Paper short abstract:

The paper explores how intergenerational exchanges of indigenous knowledge, farming practices and planning methods result in the promotion of more sustainable livelihoods and help mitigate the effects of climate change in Nagaland, Northeast India.

Paper long abstract:

The state of Nagaland in Northeast India is famous for its immense agricultural biodiversity, fertile soils, rich forest and water resources. Its population is predominantly rural and has been practising indigenous methods of agriculture for generations. While most Naga farmers are small-scale subsistence farmers who use traditional farming practices and grow organic local seeds, they remain heavily dependent on climate change and its impacts, especially in relation to landslides, excessive or scarce monsoon rains etc. At the same time, human-induced local problems such as deforestation, soil erosion and exhaustion etc. pose a continued threat to traditional farming practices and local livelihoods. This is further exacerbated by the fact that many Naga communities insist on practising traditional forms of shifting cultivation and resist the efforts of the state government and some local activists to introduce settled forms of cultivation. In these conditions of increasing precarity and tensions, some young Naga, who have received higher degrees in agricultural studies, environmental studies, management etc., are beginning to return to their communities where they share their expert knowledge and apply their entrepreneurial skills in order to help local farmers achieve more sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming by using better technologies and planning, and thus adapt better to climate changes. The paper explores how these grassroots initiatives and intergenerational exchanges of indigenous and contemporary agricultural knowledge and techniques help promote genetic diversity and organic farming, and equip local communities with better mechanisms for coping with climate change and its diverse impacts.