Alternate Land Uses for Shifting Cultivation in Eastern Ghats

Shifting cultivation is prevalent in Orissa, followed by Manipur, Meghalaya,Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar and Nagaland, over more than 4 million ha of land. In Orissa, it is practiced in six agro-ecological zones, which one grouped under sub-humid red soil Eastern ghat high land agro-ecoregion. Koraput, Phulbani Kalahandi, Ganjam and adjoining Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts have been effected by shifting cultivation involving 0.69 million families and 3 million ha land. Possibilities of improving shifting cultivation and alternate land-use for the region are presented in this paper.