Agrobiodiversity potential of Nagaland state, Northeastern India

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1 Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 9 (2), April 2010, pp Agrobiodiversity potential of Nagaland state, Northeastern India SC Tiwari 1*, Supong Sashi 2 & Lalit Acharya 2 Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Environmental Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur , Chhattisgarh; 2 Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed University), Nirjuli , Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh sctin@yahoo.com Received 17 December 2007; revised 30 June 2009 Agrobiodiversity focuses on that part of biodiversity that has undergone selection and modification over millennia by human civilization to better serve human needs. Agrobiodiversity evolves as a direct consequence of social, cultural and institutional conditions at a given place. The study was carried out to evaluate the agrobiodiversity potential of Nagaland state in Northeastern India. The productivity for cereals, tubers and oil seeds were found to be higher under Mokokchung Sadar as compared to the other two sub-divisions. The traditional method of cultivation coupled with the scientific innovation and modification boost the productivity in Mokokchung Sadar. Though the crops are produced mainly for the self consumption, during the peak seasons some food crops like maize, tubers and vegetables are sold in the market to earn some additional income. The market is also well developed and easily assessable in case of Mokokchung Sadar whereas the other two sub-divisions the marketability of their products is a big problem which discourages them to go for the cultivation of these crops in larger quantities. Keywords: Agrobiodiversity, Ao Naga tribe, Jhum, Nagaland IPC Int. Cl. 7 : A01K, A01N3/00 Agricultural biological diversity, or in short, agrobiodiversity, refers to the variability among living organisms associated with the cultivation of crops and rearing of animals along with the ecological complexes of which they are a part. Agrobiodiversity focuses on that part of biodiversity that has undergone selection and modification over millennia by human civilization to better serve human needs. It has also been defined broadly as the part of biodiversity which nurtures people and is nurtured by people. The human cultures that have emerged and adapted to the local environment, discovering, using, and altering local biological resources over the course of time, have all contributed to its evolution 1. It is the interplay among human cultures and their biological diversity that helps in articulating social preferences for different attributes of biodiversity. This is how agrobiodiversity evolves as a direct consequence of social, cultural and institutional conditions at a given place. The study was carried out to evaluate the agrobiodiversity of Mokokchung district of Nagaland. Nagaland located in the Northeastern region of India, with an estimated population of over *Corresponding author 1.5 million, covers an area of 16,579 sq km. The climate ranges from sub-tropical to sub-temperate and the altitude varies from 200-3,800m above sea level, generally high humid; rainfall averages between 1,800-2,500 mm a year. The state is richly endowed with natural resources such as forests and water wealth in its numerous rivers and streams. Agriculture provides 90% of the people with their livelihood; rice and maize are the main crops. However, the state is not self-sufficient in food. Shifting cultivation is widely practiced and population pressure has caused the fallow period to be cut to a couple of years-causing loss of soil fertility, erosion, and falling crop yields. The study has been conducted in Mokokchung district of Nagaland, which is mainly inhabited by the Ao Naga tribe, constituting of 72 villages (3 Sub divisions) which are spread all over the district. They usually practice slash and burn or the jhum cultivation. Local communities have for centuries been using and conserving the biological resources found around them. In the process, they have developed knowledge, skills, and techniques related to these biological resources. Different systems have evolved over time to fit and mould into the different ecosystems and agroclimate zones.

