The Centre of Excellence for NRM and Sustainable Livelihood, Meghalaya, organised a workshop on ‘Expanding Areas of Plantations of Areca Nut and Other Commercial Species in Meghalaya: Critical review of the changing landscapes with reference to their ecological impacts’ today.
The workshop aimed to explore the significant changes in land use and land cover in the state and its impact on natural resources and livelihood activities.
The keynote speaker of the workshop, S Ashutosh, emphasised the importance of scientific understanding to manage resources and inform people about the consequences. He highlighted the concern about the rapid changes in land use and land cover in Meghalaya, especially in Garo Hills, where the expansion of cash crop plantations is impacting the livelihood activities of farmers. He also emphasised that climate change is a matter of everybody’s perception, and its biggest impact is on natural resources, especially farmers.
An ongoing study led by Ashutosh analyses seven grids of 100 sq km and will be completed using 20 to 22 grids covering 2022 sq km, which is 10 percent of the total geographic area. The study has shown that over an 11-year period, plantations have increased by 300 percent in Garo Hills, of which areca nut covers the most area. He also mentioned that under the Community Led Landscape Management Project (CLLMP) there are an estimated 49.61 lakh areca trees in the community forests in 161 CLLMP villages in Garo Hills alone.
David Gandhi, Consultant for SALT farming at MBMA, presented on ‘Landuse in Meghalaya in the context of agro-horticulture and NRM’ sharing from his field experiences in Meghalaya and Manipur.
Gandhi also explained how the soil should be built for the conservation of nutrients and the improvement of soil health. He showed a series of videos from his field visits to different districts for his study. He emphasized the need to look beyond increasing production to conservation, as a lot of research has been done, but the challenge is how to bring it to the farmers. The major crops grown in Meghalaya are ginger, turmeric and potato, with Khasi, Jaintia, and Ri-Bhoi being the main regions for cultivation.
M Kharbani, during his presentation on ‘Critical review of the changing landscape, with reference to their ecological impacts of areca nut and other commercial species in Meghalaya’, presented the maintenance of the crop in a picture of an areca nut plantation.
Monocropping is always detrimental and not encouraged. Problems with the root system in areca nuts have led to nutrients being washed away by the rain, but measures like proper spacing and cultural operations can help. To promote diversity, crops with minimal shade like coffee, banana, coconut, mulberry, pepper, etc., can be grown alongside areca nuts. He also recommended visiting and improving on what farmers are practising, as well as using leeches as feed for chicken to increase profits.
Kharbani also mentioned that areca nut replaced oranges in the War Jaintia area due to the lack of mulching and proper care given to the crops. It was suggested to pay back a portion of the profit from the field to improve the soil.
