APPLICATION OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUE ON HILL BASED INDIGENOUS SHIFTING CULTIVATION PRACTICES OF NAGALAND, INDIA

A.K. SAHU¹*, T. NGULLIE^2
1Department of Basic Science & Humanities, College of Horticulture & Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat, 791102, Arunachal Pradesh, India
²Department of Agricultural Economics, SASRD, Nagaland University, Medziphema, Nagaland, 797106, India
* Corresponding Author : aatishksahu@gmail.com

Received : 01-12-2020     Accepted : 26-12-2020     Published : 30-12-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 24       Pages : 10533 - 10537
Int J Agr Sci 12.24 (2020):10533-10537

Keywords : Shifting cultivation, Copping system, Linear programming, Net return, Gross margin
Academic Editor : P K Deshpande
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Basic Science & Humanities, College of Horticulture & Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat, 791102, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Authors are also thankful to Department of Agricultural Economics, SASRD, Nagaland University, Medziphema, Nagaland, 797106, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Slash-and-burn farming, also known as shifting cultivation (Jhum) is a traditional community farming practice engaged by indigenous people of India since time immemorial. This traditional practice has been an extensive farming where resource utilization was never a primary concern for farmers earlier. But, in the present-day scenario of climate change, depleting natural resources and increasing mouths to feed, it is pertinent to scientifically improve the practice. The current study was to understand the on-going farm practices of Jhum paddy growers of Wokha district of Nagaland and assess its improvement. The research work was conducted as exploratory research on economics, resource constraints and optimization of input resources of Jhum farming. It was conducted during the year 2017-18 with 63 respondent farmers from five villages based on random sampling. Three major cropping systems viz. Paddy + Sugarcane + Maize (PSuM), Paddy + Maize (PM) and Paddy + Maize + Sesame (PMSe) were identified. From the study, it was observed that medium land holding farmers of PSuM and small farmers of PM and PMSe had highest net return (Rs. ha-1) i.e., Rs. 63871.18, Rs. 104887.21 and Rs. 53021.22 respectively in the respective existing set up of cropping system. After applying LP technique for maximization of gross margin, it was observed that net return for all cropping system gained significantly with minimum gain of 18.4% using existing resources. Also, it was observed that medium and large farmers of PMSe and PSuM were more likely to gain more by application of LP technique

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