While India’s vast farms remain a fertile ground for economic lament, tiny Nagaland is in the middle of an agricultural boom. According to the recent district-wise data compiled by Indicus Analytics, farm output in Nagaland’s eight districts has grown at double-digit rates over 2000-05.

The highest rate was recorded in Tuensang, at 17.7 per cent. The lowest growth was in Phek, at 11.8 per cent year-on-year. This lowest is, however, nine percentage points higher than the national average of 2.6 per cent.

Tuensang and Mon recorded the highest value of output per hectare in the country at Rs 1.73 lakh and Rs 1.59 lakh, respectively. On an average, every district in the state has output worth Rs 75,385 per hectare in each crop season.

This is primarily due to a shift in crop patterns. “There is a change in the farming pattern with cultivation shifting from paddy to ginger, tapioca, passion fruit, pineapple, banana and other horticultural crops,” said Tekatushi, project officer of the State Agriculture Research Station, Mokokchung.

The move from paddy has been primarily motivated by higher yield in horticultural crops. Tapioca, for example, yields 24-27 tonnes per hectare. For rice, the state’s productivity is 2.5 tonnes per hectare on an average, lower than the national.

High growth is, however, not translating into high incomes. In Tuensang, where the productivity of each farm worker is Rs 26,476 per year, the per-capita income remains Rs 5,390.

This is chiefly due to lack of market access and relevant infrastructure. “The farmers say it (current output) is too much for us,” said Tekatushi. “We cannot fly everything out by airplane; there are not enough roads to reach the markets. There isn’t enough power to preserve the harvest,” he said.