The study was conducted to document and analyze the prevailing indigenous soil and water conservation practices among the tribal farmers of Mizoram. Multistage simple random sampling technique was adopted to select 70 key informants and 420 farmers from 14 villages belonging to 7 districts. The data were collected through PRA. Surface seeding, pot holing and mulching were identified as major agronomic moisture conservation practices followed by the farmers in almost every part of Mizoram. However, some other practices like adjustment of sowing time in such a manner that good ground cover is available during the period of maximum rainfall, mixed cropping, inclusion of fast growing legumes and use of maize stover to make trash lines were also investigated. Besides popular mechanical indigenous practices adopted for soil and water conservation were stone bunds, earthen bunds, pit digging, traditional ditches, ridges, traditional ponds and indigenous method of terrace making.
Indigenous, Know-how, Soil and water conservation practices
