Area Of Northeast Region Research Articles

The potential of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants cultivation to develop the Agri-business in Mizoram

India is one of country which is known for its agricultural products and currently more than 70% population still living in rural area. India is fully blessed with different kinds of agro-climatic regions. Production wise our country is standing at second rank throughout the world. Some of agricultural products from India are very high in demand in many parts of the globe. Counting its agro-climatic regions, the North East Region (NER) is another hot spot acquired a land of agriculture as well as forest area. The each states of NER having its own peculiarity for various agro products. They used to cultivate many crops which include export level to their daily delicacy. Ginger, Turmeric, Chili, Beans and bamboo products are produced in large quantities. As per the statistics, Mizoram is the highest ginger producing state (8.4 tons/hec) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (7.9 tons/hec), Assam and Nagaland (6.99 tons/hec) among the states of NER. Apart from cultivation, 60% area of NER comes under forest cover, especially Mizoram, where more than 80% of the geographical area of the state is under forest and tree cover. Looking into the prospects of diverse agricultural land settings and forest cover including biodiversity of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), Mizoram could be potential state in relation to agribusiness. There is a tremendous scope for MAPs sector in the state. Valuable MAPs like Homalomena aromatica, Alpinia galanga, Cinnamomum tamala, C. verum, Mentha arvensis, Artemisia pollens, Ocimum sanctum, Elsholtzia communis and many others are traditionally cultivated on very small scale. Thus, there is a need to introduce good agricultural practices (GAPs) for increasing the raw materials/yield to establish the agri-market in Mizoram.

Cold Area Asphalt Concrete Deck Pavement Technology Research

As the problem of asphalt concrete bridge deck pavement is becoming more and more serious, how to improve its road performance has become the focus of the study. As the lack of shear strength and bond strength between layers, flaking, raveling and other diseases were occurred on steel bridge deck asphalt pavement. This paper combines the common damages of bridge deck and asphalt concrete pavement in cold area of northeast region, focuses on the analysis of the cause of asphalt concrete pavement damage causes, puts forward preventive measures and recommendations, and present the bridge deck pavement structure in cold area combined with the engineering practice. The research results can effectively guide the construction of bridge deck pavement.

A Geospatial Study to Assess the Land Use Land Cover of Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India

There is inadequate knowledge of the natural resources in the remote inaccessible protected areas of North East Region (NER) of India. Arunachal Pradesh, which is one of the state in NER is extremely rich in biodiversity and forms a part of the biodiversity hotspots in the Eastern Himalayas. However its biodiversity is under threat due to various factors like infrastructure development, changing socio-economic pattern and other external pressures. Therefore the need of the hour is to map the current biodiversity of the area as well as potential threats in order to conserve the natural resources and create detailed spatial databases. The objective of the present study is to map the land use land cover (LULC) of Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) situated in Arunachal Pradesh using Remote Sensing and GIS technology. IRS LISS III satellite image has been used to extract LULC, vegetation maps using hybrid classification. Further a spatial database of the WLS was created which includes contour, drainage, spot height and elevation distribution maps.

Exploitation of Potentials of Organic Fruit Production in North East India

North East Region (NER) of India comprises eight states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Total geographical area of NER is 2.55 lakh km2, which is about 8% of India’s total area. Physiography of NER is divided into three divisions—Meghalaya plateau, northeastern hills and Brahmaputra valley. NE hills alone accounts for 65% of the total land area, Brahmaputra valley 22% and Meghalaya Plateau covers 13%. Average annual rainfall in the region is 2500mm. Less than 18% of net cropped area is under irrigation. NER enjoys suitable agro climatic condition for growing wide array of horticultural crops. With exception to mandarins and to a certain extent to banana and pineapple, majority of fruit crops in the region are largely grown in homestead gardens. The region has tremendous potential for growing all the subtropical, tropical and temperate fruit crops organically. From the Zone-wise, nutrient-wise consumption pattern of fertilizers during 2014-15 clearly depicts that in South Zone a total of 166.33, in West Zone a total of 84.64, in North Zone a total of 192.32, in East Zone a total of 161.08 while in North East Zone a total of only 82.63. NPK kg per hectare fertilizers are consumed. The major share of whatever little fertilizers consumed in the North East Zone largely goes to the plantation crops like tea, rubber as well as to the cereal crops grown in the region. The low fertilizer consumption pattern in the region clearly depicts farmers’ tendency of non using inorganic fertilizers for fruit production. This situation compelled the fruit production organically by default in the region. However, it would be a challenging task for the fruit growers of the region to produce fascinating fruit crops of the region organically not merely by default but primarily as well as substantially by practice of organic farming. State like Sikkim of the region from the beginning of the current year is already one step ahead in proclaiming to be the first state in the country to be organic. In addition, another NER state Tripura is already in limelight by proclaiming positions as Organic Pineapple Producer among the sixty Agri Export Zones of the country. Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam states have taken initiative to produce mandarins, lemons, passion fruits and pineapples organically. Manipur Organic Mission Agency is planning organic production of mandarins, lemons and pineapples as a first step in six hill districts of the state. Arunachal Pradesh has formed state Soil Health Mission as an initial step for entry into systematic organic fruit production. With the existing diversified tropical, subtropical and temperate fruit crops in NER, exploitation of potentials of organic fruit production in the region would definitely be a giant step in making the entire NER as the Organic Hub for fruits in the country.

Composting of water hyacinth using Saw dust/Rice straw as a bulking agent

The water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes ) is a free floating aquatic weed generally observed in the 23.15% wetland area of north east region of India. Due to its fast growth and the robustness of its seeds, it has caused major problems in the whole area. However, the composting has the advantage of producing a product that is easy to work into the soil compared with dried water hyacinths, because of the decomposed structure. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of some physico-chemical parameters during high rate pile composting of water hyacinth in combination with cattle manure and saw dust/rice straw as a bulking agent. Results suggested that the optimal degradation of water hyacinth can be possible in the presence of large amount of cattle manure; and rice straw could be a better option as a bulking agent in comparison with saw dust.