Livelihood Strategies and Agricultural
Practices in Khonoma Village
of Nagaland, India: Observation
from a Field Visit
Niranjan Roy , Avijit Debnath and Sunil Nautiyal
Abstract Forest resources have both economic and ecological significance. However, rapid expansion of non-forest activities at the expense of natural forests has
become a serious threat to forest resource all over the world. This paper makes an
attempt to understand livelihood strategies, cultivation method and perception about
climate change in Khonoma Village of the state of Nagaland, India. The study is
based on primary data collected through field survey. Our analysis reveals that all
the villagers of Khonoma depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood, however, the focus of activity in the present days is shifting towards cash crops.
There are mainly two types of cultivation method followed: Jhum Cultivation and
Wet Rice Cultivation, the later being the dominant type of cultivation in the present
time. The major crops that villagers grow in the present time in Khonoma includes
rice, chilli, tomatoes, brinjal, ginger, garlic, pumpkin, cucumber, gourd, yam, lentils,
beans, sesame, maize, millet, and job’s tears. When asked if they have ever heard
of what ‘Climate Change’ means from any source, around 93% of the respondent
said that they have heard about the term mostly from television. Causes of climate
change are reported to be different by the different respondents, but none of the
respondent considered shifting cultivation causes deforestation thus contributes to
climate change.
Keywords Livelihood strategies · Shifting cultivation · Terrace cultivation · Alder
tree · Khonoma
N. Roy (B) · A. Debnath
Department of Economics, Assam University, Silchar 788011, Assam, India
e-mail: royniranjan3@gmail.com
S. Nautiyal
Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bengaluru, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
N. Roy et al. (eds.), Socio-economic and Eco-biological Dimensions
in Resource use and Conservation, Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32463-6_21
425
Practices in Khonoma Village
of Nagaland, India: Observation
from a Field Visit
Niranjan Roy , Avijit Debnath and Sunil Nautiyal
Abstract Forest resources have both economic and ecological significance. However, rapid expansion of non-forest activities at the expense of natural forests has
become a serious threat to forest resource all over the world. This paper makes an
attempt to understand livelihood strategies, cultivation method and perception about
climate change in Khonoma Village of the state of Nagaland, India. The study is
based on primary data collected through field survey. Our analysis reveals that all
the villagers of Khonoma depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood, however, the focus of activity in the present days is shifting towards cash crops.
There are mainly two types of cultivation method followed: Jhum Cultivation and
Wet Rice Cultivation, the later being the dominant type of cultivation in the present
time. The major crops that villagers grow in the present time in Khonoma includes
rice, chilli, tomatoes, brinjal, ginger, garlic, pumpkin, cucumber, gourd, yam, lentils,
beans, sesame, maize, millet, and job’s tears. When asked if they have ever heard
of what ‘Climate Change’ means from any source, around 93% of the respondent
said that they have heard about the term mostly from television. Causes of climate
change are reported to be different by the different respondents, but none of the
respondent considered shifting cultivation causes deforestation thus contributes to
climate change.
Keywords Livelihood strategies · Shifting cultivation · Terrace cultivation · Alder
tree · Khonoma
N. Roy (B) · A. Debnath
Department of Economics, Assam University, Silchar 788011, Assam, India
e-mail: royniranjan3@gmail.com
S. Nautiyal
Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bengaluru, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
N. Roy et al. (eds.), Socio-economic and Eco-biological Dimensions
in Resource use and Conservation, Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32463-6_21
425