ABSTRACT
Shifting agriculture, or jhum, is the major economic activity in northeastern India. This highly organized agroecosystem is based on empirical knowledge accumulated through centuries, and as long as the jhum cycle is long enough to allow the forest to recover the soil fertility lost during the cropping phase, it is in harmony with the environment. However, increased population pressure and declining land area resulting from extensive deforestation for timber has resulted in a shortening of the jhum cycle (Ramakrishnan 1992). Shifting cultivation is becoming not only less productive, but also unsustainable. Areas allocated to shifting cultivators have been decreased substantially. In these circumstances, the adoption of stabilized systems such as agroforestry based on large cardamom could be a promising means of halting the slide into widespread land degradation.
