Indigenous Organic Farming of Paddy by Apatanis in Arunachal Pradesh, North East India: A Way of Life

Primarily the Apatani economy is agrarian in nature. They practice the sedentary agriculture from time immemorial. Thereby, they have developed a systematic and eco-friendly system of integrated paddy-cum-fish culture and millet on the bund/dyke in their agriculture. The agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for the people of landlocked area. The whole economy, social, cultural and rituals are revolving round the rice cultivation of Apatanis for good harvest of crops. The agricultural operations in the valley are completely carried out through human labour. Loss of soil nutrients from the paddy field is being added by recycling crop residues and use of organic waste of the village. The farmers cultivate varieties of cultivars and its strains which have diverse characteristics of its own. The use of tractor, power tiller and animal energy in agriculture of Apatanis is far off distance. The continuous use of this technique in agriculture indicates its sustainability and efficiency. This paper has made a study on the indigenous way of organic farming of different paddy varieties with the help of fields’ survey and primary source of data.