CROPPING PATTERN OF NORTH EAST INDIA: AN APPRAISAL

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1 AMERICAN RESEARCH THOUGHTS ISSN: X Volume 1 Issue 1 November 2014 Available online at: CROPPING PATTERN OF NORTH EAST INDIA: AN APPRAISAL Lh. Seitinthang Research Scholar, Department of Geography, Manipur University, India Abstract: The North Eastern Region is characterised with diversified agro-climatic condition, different soil types, and irregular physical features and the region is also lagging behind in development. Before the introduction of Green Revolution in India, the North Eastern Region is one of the dominant supporters of the country s foods production. But now the region is seeping down to the bottom level and has started importing agricultural products from the main land of the country. The agricultural practices of North East India are of two types- (i) Shifting cultivation, and (ii) Settled or plains agriculture. About three-fourths of her population, depends on agriculture and other allied activities. Rice and maize are the leading crops in both hilly regions and plain areas supporting food to the populace. The modern agricultural inputs used in agriculture are comparatively low. The present study explores the change of Cropping Pattern in the region based on secondary data. Key words: North East India; Cropping Patterns; Crop Combination; Food grains; Physical Factors. INTRODUCTION Agriculture is one of the basic sources of human life supporting foods, nutrients etc., of their daily needs. Agriculture development is basically a function of six elements (6 I s), viz, institutions (including land tenure, R&D, training, marketing, credit, stock exchange in agricultural goods, etc.), infrastructure (including power, irrigation, cold storage, transport, etc.), investment, inputs (seed, fertilizers, etc.), incentives and information (on technology, prices, costs, quality, etc.). Agricultural reform programme should take into account these elements (Neog, 2006). Natural resource base wise, the farmers in the hills and the plains of the region can specialise in mutually complementary cropping patterns. In plain areas, which are better suited by the HYV seed- fertiliser technology, intensive use of better inputs with improved water 488

2 management can greatly enhance production of food grains. Hills, being endowed with agro-climatic conditions for horticulture and other high value crops, can exploit the potentials of such commercial crops. The challenge therefore is provision of the infrastructure and the necessary organisational support, and putting in place the right institutions for converting such technical possibility to a socio-economic reality (Bezbaruah, 2008). India occupies 63% rainfed agriculture land, where agricultural systems are complex, diverse and risk prone. National agriculture Policy 2000 of India underlined the need for diversification in agriculture with the promotion of integrated development of rainfed areas on watershed basis. Watershed based technology of land use is highly significant in hill agriculture for sustained food production (Sonowal, Bhatt, Satapathy and Baishya, 2006). Before the introduction of Green Revolution, the North Eastern Region is one of the dominant supporters of the country s food productions. But with the coming of modern technology, Green Revolution, the region seeping down to the bottom level is lagging behind and has started importing agricultural products from the main land of the country. METHOD The present work is mostly based on the primary and secondary data collected from diverse published and unpublished sources in a decade of The cropping pattern changes in North East India is tried to be netted from relevant analysis of secondary data. The statistical techniques of Weaver s method of Crop combination is used for analysis. The measurement of crop combination is delimiting agricultural region on the basis of multiple patterns. This method was first developed by J.C. Weaver who recognised that in almost every farming system which has several crops are grown in combination and rarely a single crop assume complete dominance. By using the following three formulas; Weaver s Crop Combination (WCC) = Mean ( ) = Standard Deviation (SD) = 489

3 STUDY AREA The North East India excluding Sikkim consist of the Seven Sister s States having an area of Sq.km covered 7.9% of the total geographical space of the country with the coordinates of N to N latitude and 88 0 E to E longitude (Fig.1). Politicoeconomically, it is a true frontier region of strategic importance for the country as nearly 90% of its borders form India s international boundaries with over 2000 km of border with Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. It is connected with the rest of the India through a narrow corridor known as Chicken s neck in North Bengal. Fig.1. Location Map of North East India. Source: Prepared by Author. Each state is a traveller s paradise, with picturesque hills and green meadows which shelters thousands of species of flora and fauna. Topographically, about 70% of the region is hilly, and the topography varies within each state. While Plains of the region are mainly made up of separate land masses- Brahmaputra valley and Barak valley in Assam and the Tripura plains in the south, Imphal valley in the south-east of the region. 490

