Includes bibliographical references.

Shifting cultivation (SC), a predominant agricultural practice in the hilly regions of Northeast India was declared a problem in the tropical world in the year 1957 (FAO et al., 2015). Over the years, several policies were formed to wean farmers from the practice to adopt sedentary agricultural practices. In Meghalaya, the area under jhum was reported to have undergone a significant reduction of 78.48 per cent during the 2000-2010 decade (Pant et al.,2018). Another report showed that the area increased from 4 to 14 per cent (1983 to 2008) of the total area under jhum in the NER(Singh et al., 2015). Despite these inconsistencies on data, recent studies have reported SC as an indispensable and extensive form of land use by the indigenous communities in the state. Hence, it necessitated the present study, to gather authentic and up to date data, which were undertaken with the following specific objectives: 1) To study the existing jhum system in the state. 2) To study the comparative economics of shifting and settled agriculture. 3) To determine the factors responsible for continuation of shifting cultivation. 4) To study the impact of population, technology and policy on jhum system. The study was conducted in West Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills districts and data was collected from 122 shifting cultivators and 128 settled farmers. To accomplish the above objectives, tabular analysis, NPV, BCR, probit regression and Propensity Score Matching methods were employed. The study revealed that the practice of jhum cultivation (Rep lyngkha) was dominated by the Lyngngam sub tribe in the Khasi Hills. Whereas the Agal maka ritual and Aa kila were performed exclusively by the jhum (A.ba so.a) farmers in Garo Hills. A jhum farmer in Meghalaya cultivated 20 crops (3 cereals+3 pulses+2 oilseeds+5 fruits and vegetables+ 4 tubers+ 2 spices+ 1 fibre) while 14 crops (2 cereals+ 1 pulses+ 1 oilseeds+ 3 fruits and vegetables+ 3 tubers+ 1 spices+ 1 fibre+ 2 plantations) were grown by settled farmers. The difference was significant in cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetable and fibre. A shifting cultivator owned 9.6 per cent whereas a settled cultivator owned 54.59 per cent of the total cultivated land. A significant difference was also observed in the common land (-0.42ha), owned land (0.93ha) and total cultivated land (0.56ha) between shifting and settled farmers. Four cultivation systems [Shifting-I (jhum + jhum ginger), Shifting-II (jhum + jhum cotton), Settled-I (broomgrass + lowland paddy) and Settled-II (arecanut + cashewnut + blackpepper)] were selected to analyze financial feasibility. Settled-II was found to be the most feasible cultivation system with NPV of ₹11,98,585.87 and BCR, 4.65. However, despite the assured high income, transition from shifting to settled system was slow. Then, probit regression results highlighted that age (0.005) and lack of alternative livelihoods (0.360) had significant positive influence, whereas household size (-0.05), annual per capita income (-0.00), government incentive (-0.132) and access to market (-0.187) negatively affected the continuation of shifting cultivation in the traditional jhum areas of Meghalaya. Additionally, SHG participation was used to determine the impact on jhum system through Propensity Score Matching (PSM). The results indicated that participation in SHG significantly reduced expenditure on jhum as well the area under jhum. Hence, farmers were observed to have supplemented their farming system by foraying in different enterprises without completely discontinuing the practice of SC. Hence, arrangements for survival of the dual economy consisting of traditional jhum farming with settled agriculture in the short term while allowing the transition between the systems organically overtime will most likely stand the test of time. Since aggregation of farmers into groups such as SHGs supported the jhumias during the transition phase, these institutions must be given priority in the SC dominant areas.