Land

Land Resources in the North Eastern Region:

 
The overall land to man ratio in the region is quite favorable on account of lower density of population. The average size of operational holding is however, quite small in view of majority of area being hilly. This has also led to about 78 % of the farmers in the region belongs to small and marginal category. The high incidence of shifting cultivation, paucity of land actually available for cultivation, pre-dominance of small and marginal farmers besides small holdings are some of the obstacles in raising agricultural production in the region, because the agricultural scene of the region due to these factors, has not been found much conducive to adoption of improved agricultural technologies such as use of high yielding varieties, chemical fertilizers, modern implements etc.

Land use: The NER of India covers an area of 2.62 lakh sq.km. It accounts for 7.9% of total geographical area of the country. With a total population of 39 million (2001), it accounts for 3.8% of total population of India. The detailed land utilisation statistics is given below. In spite of covering 7.9% of the country’s total geographical area, NER produces only 1.5 % of the country’s total food grain production .
 

Statewise Land use statistics of  North Eastern Region:

Arunachal Pradesh, 2001 Census

(Area in Hect.)

Source: Statistical Abstract of Arunachal Pradesh 2006

Assam, 2003-04

(Area in Hect.)

Source: Statistical Handbook of Assam 2007

Manipur, 2000-2001

(area in hectares)

Source: Economic Survey Manipur 2007-08

Meghalaya, 2004-05 (P)

(Hectare)

Source: Statistical Handbook Meghalaya 2007

Mizoram, 2007-08

(Area in Thousand Hectare)

Source: Statistical Handbook Mizoram 2008

Nagaland, 2006

(in Hectares)

Source: Statistical Handbook of Nagaland 2006

Sikkim, 2005-06 (as on 30.06.2007)

(Area in Hect.)

Source: A Statistical Profile 2006-07

Number and Area of Operational Land Holding (All size)

(Number in 000 units)
(Area in 000 Hectares)

Source : Basic Statistics of NER 2006
 

From the characteristics mentioned above, it could be inferred that in the northeastern region around 78% of the land area could not be utilized partly for raising crops of any type, as against around 45% in the country. Thus, when around 78% of the total land area of the region is not available for cultivation it leaves around 22% of the land area of the region for possible use for agricultural purpose as against the all India availability of around 55%. The availability of land for agriculture in the region is further reduced by the fallow land, both current and long duration, which account for about 4% of the reporting area of the region. This proportion of fallow land is, however, less than the similar proportion (11%) at the all India level. This explains as to how the geo-physical limitations restrict more area being put to agricultural use in the NER. As the diversion of forest land in favour of agriculture is evident from the fast depleting forest, leading to disastrous sequential effects, the only way left to bring more area under cultivation is to minimise the cultivable waste land and also by bringing long duration fallow lands of agriculture. Another important feature of land use in the region is that almost 21 % of total land area is barren and uncultivable. This could be partly brought under afforestation through suitable programmes. The limited availability of land for cultivation thus suggests that for raising the agricultural production in the region, the emphasis have to be on raising the productivity by effective utilisation of water-seed-fertilizer technology.
 

Two distinct types of agriculture are practiced in the NE region: ‘Settled’ and ‘Shifting’ or ‘Jhum’. Settled agriculture is practiced in the plains, valleys, foothills and on terraced land on hill slopes. Jhum cultivation, which is practiced by the tribals in the hill areas of all the northeastern states. The area under jhum cultivation in the NE is estimated at 30 % of the total area under settled agriculture. Among the individual states, Nagaland has the largest area under jhum cultivation. Around 101 thousand hectares of the state, or about 35 % of its forest land, are under jhum. The number of families dependent on jhum is also highest in Nagaland. Apart from Nagaland, jhum cultivation has also taken a heavy toll on forests of Manipur and Meghalaya.

About 25 % of the forest land in these states have been cleared for jhum. In Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, about 4 % of the forest land is currently under jhum cultivation. With the Government doubling its efforts to convert the ‘jhumias’ to settled cultivators over the last few years, the total area under jhum cultivation in the NE region has come down significantly. In 1974, the total forest land under jhum in the NE region was 2.7 million hectares, but by the mid-eighties the figure had come down to 1.4 million hectares. At the same time, however, forest area devoted to jhum has increased in Manipur from 100,000 hectares to 360,000 hectares. The number of families practicing jhum in this state has also significantly increased. This is true even of Mizoram and Nagaland where the total forest area under jhum has, however, decreased. The irrigation potential of the NE states is considerable.
 

According to the Central Water Commission, the total irrigation potential of the NE region is estimated at 1083.40 cu. km. (1064.79-cu.km. surface water and 18.61 cu. km. ground water). In other words, the total irrigation potential of the NE states is estimated at 36.65 lakh hectares. Among all the NE States, Assam has the highest irrigation potential of 2670 cu. km. However, both in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the ratio of gross irrigated area to gross cropped area has declined over the years.
 

The ratio has remained constant for Meghalaya, while it has gone up in Nagaland and Mizoram, and improved marginally in Tripura and Manipur. Decline in the gross irrigated area to the gross cropped area in the NE region as a whole indicates that many secondary crops are no longer irrigated due to absence of adequate facilities. At the same time, if the region's irrigation potential is suitably harnessed, adequate irrigation facilities can be provided for the entire cropped area of the region.
 

In Arunachal Pradesh the ratio of net irrigated area to net sown area has not changed much over the last twenty years. In 1991-92, Manipur had an impressive 46.40 % of its net sown area under irrigation, which was higher than the national average of 33.30 %. In Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland too there has been growth in irrigation over the years.
 

Significantly, in the NE region there is considerable difference between the ratio of gross irrigated area to the gross cropped area, and net irrigated area to the net sown area. This is because most of the agricultural land in the region receives irrigation water only once a year. Soil: Alluvial soils stretch over a belt, 600 km. long and 50-100 km. wide along the Brahmaputra river. The soils are deficient in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and humus but rich in Potash and lime. The soil of Assam varies from new alluvium of medium feature in the Lakhimpur district and clay to fairly heavy clay in the Cachar district. In other areas it varies mostly between sand and loam. The soil acidity ranges between strongly acidic to near neutral. Response of the soil to manures and balanced fertilizer is good.
 

The soils of Manipur are mostly ferruginous red soil, land mountain and hill soils. Ferruginous red soil is poor in lime, potash and iron oxide and is also uniformly low in phosphorous content. The mountain and hill soils have about 1 to 3 % of organic carbon.The soil of Meghalaya is of red loam and laterite soils. Red loams are more dominant in the Northern Border Areas and Central Plateau. Soils of the Southern Border Areas tend to be sandy, gravelly due to heavy rainfall.
 

Nagaland soils are generally fertile and responsive to fertilizer application. They are acidic, rich in organic carbon but very poor in available phosphate and potash content.
 

The soils of Tripura are mainly laterite in hills and hillocks and alluvial in flat lands.
 

Hilly soils of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are almost same as found in other hill states of the North Eastern Region. These soils are red or yellow in colour and are acidic in character. The organic carbon of the surface soil is about 1 to 3 % and the pit is between 4.5 to 6.5 %.

Data Source: (i) Development of the North East Region-Problems and Prospects, by-Anand Kumar Yogi; (ii) Report on NEDFi's Business Plan, by-Tata Consultancy Service; (iii) Inventory of Viable Technologies Based on Resources of North Eastern Region of Assam Productivity Council; (iv) CMIE Report, Agriculture, March 2006.