4 Due to rapid changes in topography, the region has distinct and rapid changes of climatic conditions within a short period. The plains of Brahmaputra and Barak in Assam, the Imphal valley and Tripura plain have alluvial soil while in the hills have red soil over lower altitudes, laterite soil over medium altitude and higher mountains have mountain soils. About 54% of the total geographical area of the region is covered by forests although there are inter-state variations. CROPPING PATTERN Agriculture condition in North East India is basically influenced by the physiographic conditions having varied topography, different soil types and uneven distribution of Temperatures and rainfall etc. About 70% area of the region is mountains and hills having red soil, lateritic soil and mountain soil which cover mostly of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim and half of Tripura, one-fifth of Assam and nine-tenth of Manipur, while the plains of the region with alluvial soils are The Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, the Barak Valley and the Tripura plains in the south, the Imphal Valley of Manipur comprising only 10% area of the state. Based on these physical features the agriculture practices of the region are of two types- (i) Shifting cultivation (Jhum), and (ii) Settled or plains agriculture (Fig.2). As a large part of the region is hilly features settled by different tribal groups, shifting cultivation is the utmost customary which is the rudimentary life supportive subsistence intensive agriculture. Shifting cultivation is commonly practising in hilly red soil and laterite soil region. They are mostly practise by tribal in all districts of Arunachal Pradesh, hill region of southern Assam, mountain areas of Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Kukis and Nagas in the hill regions of the Manipur. On the other hand, the plain or settled agriculture is generally practise in fertile alluvial plains of Assam, plain areas of south eastern Nagaland, Brahmaputra plain in southern Arunachal Pradesh, Barak Valley and some plain areas of Tripura and the central Imphal Valley of Manipur. About three-fourths of her population, on the average, depend on agriculture and other allied activities and 40 per cent of Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) comes from agricultural sector (Goswami, 2006). Since the region is dominated by the tribal population, reference may be made to the tribal method of cultivation lakh hectares (83.73%) of the land in the region is under shifting cultivation or Jhuming, a practice once considered as a farmer friendly has now become an ecological menace ( 491

5 Dutta and Pradhan, 2006). The cropping pattern of North East India is not much similar to the other parts of the country. About 70% of the area is a hilly region taking manual based intensive agriculture, Crop combination in the region is mostly multiple systems of rice, maize, wheat, and oilseeds which are the main crops in fertile alluvial plains of the whole areas of the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, southern parts of Tripura, Imphal valley of Manipur and Barak valley. Fig.2. Agriculture System in North East India. Source: Prepared by Author. The region produces nearly 5 million tons of food grains as against a demand of 6.7 million tons. This imbalance in food-security remains unabated due to slow growth in production as well as productivity of major food grains (Barah, 2006). Food grains In , there are two different types of crop combination system found in the region having different crops in each state. The three (3) crops combination system of rice, maize and potato are found in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; rice, maize and vegetables in Meghalaya and Tripura; rice, maize and oilseeds crop combination in Manipur. While five crop combination systems of rice, maize, potato, vegetables and 492

6 oilseeds is practiced in Assam, a combination of rice, maize, pulses, oilseed and vegetables is found in Mizoram (Fig.3). Fig.3. Major Crop Combination in North East India in Source: Prepared by Author. Assam leads the whole North Eastern states by sharing 2755 thousand hectares and 67.6 per cent of food grains production. Tripura is the next largest state in area and production of food grains with a share of thousand hectares and 10 per cent of the region s Products. Nagaland follows Tripura with an area of thousand hectares while Manipur is the third largest producer with a share of 6.7 per cent to the region s product (Table.1). Influence by the application of modern tools and techniques, people think not only for subsistence 493

7 State Rank Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Tripura Table. I. Rank wise area and production of food grains in NER ( and ). agriculture which depend only on manual family labour, they need surplus products for commercial activity by applying modern tools and techniques, High Yielding Variety Seeds (HYVs), chemical fertilizers and biocides, Meghalaya and Tripura state become more specialised in from three crop combination to two crop combination of rice and maize while Assam and Mizoram state also practised from five crop combination in to three crop combination of rice, potato, vegetables in Assam and rice, maize and pulses in Mizoram respectively. In the same way, Manipur and Nagaland are found change from three crops Combination to four crop combinations of rice, maize, oilseed and pulses in Manipur and rice, maize, potato and vegetables in Nagaland in respectively (Fig.4). As the state of Arunachal Pradesh is hilly terrains which lack the infrastructure facilities, the cropping systems is not much change. Rice continued to remain the dominant crop in the region supporting foodstuffs to the populace in the low lying plain areas and in hilly regions. It is mainly grown in fertile alluvial plain areas in the system of Settled or Wetland cultivation in Assam, Imphal Valley of Manipur, plain areas of Nagaland, Barak valley of Tripura and Brahmaputra valley of Arunachal Pradesh and in the system of Jhuming in most of the hill areas. 494

