TRIBAL AGRICULTURE 67 Under the impact of agricultural commodity production a gradual change in the pattern of land use has taken place. A statement by the Directorate of Agriculture of Nagaland notes the following: ...a proportionately greater rise has taken place in respect of miscellaneous crops, especially potato. It is of interest to note that though the total acreage of land under foodgrains has gone up, there has been a significant decrease in the acreage of land under autumn rice which includes jhum rice. It has come down from 46,757 hectares in 1961-62 to 42,722 hectares in 1965-66. On the other hand the acreage of land under other cereals and small millets has gone up from 16,340 hectares in 1961-62 to 20,326 hectares in 1965-66. The acreage of land under winter rice has gone up from 15,392 hectares in 1961-62 to 16,375 in 1965-66. The total acreage of land under pulses in 1961-62 was 2,544. In 1965-66 it went up to 2,929 hectares. From the above statement it is clear that the total area under autumn rice (including jhum rice) was more than double the area under winter rice and the decrease was 8.6 per cent approximately, whereas the increase in area under winter rice was much smaller (6 per cent approximately). There was a significant increase in the area under small millets and pulses which stood at 14.6 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. The absolute decrease in the area under rice production as against the significant rise under miscellaneous crops including potato, small millets and pulses, indicates the ever increasing commodity nature of production in the case of agricultural prbducts other than rice in Nagaland,and compares very favourably with what has been found earlier in the case of the Khasi village surveyed. Although wet land cultivation of rice is possible only in terraced fields it is gaining ground in different parts of the hills—it does not seem as yet to yield as much as expected-and still the production of rice in the hills under study is not at all surplus 10 give it a commodity character. Thus in conclusion we may say that the mode of tribal cultivation is still primitive and underdeveloped and hence production is extremely low. Although there is a tendency to secure land as private property, the process is yet in its very initial stages and has not yet broken up the community character of possession of land in the hills. Under the impact of the surrounding commodity-money economy/production in the agricultural sector is increasingly gaining a commodity character. Finally since the system of agricultural production is based on primitive production relations, the whole region is in the grip of trade and money lenders' capital and hence exploitation is fierce. ABANI K BURMON 1 A Short History Of the World, Vol I, Progress Publishers, Moscow. 1974, p 14. 2 B K Roy Burman, Demographic and Socio-Economic Profiles Of the Hills Areas of North-East India (Census of India 1961). Ne\v Delhi 1970, p 185 b Ibid.