SHILLONG, Sept 2 � Interventions by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in developing alternative farming systems to address the detrimental effects of jhum cultivation (slash-and-burn method) practiced by the tribals in the North East, is slowly yielding results, an official said today.
The interventions whereby recommendations for introduction of high yielding varieties of crops and other cash crops were introduced as part of the ICAR�s flagship programme on jhum improvement on participatory mode across the NE region.
�We are seeing viable results after our intervention in certain villages like in Sonidan in Ri-Bhoi district,� project principal investigator and Principal Scientist (Forestry) A Venkatesh told PTI.
He said there were tangible results in the village where nearly 1,000 farmers in the village have benefitted directly from the programme and 51 hactares of land was covered.
Sonidan will act as a model village for jhum improvement, he added.
Stating that over six lakh tribal families depend upon jhum cultivation as their main source of livelihood in the entire region, the official said, 80 per cent of areas under jhum in the country is in the region. � PTI
