Importance of Socio-economic Factors and Role of Incentives in Controlling Shifting Cultivation in Northeast India

Shifting cultivation in Northeast india in pre-independence era was looked upon as only a forest problem causing floods and siltations. It was put in its proper perspective as a land use and socio-economic problem only after independence. The system now provides mere sub-standard subsistence. Neither it is any more compatile with present day social goals. The yield under shifting agriculture has dwindled beacause of much shorter fallow perod whereas the population has greatly increased. From the early fifties, the Government of Assam which then included the States of nagaland and Maghalaya and the Union territory of mizoram, has been undertaking projects to cashtackle the problem first through its forest Department and later, by establishing the Soil Conservation Department. The approach was based on steepness of slope; terrace cultivation was recommende for gently sloping land and afforestation for the very steep sllopes . For commercials crops - coffee, rubber, cashew-nut and black pepper were introduced in the moderate slopes. Because of the promising performance(expext cashew-nut), large area were sought to be converted to commercial plantaion through very liberal cash subsidies. Even a Corporation was formed for creating coffee and rubber estates. Large area were also reclaimed and terraced Departmentally for permanent agriculture. But the reults are far from commensurate with money spent and time elapsed. The general tribal population of Northeast India has yet to accept the alternatives though these are based on sound land-capability principles. The reasons for such failure are now seen as over ambitious targets, too generous cash subsidies which lured the farmers initially, land development programmes not based on identification of farmers willing to accept this new form of agriculture, processing and marketing difficulties of the newlly introduced commercial crops and many other socio-economic factors. These failures also have made Government sponsored programmes loss credibility. To prevent such costly failures, socio-economic surveys are needed prior to project formulation and decision on targets. Objectives of such surveys should br to identify development, aspiration, perception of forestry and soil conservation, attituded towards recommende practices, constraints in adoption of advocated measures, role of incentives and necessity of infra-structures. The forestry components plantations,. Companion projects for roads, vocational training etc, are also essential. The age-old system of shifting agriculture cannot be replaced overnight. Programmes based on people's attitude, perception, capacity and preferences will only succeed. A policy of 'hasten slowly' is expected to achieve the objectives better than over-ambitious schemes which ignore socio-economic constraints.