General Knowledge - Indian Geography - Discussion

Assam is the plainest state, in the entire North-Eastern state, so there is no Jhum cultivation in Assam, the answer is totally wrong, it could be the right answer if the state of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland were mentioned.

It is not practising in Assam then why that option is correct? explain, please.

Jhum cultivation is mostly practiced in north east region.

No, because It is not practiced mostly practice in Assam. Please, anyone explain me in detail.

Jhum or Jhoom cultivation is a local name for slash and burn agriculture practiced by the tribal groups in the northeastern states of India like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and also in the districts of Bangladesh like Khagrachari and Sylhet. This system involves clearing a piece of land by setting fire or clear felling and using the area for growing crops of agricultural importance such as upland rice, vegetables or fruits. After a few cycles, the land loses fertility and a new area is chosen.

It is also known as Jhum cultivation and it is largely practised in northeastern states of India, though it is practiced in some part I Assam but not largely as done in other northeastern states like Arunachal pradesh. So Answer should be B.

Jhum cultivation is shifting cultivation in India.

Jhum cultivation are largely found in hilly area of Arunachal Pradesh not in Assam. It is a most popular cultivation ever practice in hilly region of north east.

Jhum cultivation - An article in Times of India.

ANAGAR: ArunachalPradesh has made a significant progress in gradually doing away with the age-old practice of Jhum cultivation or shifting cultivation, which degrades the environment.

Jhum cultivation, also known as the slash and burn agriculture, is the process of growing crops by first clearing the land of trees and vegetation and burning them thereafter. The burnt soil contains potash which increases the nutrient content of the soil.

In line with the Centre's stress on conventional methods of cultivation, the state with a 72 percent forest cover had been able to reduce the total area under Jhum cultivation from 1, 10, 000 hectares to 84, 000 hectares in the last 10 years, the state's agriculture department said.

Agriculture department adviser A K Purkayastha said, "About 8.4 lakh metric tonnes of biomass gets lost due to burning of trees resulting in a huge emission of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and other gases. The emission has been reduced by taking up rice and maize cultivation in terraces".

Purkyastha said that the harmful effects of Jhum cultivation included rapid soil erosion due to deforestation of hill tops and slopes and high runoff velocity and siltation of reservoirs, rivulets and valleys.

"The harmful effects also resulted in the rapid decrease of Jhum productivity due to removal of top soil by runoff water and very little time to recuperate soil fertility due to reduced Jhum cycle", he pointed out.

Sixteen districts encompassing the eight North-eastern states, including West Kameng and East Siang districts in Arunachal Pradesh, are among the recently-identified 100 most climate-sensitive districts of the country.

Jhum (Shifting) cultivation is a primitive practice of cultivation in States of North Eastern Hill Region of India and people involved in such cultivation are called Jhumia. The practice involves clearing vegetative/forest cover on land/slopes of hills, drying and burning it before onset of monsoon and cropping on it thereafter.

After harvest, this land is left fallow and vegetative regeneration is allowed on it till the plot becomes reusable for same purpose in a cycle. Meanwhile, the process is repeated in a new plot designated for Jhum cultivation during next year. Initially, when Jhum cycle was long and ranged from 20 to 30 years, the process worked well.

However, with increase in human population and increasing pressure on land, Jhum cycle reduced progressively (5-6 years) causing problem of land degradation and threat to ecology of the region at large.