THE TERRAIN TRADITION AND CROPPING PATTERN PRACTICES: MAPPING THE CHANGES ACROSS THE FARMING SYSTEMS IN MEGHALAYA PLATEAU

In less developed countries, the process of agricultural commercialization is more rapid in the last few decades. The universal factors such as globalization, modernization and liberalization and a host of other local factors are responsible for the changes (Trébuil et al., 2006). The impacts of these changes are well documented globally across the scholars of different disciplines. It includes the impact on local land use/cover (von Braun et al. 1986; Pingali, 2001, Behera et al, 2016), food security (Kennedy, 1994, Maxwell, 1996, Carletto et al, 2017), environment including biodiversity (Brown, 1990, Ramakrishnan, 1993, Ilybery, 2012; Maxwell et al. 1989), land ownership (Tiwari et al, 2008), gender relation (Nongbri, 2008), and other economic and societal impacts (Rubhara et al., 2020). Further, studies on land suitability for different crops (Kilic et al., 2005; Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi et al., 2020), factors responsible for cropland allocation (Adjimoti, 2018) and impacts of physiography on land use/cover (Ford, 2000) have also attracted many scholars within and outside the discipline of geography. However, the impact of agricultural commercialization on traditional land allocation practices is one of the areas need further understanding and assessment. Thus, the paper highlights the recent alternation in local land uses with reference to different terrain types in different farming systems.