introduced during the 1950s in the Northeast, rubber is proving to be a valuable cash crop for the tribal people who live on shifting cultivation. "The Rubber Board's experience in the Northeast has already proved that tribals pursuing shifting cultivation can be settled by raising rubber plantations,' says development officer P C Goswami.

He said the area being rainfed, was not suitable for other crops and rubber can thrive well even in marginal soils with suitable agro-management practices. Moreover, he added, that cultivation of rubber in the region is known to have improved ecology as the plantation enriches the soil's organic matter status by litter recycling.