Agricultural backwardness analysis of north-east india: a cause of concern for national development

The North East Region (NER) constitutes eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Its population of 45 million (2011 Census) constitutes 3.8% of country’s population. Rural Population of 327.71 lakh is 84.34% in NER as against 72.20% in India. Agriculture provides livelihood support to 70 % of region’s population. It produces only 1.5 % of country’s food grain production and continues to be a net importer of food grains even for its own consumption. Agricultural land including fallow is 22.20% as against 54.47% in India. Cultivators [41.61%] and agricultural labourers [13.07%] together constitute the majority of the workforce as against 31.65 % and 26.55% respectively in India. Land is held almost by all. Share of marginal and small farmers is 78.92 %.Land distribution is mostly egalitarian rooted in the principle of community way of living and sharing. This region is inhabited by 100 major tribes and immigrant communities. Due to topographical and environmental conditions this region is rich in biodiversity and is one of the hot spots of the world. Mostly tribal people and immigrant communities depend on farming and forest products for their food and livelihood. Local people have been maintaining traditional agricultural practices, agro-biodiversity and knowledge. Generally farmers practice jhum or shifting agricultural system with other sedentary agricultural practices. Other agricultural system are wet rice cultivation which is practiced in valley land and Aji system where rice and millet are cultivated with fish in deep water. In valley land mono cropping as well as mixed cropping is practiced by farmers. Terrace land cultivation system introduced by government could not get wide acceptability by farmers due to high input of labour and fertilizers. Farmers also have cultivation systems such as home-gardens and agro-forestry that link their families to the forest ecosystem. Recently government and nongovernmental organization have introduced agri-horti-silvipastoral system for good harvest and yield. The current scenario of agriculture, horticulture, irrigation, institutional infrastructure-suggests strategic action plan is needed to accelerate the process of agricultural development.