8 Fig.4. Major Crop Combination in North East India in Source: Prepared by Author. Rice is a three-season crop, viz, autumn (Ahu), winter (Sali) and summer (Boro) in Assam. A notable change in rice production system is the introduction of Boro rice in Assam. It is a low risk option with yield 30 to 40 per cent higher than the normal yield. It has increased cropping intensity, leading to a situation of surplus production in Assam (Barah, 2006). Maize is the next important crop for all the hill states except Tripura and Assam having the character of fertile alluvial plain which has good soil for growing crops like rice, wheat, oilseeds, and tea supporting the whole North Eastern Region. As rice is one of the dominant and staple food crops in the region, it share with the area of thousand hectares in 2001, which decreased to thousand hectares and products of thousand tonnes in 2001, increased to thousand tonnes in the year Among the North Eastern states, as Assam is the largest plain area having most fertile alluvial soil occupying ninth tenth of the state and 70% areal extent of the region. There are blameless means of transport and communication 495

9 system, advantage of the application of new tools and techniques, chemical fertilizers, biocides, irrigation facilities, marketing, huge and cheap manual labour and financial facilities. They have noble climatic situation of required amount of precipitation and temperature. The state rank top in area as well as in the production, as they have fertile alluvial plains of Brahmaputra great plain, sharing 2537 thousand hectares ( 74.9 per cent) in 2001 but decreased to thousand hectares (74.3 per cent) in The production also increased from 3854 thousand tonne (70.1 per cent) in 2001 to thousand tonne (72.2 per cent) in The Tripura state having vast alluvial plains is the next, shared the agricultural area of 7.2 per cent in 2001 and 7.1 in 2010 of area and production of rice by 10.6 per cent, followed by Manipur shares 4.8 per cent in 2001 and 5 per cent in 2010 of area, and production by 7 per cent in 2001 which decreased to 5.3 per cent in Maize is the second most important and staple food crops in the North Eastern region with the area of thousand hectares in 2001 but increased to thousand hectares in 2010, producing thousand tonne in 2001 and increased to 199 thousand tonne in Nagaland is a hilly Tropical evergreen and deciduous climatic state which is good for the growing of maize with red soil, huge atmospheric moisture and humus content of the soil. It has the largest area and production of maize crops sharing 30.7 per cent in 2001 and increased to 41.6 per cent to the region with 31.3 per cent in 2001 and increased to 36.7 per cent of production in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are the next major producing states in the region contributing 30.2 per cent and 13.2 per cent respectively. Assam is synonymous with tea both at domestic and global level. Tea as an economic venture has flourished in Assam since 1840 and has been the most important aspect of revenue generation till date. Dibrugarh district has the highest Production followed by Jorhat, Sibsagar, Tinsukia and Golaghat. Over 90% of the gardens are located in these five districts (Chakraborty, 2006). CONCLUSION The Cropping pattern of North East India is tending towards specialisation of rice cultivation in the Kharif season and wheat, maize and gram in the Rabi season. Rice and Wheat are the two principle crops in the respective season (Saharia, 2006). Assam is the most dominant producer of Wheat and rice while Nagaland is the largest producer of maize. Since rice and maize farming is the mainstay of agriculture, no apparent improvement (from 2001 to 2010) in land productivity. Environmental constraints and 496

10 natural resources are dominant factors affecting crop combination with very low and unequal distribution of modern infrastructures and facilities in the region. Cultural and physical influences are responsible for the changes in North-East India. The region needs infrastructural development- transportation, inputs, credit supply, irrigation, storage, marketing and technological development for different agro-ecological situations- upland, hill areas and flood affected areas. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This paper is a slice of research work under the supervisor of Prof. N. Deva Singh, Department of Geography, Manipur University funded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Human Resource Development (HRD), New Delhi. I wish to thank Dr. H. Chongloi for his intellectual guidance and comments. REFERENCES 1. Barah B.C. (2006) Agricultural Development in North-East India: Challenges and Opportunities. National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, Library Avenue, Pusa, New Delhi, India. 2. Bezbaruah M.P. (2008) Techno-Economic and Institutional Factors in the Development Dynamics of Agriculture in North East India. In Bagchi K.K. (Ed). Agricultural Development in North East India: Issues and Options. (pp ). Abhijeet Publications. 2/46 Tukhmeerpur Extension, Delhi. 3. Chakraborty, Gorky. (2006) Agriculture in Assam: Emerging Micro-Trends. In Deb J. Bimal and Ray Datta B. (Eds.). Changing Agricultural Scenario in North East India. Concept Publishing Company, A/15-16, New Delhi, India: Commercial Block, Mohan Garden. 4. Dutta, P.C. and Pradhan, B.C. (2006) Changing Agricultural Scenario in North East India. In Deb Bimal J. and Ray B. Datta (Eds). Changing Agricultural Scenario in North East India. New Delhi, India: Concept Publishing Company. A/15-16, Commercial Block, Mohan Garden. 5. Goswami Pranay Jyoti (2006) Changing Agricultural Scenario in North East India in the Era of Globalisation. In Deb Bimal J. and Ray B. Datta. (Eds) Changing 497

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