Surja Pahariya and Rohan Mukerjee
The Pahariya people in the hills of Sundar Pahari, Godda District, Jharkhand continue to practice Jara-Kurwa a shifting cultivation based agricultural system. In the first year of cultivation known as Jara they carry out monocropping of legumes, primarily cowpea and rice bean. After one year of Jara the Paharia peoplecarry out one to two years of their traditional mixed cropping cultivation practice of Kurwa in the same plot. Currently the principal seeds sown under Kurwa are Gangi/Maize, Ture/Pigeon pea, Tialo/Sorghum and Kakro/Rice bean. In addition, some millets like foxtail millet, pearl millet and little millet; and a variety of vegetables are also sown.
After 2 to 3 years of cultivation the land is left fallow for 3 – 5 years for regeneration and then again brought under cultivation. However, ideally the minimum optimal fallow period should be 10 years, which has gradually declined over the years and brought in invasive species like Siam Weed (Chromolaena odorata) resulting in loss of biodiversity and nutrient depletion. In order to extend the fallow period, Pahariya families have been encouraged to develop Forest Gardens through the cultivation of shade tolerant crops aimed at generating additional livelihoods and sources of food. The fallows selected for Forest gardens are fenced to prevent grazing and are protected from fires. Thus, currently fallows which are not contributing towards household cash flow would generate supplementary income along with provision of food for subsistence needs through cultivation of tuber species and a variety of uncultivated foods in the fallows. This is expected to incentivize the community to extend fallow periods and thus improve the sustainability of the Jara-Kurwa system.
In 2019 three pilot forest gardens were established in forest fallows of different ages in Chamdade, Telo and Ghagri villages. These initial efforts helped select the mix of shade tolerant crops which currently includes Haldi / Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Adrak / ginger (Zingiber officinale), , Kachu / Taro (Colocasia esculenta), Ol / Elephant Foot Yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius). In 2020 and 2021 four more farmers from Bada Palma, Porkhani, Cheo and Gadsingla villages established forest gardens in their Kurwa fallows. Currently there are 7 forest gardens in operation.
In September 2021 we visited two of the old forest gardens in Chamadade and Telo villages and two new forest gardens in Bada Palma and Porkhani villages. Our visit to Bameshwar Paharia’s Forest Garden in Porkahni village revealed that cultivating crops without felling trees is an alien concept for the Paharia and will take some time getting used to. Bamehswar had established a forest garden in his five year old Kurwa fallow. He had fenced off a large area for the Forest Garden and was cultivating turmeric, ginger, kachu, and Kesor Alli. While most crops were doing well he had been advised to clear some vines to enable more light to reach the crops. However, he misunderstood and cleared several young trees in the rear of the plot. These are initial teething problems that are often faced at the initial stages of the implementation of a new concept. We aim to facilitate awareness and training programs and knowledge exchange between farmers and exposure visits to successful forest gardens in order to promote increased understanding and adoption of the concept. However, despite the felling of trees in part of the plot the rest of the areas still boasted a variety of uncultivated food plants which is one of the benefits of promoting the re-growth of vegetation and not clearing the plot for an extended period of time.
Bameshwar proudly showed us a patch in his fallow which was covered by creepers of a much-prized wild variety of Kursa / velvet bean. Unlike the smaller cultivated variety this variety had large, yellowish hairy pods which Bameshwar warned cause a lot of scratching and irritation if our skin comes in contact with it. This variety of Kursa is prized from its medicinal properties, the seeds help treat joint pain and other pain and the roots are also used to treat different diseases. Several varieties of wild tubers were also found in Bameshwar’s plot, and they included Eihe Halli / Ikjo Halli, Chambia Halli, Churke Halli.
We next visited Dharmendra Paharia’s forest garden in Bada Palma village. Dharmendra had decided to experiment with the Forest Garden concept in a small area of his three year old Kurwa fallow. Turmeric, ginger, Kachu and Kesor Halli had done particularly well in Dharmedra’s plot and even a few Ol plants had survived. The plot also had a variety of wild tubers like Eihe Halli / Ikjo Halli, Churke Halli and Napdu Halli. While showing us around his forest garden Dhrarmendra came across two wild mushrooms – Mako Osdu and Ero Osdu, and he collected a gamcha full for his family. Dharmendra shared that he was intrigued with the concept of cultivating crops under trees and so he decided to try it out in a small area. He was delighted that the crops he planted had done extremely well and he is happy to learn that it is possible to cultivate some crops under tree cover without having to fell the trees. He was not sure any of the crops would grow under the trees in his plot, but he has found that they do grow and in fact they have grown well. With his trial plot proving a success Dharmendra now plans to establish similar forest garden in a larger area in 2022.
On the 24th of September we visited Surja’s own forest garden plot in Chamdade village and Jaora Pahariya’s forest garden in Telo. Surja’s forest garden had been established in a Kurwa fallow which was over 6 years old, and a number of large Sal trees had been left in this plot during the cultivation cycle. This was the first forest garden to be established in 2019 and this is the third consecutive year of cultivation. While in the first year a large number of different crops were experimented with, currently turmeric, ginger, kachu / taro, and kesor halli are being cultivated and they have all been growing well alongside several trees which in addition to the dominant Sal (Shorea robusta) include Putalo, Telo, Sidde, Kurchi and Piyar. Wild tuber varieties – Ikjo Halli, Churke Halli, were also present. Surja shared that he was happy with the productivity of different crops in his forest garden and would look to continue this approach for a number of years to come. The last forest garden we visited was that of Jaora Paharia in the adjoining village of Telo. This forest garden had also been established in a Kurwa fallow which was around 6 years old. Joara had been provided the same mix of crops and while we came across turmeric, ginger and Kesor Halli plants they were considerably smaller than those in the other forest gardens we had visited even though planting had been carried out at the same time. Surja felt that different conditions in different areas could be responsible for the variation in the performance of the crops provided and we aim to explore this in the years to come to develop an understanding of conditions which are conducive to forest gardens.
On the whole 3-4 varieties of crops have done well in the forest gardens and the farmers are happy with the results and have plans to continue cultivation and even expand the areas under forest gardens. There is a need for research into the role of different ecological and environmental conditions of the sites in the success of forest gardens. What was good to see that alongside the cultivated crops the forest gardens also yielded a variety of wild foods and this initiative will ensure the protection of these wild food plants and trees alongside the other trees in the plot for a longer period of time than the prevailing duration of fallow periods. The success of these forest gardens will serve as a platform to spread awareness about the benefits of this initiative and encourage more farmers to adopt this practice which will also enable us to finetune and strengthen the initiative.
