This is a report on the present status of rice-based cropping systems of the Ahom people living in Assam. Entry of outsiders to northeast India including Assam is restricted due to the unstable political situation over a period of many years, and few reports on this region are available. Little is known regarding the methods of rice cultivation used by the Ahom which have provided a foundation for the culture and society of present day Assam.
An intensive survey was carried out in an Ahom village with questions focusing on landholding patterns, cropping technologies, and rice variety usage to identify the characteristics of rice-based cropping systems of the Ahom in comparison with other regions.
The Ahom have adopted a rice cropping technology of bullock-ploughed land preparation, dry field broadcasting, mixed cultivation, weeding and thrashing using bullocks which are all typical features of the Indian type of rice cropping technology, especially for Ahu and Bao rice cultivation. They have developed rice cultivation methods that are well suited to the physical environment of the rice fields, and also technologies to minimize the environmental hazards through risk dispersion. These environmental adaptive technologies are also observed in other regions where Indian type rice cropping technology is influential to a large extent, e. g. the Bengal delta region, and delta areas and central plains of mainland Southeast Asia.
A prominent feature of the rice-based cropping systems of the Ahom is that they are still using traditional technologies. While rice cropping technologies in other regions are drastically changing since the green revolution, Ahom farmers have not adopted modern rice cropping technology but they prefer to use traditional technologies. It is necessary to consider the reason why traditional technologies remain here by examining the individual technologies from the viewpoint of farming management.
There are many tribes and minority groups with unique cultures in different part of Assam. However, their existing cropping systems have not been extensively investigated. It is hoped that there will be more case studies of these groups through intensive field surveys.