Introduction:
- Shifting cultivation is very popular among the tribes in India whose main occupation is agriculture. It is primarily practised in all the North Eastern states namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur. Meghalaya, Mijoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. It is practised partially in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Sikkim.
- Shifting cultivation is known by different names Jhum in the North-East, Padu in Andhra Pradesh, Dahior Bewar in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, Kumri in Karnataka, Bhurty in Tamil Nadu, Kurwa-Chos in Jharkhand, Panan or Ponun in Kerala.
- In India about 6.4 lakhs of tribals families are involved in the practice of shifting cultivation over an approximate area of one million hectares every year. The total area affected by this practice is about five million hectares in 15 states of the country. Shifting cultivation basically consists of clearing the forest slopes and setting fire to the trees and bushes so cleared and just broadcasting the seeds in the soil. It is defined as an agricultural system in which fields are cleared by firing and are cropped discontinuously.
- Shifting cultivation starts normally before summer i.e., February-March, when trees are felled and the place is left be dried during the first half of he summer. Next, in the second half of the summer i.e., May-June, the trees and bushes are set on fire. After they burn to ashes, seeds are sown at the commencement of rainy season. No other agricultural operation is carried out and the crop is harvested after the rains. The tribes sow on the plot for one or more seasons (one to three years). They then move on to another plot of land and repeat shifting cultivation.
Socio-economic implications:
Shifting cultivation should be seen in the overall socio-economic and sociocultural context of the tribes. Shifting cultivation hardly requires any improved inputs or farm management practices. It does not require high yielding variety seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation nor does it require ploughing. There is no expenditure involved in shifting cultivation. In view of these factors and the availability of land in the forest and shape of landscape the method had got itself firmly entrenched amongst the tribes. Some tribes like Baigas of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa believe that shifting cultivation has a religious sanction. They believe that their god has ordered them to do shifting cultivation. They also believe that the mother earth should not be tortured by ploughing. As long as they do not plough, mother earth will bless them.
Consequences of shifting cultivation:
Ecologists, forest departments and agricultural scientists are unanimous in their view of the harmful consequences of shifting cultivation which are:
(i) Denudation of forests with its chain of consequences like reduced rainfall.
(ii) Soil erosion.
(iii) Loss of fertility
(iv) Drying up of springs in the hills.
Apart from these harmful consequences to the environment, it is essentially wasteful-the yields is very low. The effects of prolonged shifting cultivation has reduced many forest areas infertile, particularly in Orissa. There are others who do not condemn shifting cultivation totally. They advocate that shifting cultivation is to be viewed in the total geo-physical and socio-cultural context of the tribes. A correct approach would be to bring in a changes gradually.
Remedial measures:
There is no single satisfactory solution to the problem of shifting cultivation. However, the following measures are suggested for improving the situation.
Some of these measures have been suggested by the Debhar Commission (Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission ) in 1961.
- Gradual regulation of shifting cultivation. (In Some states, shifting cultivation has been banned, for example, Madhya Pradesh)
- Change to terraced cultivation wherever soil conditions permit. This method has yielded some success in the North-East.
- Establishment of agricultural colonies so that the tribals can changed over to settled cultivation. This experiment was tried out in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh with limited success.
- The establishment of colonies has to be supplemented with communications, drinking water, agricultural inputs, etc.
- Setting up of demonstration farms
- Distribution of improved agricultural implements manures and fertilizers and high yielding varieties of seeds.
- Providing credit facilities.
A strategy has been evolved to deal with the problem. The strategy for control of shifting cultivation involves an integrated programme of reclamation and development of land for settlement of Jhumias under regular agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture and forestry. The problem of Jhum control programme are threefold viz.,
- (1) rehabilitation of Jhumia families,
- (2) development of their economy,
- (3) provision of advance technology and capital investment.
All these programmes are capital intensive.
The Task Force on shifting cultivation (1983) has estimated that taking a perspective of fifteen years, a package of measures for rehabilitation of a Jhumia family would require an investment of Rs. 30,000/- per family on an average, in addition to the fund allocated under other programmes of the State and Central Government. On the basis of 1983 price norm, it would require an investment of about Rs. 3,000 crores per annum to settle 50,000 Jhumia families. Keeping in view the resource constraints it would be a difficult task to tackle this problem. The selection of package measures and priority areas have to be done very carefully. The measures have to be both long term and short term. A beginning has been made by he Ministry of agriculture on a small scale by earmarking an amount of Rs. 15 crores during 1988-89 as Central assistance to nine states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mijoram, Nagaland, Orissa and Tripura. About 27,000 families are to be rehabilitated under various schemes. Rehabilitation of shifting cultivators would have to be closely monitored by the administrative agencies and there should be a periodical review of the progress at various levels.