O : District Agricultural Officer DH O : District Horticultural Officer DS CO : District Soil Conservation Officer DS U : District Support Unit Go N : Government of Nagaland Ho Ds : Head of Departments IC EF : India Canada Environment Facility ICI MOD : International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ID MAT- AS : International Institute of Development Management Technology of EED Asian Society for Entrepreneurship Education and Development ID RC : International Development Research Centre LE AD : Leadership on Environment and Development NE PED : Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development NI P : Nagaland Industrial Product PA : Participatory Approach PO U : Project Operations Unit PR A : Participatory Rural Analysis/Appraisal SA RS : State Agriculture Research Station SH G : Self-Help Group TE RI : Tata Energy Research Institute TL : Team Leader VC : Village Council VD B : Village Development Board VM : Village Marketing Committee vi C vii STRENGTHENING NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND FARMERS’ LIVELIHOODS IN NAGALAND SYNTHESIS The pr emise of t he N agaland E mpowerment of People t hrough E conomic D evelopment (NEPED) is on the fact that strengthening the livelihood options of the farmers in Nagaland would l ead t o s ustainable l anduse and r esult i n r eduction of l and de gradation a nd deforestation. The main donor of NEPED project, the India-Canada Environment Facility, has its own mandate for improvement of the environment. The farmers have their concern for the livelihoods that are sometime not environmental friendly. T he aspirations of the farmers for better living conditions, availing modern health services and providing good education to the children ha d nec essitated the f arming h ousehold t o generate c ash i ncome t o m eet t hese aspirations. In order to fulfill the donor’s mandate and farmers’ aspirations, the NEPED project embarked o n a m ission t o br ing abo ut a t ransition f rom s ubsistence agriculture t o m arket oriented strategy in the mindset of the people by cultivating shade tolerant crops beneath the growing trees that were planted during the NEPED phase – I period from 1995 to 2000. The main project fund received from ICEF during the period 2001 to 2005 was used to induce the required transition. The NEPED team was the agent of change for the farming community in Nagaland to cause a t ransition from: dependent mindset to an i ndependent one, traditional agricultural practice to an improved livelihood production systems and subsistent agriculture to a vibrant rural economy.