Amit Sen

Seasonal Calendar and Gender Disaggregated Daily Activities of Indigenous Galo Farmers of Eastern Himalayan Region of India

Seasonal calendar and daily farming activities are vital in understanding the farming system of a community and identifying the period of intensive agriculture and lean period for better resources management and planning. The objective of the current study was to evaluate seasonal calendar and gender disaggregated daily activities of indigenous Galo farmers of Arunachal Pradesh. Phenomenological approach was used to understand the system as the native farmers perceive it. The result reveals the rice-based farming system of the tribe with seasonal calendar of major crops that is guided by the climate of the location. Also, it was found that farming is a family activity of the community with well defined task for each family member based on gender. Women play a major role in the farming and also have vital responsibility in preservation and conservation of indigenous local crop varieties and seeds for next season. Generally it was seen that the labor burden of tribal women exceed than that of their male counterpart. Though the farmers seem to remain in the field throughout the year, their involvement in agricultural activities is actually very low. Monocropping nature of farming, long duration crop varieties and excessive dependence on natural factor leads to poor production and productivity of crops. The seasonal calendar may help the researchers and policy makers to understand the specific need of farmers and device tailored measures for sustainable development of the farming sector and livelihood improvement of the specific community under study. Article History

Rainfall Trend and Variability Analysis of Sub-Tropical Hills of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeastern Himalayan Region of India

The climate change especially the changes in rainfall pattern is most crucial for Himalayan region as it leads to changes in river runoff and consequently affecting environment, agricultural productivity and human livelihood downstream. Current study aims to evaluate the rainfall trend and variability in the highest rainfall recipient sub-tropical hill regions of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeastern Himalayan region of India. Sen’s estimator is used for trend analysis and Mann-Kendall test to determine significance of the trend. The 37 years (1979-2015) data reveals no clear and consistent trend of average annual rainfall. But a wide inter and intra seasonal variation in the monthly rainfall has been observed. Also a significant shift in rainfall during pre-monsoon and Southwest monsoon was noticed leading to change in forest and agricultural growing seasons, mid-season dry spell during July and increase in extreme rainfall events during August, September and October. The trend analysis of rainfall will help in prediction of future climate scenarios in this Himalayan region and to understand the impact of climate change.