Horticulture based farming system as an alternative to Jhum in North East India: Jhumias’ perspectives

The purpose of this study was to identify the appropriate technological interventions to manage jhum land and forest fallow based on jhumia's preference and to analyze the problems as perceived by them. Vegetable cultivation (MS, 4.23), fruits orchard (MS, 4.19) and spice production (MS, 4.18) were identified by the respondents as top three strategies for livelihood diversification in shifting cultivation area and were ranked I, II and III respectively. Among several impediments, the infrastructural constraints (GMS, 2.36) emerged as the most important barrier that hinders the different options of crop diversification followed by jhum specific technologies. The paper discusses several issues that require attention on priority basis for accelerating the pace of agricultural diversification among jhumias.