What Is Jhum Cultivation? — Why Northeast India's Shifting Agriculture Persists, and What the Debate Is Really About
What Is Jhum Cultivation? — Why Northeast India's Shifting Agriculture Persists, and What the Debate Is Really About What Is Jhum Cultivation? — Why Northeast India's Shifting Agriculture Persists, and What the Debate Is Really About By BUGLE | June 2026 | Last updated: June 2026 | 11 min read The short answer: Jhum cultivation — also called shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn agriculture — is a traditional farming method practised by tribal communities across Northeast India's hill regions. A plot of forest is cleared by cutting and burning vegetation, crops are grown for one to three seasons, and then the plot is left to regenerate while the farmer moves to a new plot. When practised with adequate fallow periods of 10–20 years, it is a sustainable and ecologically intelligent system. When fallow periods collapse to 2–3 years under population pressure — as is increasingly happening — it causes serious deforestation and soil de...