Traditional Knowledge for Sustainable Management of Soils - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 325

TABLE 13.9
Best-Performing Jhum Cycles in Northeast India

Jhum Cycle (Years) Best-Performing Crops

30 Rice, maize

10 Sesame, kenaf, cassava, tuber crops

5 Banana, leafy vegetables

Source: Toky, O.P., and P.S. Ramakrishnan, J. Ecol. , 71, 735-745, 1983.

slope, which will be nutrient-rich microsites, while in the upper reaches, C 4 species
with high nutrient use efficiency area are grown, as these areas are nutrient-poor
microsites. Presently, the jhum cycles are reduced from 30 years to as low as 5 years.
Toky and Ramakrishnan (1983) studied the performance of selected crops under
jhum cycles of 30, 10, and 5 years. The best-performing different cycles are given
in Table 13.9. Ramakrishnan (1992) also found that as the jhum cycle is now limited
to a lesser number of years, the farmers are choosing cassava, tuber crops, banana,
leafy vegetables, and early rice to meet their domestic needs.

13.5.6 w oMen and J huM C ultivation
As procreators of life, women in tribal and traditional cultures over the centuries
have had highly significant interactions with the environment. They have contrib-
uted to the management, conservation, and use of natural resources such as soil,
water, and biodiversity. Women in Mizoram (India) practice jhum (shifting culti-
vation) ( Figure 13.8 ). Jhum is a farming method where land is extensively used to
cultivate crops for a few years and then left fallow for few years so that it recuperates
its nutritional level, and then it is used again (Hmingthanzuali and Pande 2009).
This practice is followed by majority of the population, amounting to 52%. Women
carry out all kinds of operations in jhum cultivation, while men do not. During the
traditional period, all the members of the community are involved in jhum cultiva-
tion. The method of jhum cultivation demands strenuous labor on the part of men
and women in the field. According to one of the Mizo mythological stories, a woman
named Lalmanga Nu knew that June 21 or 22 was the longest day in the year, so she
would arrange for her villagers to work on her jhum land on that day in order to get
as much out of them as possible (Hmingthanzuali and Pande 2009).

13.5.7 S laSh - and -B urn a GriCulture
Arunachal Pradesh, in the northeastern part of India, which constitutes a large num-
ber of tribes and subtribes, depends largely on the age-old traditional slash-and-burn
farming system, which has been maintained as a part of the traditional livelihood
system over generations, mostly on hillslopes (Tangjang 2009). Slash-and-burn
agriculture refers to any temporally and spatially cyclical agricultural system that
involves slashing of forests, usually with the assistance of fire, followed by phases of