Language: English
The northeast region of India is the richest storehouse of plant diversity in the country and supports about 50% of India’s mega-diversity. The region exhibits the largest diversity of orchids, zingibers, yams, oranges, grapes, bamboos, canes and wild relatives of cultivated plants. North East India is home to many botanical curiosities and rarities and it has the potential for major agricultural products including food grains, cereals and rice. The region’s advantages in producing fruits, vegetables and other horticultural products can be triggered by improved production dynamics which will also create food and nutrition security as well as improved livelihood and wellbeing for its population. The region produces a large number of spices such as chilly, gingers, mustard seeds, turmeric, cardamom and others and has the potential of large production and productivity with further adoption of technology, besides other factors.
Considering the issues there is an urgent need for actions to promote conservation and sustainable use of the forests and forest resources of Northeast India and existing policies need to be reorganized to support community forest stewardship to better withstand and sustainability. Community-based landscape planning and conservation effort are critically important and there should be a major strategy for securing the biodiversity of the region.