Traditional Agriculture for Sustainable Development

A Satoyama Approach

- Aniruddh Soni, Associate Fellow & AC, Land Resources Division, TERI, New Delhi.

In this article, Aniruddh Soni says that TERI implemented a three-year project titled "A Tradition in Transition: Understanding the Role of Shifting Cultivation for Sustainable Development in Northeast India" supported by Japan Fund for Global Environment of the Environmental Restoration & Conservation Agency (JFGE). Through this project, TERI intends to compile the traditional practices and wisdom associated with this form of traditional agriculture and make a strong case that Jhum cultivation if practiced traditionally (with longer Jhum cycles) is a fine example of how a production system can be adapted to an ecological niche.

Traditional agriculture pertaining to shifting cultivation (locally known as Jhum cultivation) is being practised in Northeast India including Nagaland since time immemorial. However, with modernization and changing Naga society, this tradition is currently in transition and hence it becomes imperative to understand the role of shifting cultivation for sustainable development in the present context.