Nagas can survive by farming: NCSU president

Nagaland Contractors and Suppliers Union (NCSU) president, Pele Khezhie, said farming and cultivation was part of Naga way of life and therefore should be encouraged for survival.
He was addressing a section of the media at his jhum plantation in Viphoma village, here on Monday.
Khezhie said Naga society do not have beggars primarily because every Naga was well acquainted with farming and other forms of cultivation for their survival.
He said this practice helped the people to be self-sufficient as every family would cultivate their own yearly requirement of grains, a practice from time immemorial.
Expressing happiness that Viphoma village folks had come to sow seeds at his jhum cultivation, Khezhie, said such practice of helping out each other in cultivation works had been a customary practice.
This way people of a particular village could share the burden of most of the farming work and ensure that every household would be able to finish their farming work in due time, he said.
He observed that in order to be able to compete with the rest of the country and the world, Nagas should seriously take up farming.
Khezhie pointed out that the soil in the State was very fertile and therefore was suitable for cultivation and it rewards the farmers with bountiful harvest.
“We have to start farming. It is one sure way for us to survive and grow as a society. It can also help in our economic growth,” Khezhie said.
Viphoma village GB, Perheizetuo, while interacting with the media said, village folks earn their livelihood through farming.
He said it was sowing season now, the busiest time of the year, and therefore everyone keep themselves preoccupied with farming activities.
“There are around 60 of us and half of us are sowing the seeds while the rest is busy cleaning the cultivation area,” he added.
Apart from sowing different strains of paddy, the village folks also planted lemon and litchee saplings as mixed plantation.