Swidden farming, otherwise known as shifting cultivation or jhum, is a traditional land use system found across the tropical region, including South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and America. It has been targeted as a ‘wasteful’ practice, ‘destructive’ of the environment, and economically ‘unproductive’ by the state, scientists, and environmentalists since the colonial period. Anthropologists have argued otherwise – it is eco-friendly and more ‘sustainable’ than any other form of agriculture. While the debate continues, swidden agriculture has declined rapidly across the globe in recent decades. However, it continues to be a dominant source of livelihood in many parts of Northeast India, especially the hill areas predominantly inhabited by ‘tribals.’ Based on an ethnographic investigation involving participant observations and in-depth interviews in Manipur South, this paper argues that the continuing presence of swidden farming in interior Northeast India is mainly due to the lack of proper road connectivity. Infrastructures play a vital role in transforming rural livelihoods, but the absence of an all-weather road deprives hill farmers of access to the market, thereby preventing them from undertaking commercial farming. While swidden agriculture continues out of compulsion, cash crops like king chili, locally known as u-morok (Meiteilon) or malchapom (Kuki), have been incorporated though on a small scale to cope with the increasing need for money. Some have even resorted to the illegal poppy plantation as it does not require much transportation. This paper attempts to offer a contemporary perspective of indigenous livelihoods and tribal development in Northeast India.