2 TIWARI et al.: AGROBIODIVERSITY POTENTIAL OF NAGALAND STATE 351 Methodology In order to execute the work, a questionnaire was develop which includes, various crops cultivated by them, area under its cultivation, yield, fertilizer application if any, choice of the crops or the crop preferences, etc. From three sub divisions, five villages were selected and from each village five framers were interviewed according to their clans by simple random sampling with replacement method. Thus, 75 framers were selected for the study. The relevant information of the existing farming systems and related aspects were collected through the personal interview with the head of the selected household. Efforts were also made to obtain all the information of interest from men and women farmers of all age groups. Results and discussion Higher agrobiodiversity was recorded during the summer season (kharif crops) as compared to the winter seasons (rabi crops). During the summer season due to abundant rainfall and optimum range of temperature and humidity remains the best suitable growth for the agricultural crops. Winter cropping is practiced but their productivity in general is lower as compared to the summer cropping. The main reason behind this was that the winter crops are followed just after the summer crops on the same plot of land without addition of any fertilizers or manures and also there is scarcity of water as the cultivation is dependent wholly on the rainfall. The area is used for cropping usually for two years and left as fallow until the next jhum cycle. With the increase in the population demand for food has led to increase in land use resulting in decrease of fallow period. Farmers are now growing more food crops in a relatively smaller area to cope with the present demand (Fig. 1). However, productivity of land and crops has declined in the recent past due to over exploitation 2. Now measures have been taken to increase the land productivity and crop yields by including an annual leguminous crop cover during the cropping year. In Makonglemba sub-division, the cereal crops contribute about 67%, pulses 18%, oilseeds 9% and tuber 6% of the total crop area (Fig. 2). This indicates that the farmers prefer more of the cereals than other crops as these crops are grown mainly for self consumption, the marketability of the other crops like pulses, oilseeds and tuber are not well established which discourages the cultivator to go for these crops. In Tuli sub-division, the cereals contributes about 73% of the total crop area followed by pulses and oilseeds contributing about 10% each and tuber 7%, (Fig. 3). Among the three sub divisions, the cereal crop area was found highest in Tuli. In case of Mokokchung Sadar, the scenario was different; the farmer goes for proportionate area for cultivation though the preference goes to cereals crops. It was also found that the cultivation of other crops was not only for the self-consumption but also for sale during the peak seasons. The cereal crops contribute about 57%, pulses 27%, tuber 12% and oilseeds 5% of the total cultivation area (Fig. 4). Comparisons were made about the productivity of the various crops under the three sub-divisions and results are as follows: Cereals crops The productivity of cereals is highest in case of Mokokchung Sadar 20.51q/ha (Fig. 5). There was not much variation in the productivity of the cereal crops in all the three sub-divisions. Cereal crop covers the major portion of the crop field. Pulses The productivity of the pulses was highest in case of Tuli sub-division q/ha, followed by Mokokchung Sadar q/ha (Fig. 6). Oilseeds The productivity of oilseeds varied very little among the three sub-divisions; the highest being Mokokchung Sadar 8.38 q/ha (Fig. 7). These oilseeds are grown mainly in small areas as compared to the other food crops like cereals and pulses. These crops are cultivated mainly for their self-consumption. Tuber crops When compared the productivity of various crops, it was found that the productivity of tuber crops was the highest ( q/ha) in the whole sample area (Fig. 8). Among the three sub-divisions, the productivity in Mokokchung Sadar was the highest ( q/ha). These tuber crops are cultivated not only for their consumption but also used as fodder for the cattle. The increase in the productivity is due to cropping with the other leguminous and other cultural practices like regular hoeing and removal of weeds, the cut materials are used as mulching which prevents the loss of soil moisture, soil erosion and when decomposed improves the soil fertility. It was also observed that unlike other crops, these tuber crops are grown by maintaining a specific distance about 1 m

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5 354 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE VOL 9, No.2, APRIL 2010 the various crop productions is well known. The traditional method of cultivation coupled with the scientific innovation and modification boost its productivity. Information about the various diseases and their control measures are also well known, whereas, this advantage is not observed in the other two sub-divisions. Though the crops are produced mainly for the self consumption, during the peak season some food crops like maize, tubers and vegetables are sold in the market to earn some additional income 3. The market is also well developed and approachable in case of Mokokchung Sadar where as, the other two sub-divisions the marketability of their products is a big problem which discourages them to go for the cultivation of these crops in lager quantities. between the two crops, this adds to its productivity as there is less chances of competition for the nutrients between the two crops 4. The tuber crops are grown usually in the lower side in case of slopping land and these crops acts as a barrier for the soil erosion and entrapped the loss of nutrients from the higher slope. The productivity for cereals, tubers and oil seeds were higher under Mokokchung Sadar as compared to the other two sub-divisions, (Fig. 9). The most important reason being that Mokokchung Sadar is nearest to the district HQ and the information about Acknowledgement Authors are thankful to the officers of agriculture and forests departments for their help and cooperation. References 1 Anonymous, Managing Agrobiodiversity, Framers Changing Perspectives and Institutional Responses in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region, (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute), Norman MJT, Pearson CJ & Searle PGE, Tropical food crops in their environment, 2 nd edn, (Cambridge University Press), Anonymous, Building upon Traditional Agriculture in Nagaland, India, (Nagaland Environmental Protection and Economic Development and International Institute of Rural Reconstruction), Anonymous, Handbook of Agriculture, (ICAR, New Delhi), 1997.