How To Bring Peace To Manipur's Troubled Land
How To Bring Peace To Manipur's Troubled Land
How To Bring Peace To Manipur's Troubled Land
If Manipuris' incomes rise, violence will subside. Answer lies in easy-to-adapt changes in farming methods. Solutions can be found from other N-E states
Patchy attempts at reducing poverty in Manipur hills - by adopting and com- mercialising advanced technology have only worsened the economy, a key issue behind the rift today. Poverty in Manipur valley and hills, particularly in border areas with Myanmar, has been an area of concern for years.
Slash, burn & lose | Agriculture is still rural economy's driving force; the plains community is economically better off. Hill tribes mostly practise slash and burn/ shifting cultivation, mainly growing upland rice for subsistence of household food and nutrition security. Underground activities by a section of population, extortion and sporadic violence triggered social tensions. Law and order deteriorated between May and October 2023, with more than 175 fatalities-all victims of violence. Even peace initiatives by Centre and civil authorities could not control the violence. Bottomline was that traditional agriculture with very poor production and productivity could not sustain livelihoods in Manipur's hills.
No tech transfer Shifting-cultivation or jhum causes land degradation. Farm tech, outcomes of GOI research initiatives (by ICAR, CAUS, DBT's IBSD), could not be transferred to the people. All-out systems to replace jhum practices were not sustainable. Introducing horticulture crops also didn't bring desired economic changes. Social mobilisation such as forming jhum self-help groups (SHG), capacity building, even micro-credit support via loans to SHGs did not work out. Can't Junk jhum | ICAR research complex, Meghalaya, reported in its studies-of four decades of agricultural research in northeast hill region (NEH) - that shifting cultivation could not be made into a non-viable option for investment, considering low economic status and poor resource base of jhum cultivators. Thus, focus must be on improving shifting-cultivation rather than trying to completely wean cultivators away from it.
Making jhum better | Thus, it was prudent to attempt ways to best preserve jhum land and improve jhum farm productivity especially in mid-hills subtropical climate zone. Some tech is ready for commercialisation. Field studies showed Zabo system with modifications such as sharing water resources and using natural fertilizers, can be explored in various agroforestry models, with upland rice as main crop. Alder in Nagaland and sloping agriculture land tech (SALT) models in Mizoram are more remunerative. Meghalaya studies suggest that jhum farming with continuous cropping is viable. Crops such as potato, pineapple, ginger, tomato, kiwi, turmeric get good prices.
Livelihood support In July 2017, a repository of North- east agriculture was created. Soil resource maps. reported a net reduction of 1,638 sq km area under shifting cultivation just between 2014 and 2018. Shift to jhum caused large-scale deforestation and very low productivity. Manipur should look at its resource and land mana- gement. Steep slopes (more than 33") are not suitable for jhum. Smallholder tea plantations in Assam, rubber in Tripura and pineapple, banana and citrus have all been tried with success in Northeast
Small-farm winnings In Assam, Ulfa-controlled farms.have met commercial success. GOI encouraged small-holder tea cultivation to rehabilitate surrendered Ulfa members, while Tea Board helped market the produce and Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, provided the training. In Odisha, Kalahandi hunger belt' of1980s, is today state's 'rice bowl'. Assam tea today is suc-cessfully grown by smallholders in Nagaland, particu-larly in Mokokchung district and is economically re- munerative.
Find products, grow markets | Northeastern Himalayas (India, Nepal and Bhutan) are famous for Khasi Mandarin oranges. Kachai lemons of Manipur's Ukhrul region are also a great product for the market. Several government institutes, from ICAR to NABARD, along with agricultural universities have extensive action plans including micro-credit options for self-help groups that can be implemented, and farmers further trained.
Look East BIMSTEC comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand covers 21% of world population and a high-potential market. Its Poverty Plan of Action among others focuses on cooperation in agricultural and allied sectors (crops, livestock, horticulture, farm machinery and post- harvest management).India's 'Look East' policy and ever-expanding roads network fit in well for any economic cooperation initiatives. Focus should be on improving economic prospects of agriculture in Manipur hills including the Myanmar border area. It is the road to lasting peace. The writer was with ICAR
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