Traditional Pest Management Practices and Beliefs of Different Ethnic Tribes of Meghalaya, North Eastern Himalaya (original) (raw)

Meghalaya state is a part of North Eastern Himalayas and it is a land-locked territory with a geographical area of 22 429 km, lying between 25° 47' and 26° 10' N latitude, and 89° 45' and 92° 47' E longitude. It is exceptionally rich in biodiversity of insect pests and their natural enemies (Firake et al. 2012a; 2012b), the Khasi and Jaintia hill districts of the state are one of the richest botanical habitats of Asia. The region is inhabited by three main tribal groups, the Khasi (42%), the Jaintia (12%) and the Garo (32%), which together comprise 86% of the state’s total population of 2.3 million. Besides, frequent dynamics in food grain production, climate of the region is highly conducive for the occurrence and multiplication of several insect pests. These insect pests cause enormous damage to the crops resulting into shortage of food production in the region. Stored grain pests of worldwide importance including rodents also cause huge losses. The state is rich i...