Indigenous Agriculture System of Kukis in Ukhrul District
By Lh. Seitinthang
Agriculture has a vital place in the economy of Manipur with 52.19 percent of the workers in the State engaged as cultivators and agricultural labourers. For centuries the knowledge of agriculture among the Kukis is stored in people’s memories and activities, expressed in the form of stories, songs, folklore, proverbs, dances, myths, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, chief laws, local languages, taxonomy, agricultural practices, equipments and tools. The study was conducted among the Kukis in Ukhrul district of Manipur to investigate indigenous knowledge of agriculture systems. The main objectives of the study include the activities and responsibility of “Lompi” and the way of the Kuki beliefs in gods and the reasons and process of the agriculture festivals like “Chang-ai”, and the advantage of the use of indigenous knowledge of agriculture integrating with modern technologies.