Jhum Cultivation is not an Evil Practice

I begin with a question "Is Jhum Cultivation an Evil Practice"? One of the Recent article published by the counter current on "Food Freedom: An Inerview with Vandana Shiva" will respond to what some people stated "Jhum Cultivation as Evil Practice" Culture is one of the important identities of the indigenous people, culture cannot be compromised or sold out to scientific technologies.

Executing scientific technologies to eradicate the culture of jhum cultivation that has been practiced since the ancient time of our indigenous people would be another catostrophy. Globalization has become an opium at hand melting the cuture of hard labour in our land. The melodious song that tunes during harvest time, return home when the sun set, proccessing to the field before sunrise has been sold. The culture of sharing has diverted to hiring. The sharpening naga dao shifted to grinders and here jhum cultivation is threathened by the recommended scientific technologies.

" Vandana Shiva: The main causes for hunger are industrial agriculture and globalised trade in food. Industrial agriculture creates hunger both by destroying the natural capital for producing food and locking farmers into debt because of its high cost of production. Globalised trade creates hunger by diverting fertile land for exports, promoting dumping and unleashing speculative forces. Industrial agriculture and globalization also contribute 40% to green house gas emissions that are leading to climate change which in turn is destroying agriculture and food security. The rules of globalisation both in the structural adjustment programmes of the world bank and the free trade rules of WTO promote industrialisation and trade liberalization. Resisting such corporate globalisation is necessary for food security and biodiversity.

As a US agriculture policy person said: “farmers must be squeezed off the land ,like the last bit of toothpaste is squeezed out of the toothpaste tube”.

Industrial agriculture actually reduces nutrition per acre since it destroys the biodiversity which maximises nutrition per acre. Industrial agriculture is artificially projected as being productive through the monoculture of the mind and a focus on the monoculture yield of handful of globally traded commodities. That is why hunger and malnutrition has grown in direct proportion to the spread of industrial agriculture. As far as genetic engineering is concerned, it is a not a yield increasing technology. It has only put Bt. toxin genes into plant or genes for resisting toxic herbicide. This has increased the yield of toxins not of food. The Union of Concerned Scientist report “Failure to Yield” and Navdanya’s reports “Seeds of Suicide” and “Biodiversity Based Productivity : A New Paradigm for Food Security” as the data has shown, genetic engineering has not contributed to the increase in production.

The promises of ‘life science’ corporations like monsanto is the misdirected idea that they would feed the world through their genetically engineered seeds and thus resulting in higher crop yields. However, the opposite has been true. They have in fact, created hunger on an unimaginable scale. Whatever higher yields they have been able to display are offset by the fact that they require massively higher inputs. Traditional farming practices have always been highly productive as they utilize a close looped cycle of animal integrated perennial and annual polycultures.

Since each of us eats everyday, food can become the site of a revolution for justice. If we say no to GM foods, if we commit ourselves to eating organic, we build another food system which is controlled by people and not by giant corporations." (countercurrent)

Jhum cultivation is a system where farmers shift their fields after harvesting crops in a single season which in other words is known as monocoping. The land after harvest is left alone without any agricultural activities for at least 5-10 years during which, the land regains its fertility and allows plants and trees to grow. The main factors for regaining the fertility of the soil during this period are diverse. The plants and trees contributes towards enriching the soil for better harvest and productivity allowing the farmers to use the soil for reclaiming sustaibalbe agricultural practices. The earthworms, regarded as “friends of the farmers” are also the major contributers in regaining natural soil fertility.. Bird litters, animal droppings, biotic activities of flora and fauna, decomposed plant debris are other natural sources for fertility of the land. Hence, the soil composition with fair amounts of major nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potash besides, creating a good soil structure makes the soil virgin in a cycle of 5-10 years period.

The cycle of cultivation, leaving it fallow and coming back to it for cultivation, is called the Jhum cycle. Traditionally, a village community owns/controls the forest land and decides on such rotational cultivation pattern. Thus the community cultivates land for its livelihood while practising conservation and taking care of the ecological balance.

It is important to state here that shifting cultivation should not be confused with slash-and-burn. Slash-and-burn is a mere land clearing method used by many people around the globe to open up forest land and use it for permanent agriculture. On the contrary, Jhum cultivation is an integrated farming system involving forestry, agriculture and strong social organisation on the part of the communities.

Jhum Cultivation that practices once a year about 1,000 sq km from the total geographical area of 16,579 sq km in Nagaland does not jeopardise the present global warming and climate changes. The 24*7 breathless industries, multinational companies, factories, automobiles, nuclear test, privatizations, etc made the accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of global warming and climate change but not the Jhum cultivation. Iincreasing temperatures; melting glaciers, sea ice and permaforst in the Artic is not because of the Jhum cultivation. Out of 100% pollution, Jhum cultivation contributes only about 0.05%.

The indigenous people who make their livelihoods through the practice of Jhum Cultivation should be encouraged and empowered rather than to be threathened saying "Jhum Cultivaton is an Evil Practice." Introducing scientific technologies may not be the wisest idea. Indigenous people work and believe in traditions and culture, the new intillectual believe in scientific and modern development which displaces and tramples the poor as well as their traditons. Thus I believe that the "Jhum Cultivation is not an Evil Practice". It is a way of life, it is OUR CULTURE.

Lemwng W. Chuhwanglim