aCollege of Agriculture, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh
bSchool of Social Sciences, College of Post Graduate Studies, Central Agricultural University-I, Umiam, Meghalaya
cSchool of Social Sciences, College of Post Graduate Studies, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, Manipur
Online published on 5 December, 2018.
The issue of sustainability of rice farming attains importance to rice growers of North Eastern Hill region (NE) at the backdrop of growing population and changing weather pattern as it is the primary crop of the region and staple food for the masses. The present study was conducted to examine the economic, social and ecological sustainability of rice farming at farm level in Manipur, one of the NE hill states. A sample of total 200 farmers from Thoubal (i.e., a valley district) and Senapati (i.e., a hill district) were personally interviewed using pretested schedule during 2014–15. Sustainability indices at farm level were constructed following the methodology of Human Development Index developed by UNDP. Majority of the rice farms i.e. 61% in Senapati and 94% in Thoubal were moderately sustainable; and 34% of the farms in Senapati were in ‘sustainable’ category. The average sustainability was greater for farms in hill district than that in the valley district primarily due to better ecological and social sustainability. The correlation between ecological and economic sustainability was negative. The study recommends that efforts should be made to improve ecological indicators in valley district so as to improve the overall sustainability of rice farms.
