Traditional Tools and Implements Used in Jhum Agriculture in Nagaland

The mainstay of the Nagaland economy is agriculture, with about 59.76 percent of the population directly or indirectly depending on agriculture for employment and livelihood. The farmers in Nagaland mostly use traditional tools and implements for all operations in the field and follow traditional cultivation methods. Nagaland has adequate land, and water resources and rainfall is more than sufficient. Farmers belonging to medium landholding (2–4 ha) is highest with 67 percent of the cultivated area, which is the major dependent on human energy. The man-days for land-clearing requirements, land development, weeding, harvesting, and threshing required for Jhum areas of Nagaland using traditional tools and implements were estimated as 1.196 crore man-days, 95.68, 54.36, 47.84 and 53.56 lakh man-days, respectively of Jhum area of 95,680 ha.