Traditional Pest Management Practices and Beliefs of Different Ethnic Tribes of Meghalaya, North Eastern Himalaya

Meghalaya state is a part of North Eastern Himalayas and it is a land-locked territory with a geographical area of 22 429 km, lying between 25° 47' and 26° 10' N latitude, and 89° 45' and 92° 47' E longitude. It is exceptionally rich in biodiversity of insect pests and their natural enemies (Firake et al. 2012a; 2012b), the Khasi and Jaintia hill districts of the state are one of the richest botanical habitats of Asia. The region is inhabited by three main tribal groups, the Khasi (42%), the Jaintia (12%) and the Garo (32%), which together comprise 86% of the state’s total population of 2.3 million. Besides, frequent dynamics in food grain production, climate of the region is highly conducive for the occurrence and multiplication of several insect pests. These insect pests cause enormous damage to the crops resulting into shortage of food production in the region. Stored grain pests of worldwide importance including rodents also cause huge losses. The state is rich in traditional knowledge, thus different tribal groups of the region preferred to use their own traditional practices based on local resources, which they inherited from their forefathers. The traditional practices are important element in local life and are found to be excellent for the management of several pests. Moreover, these practices facilitate proper utilization of available bio-resources ethnologically for various socio-economic and developmental purposes. Though, some important traditional pest management practices from different regions have been reported (Sinha 2010; Sinha et al. 2004); still there is huge scope to document common traditional practices of the region. Therefore, in this study we aim to collect important pest management practices used by farmers of the region. This comprehensive information would be further useful for other farmers of the country and also to the researchers for its proper scientific evaluation and validation. About 14 villages of two districts (Ri-bhoi and East Khasi hills) of state were visited during various training/awareness programmes, demonstrations and survey conducted either by ICAR institute or state government (during 2010 to 2012). Additionally, three main villages of Jaintia hill district were also surveyed during various cropping seasons. Information on different pest management practices was collected through informal discussion with the group of 35-40 farmers (comprising both male and females), gathered for the programmes and adaptability of practices was also confirmed. Headmen (chief) of villages were informed prior to discussion and target was successfully achieved with the help of local language translator. Attempts were also made to understand the belief/logic behind each common practice.