Mizoram, one of the hill states of India, is an agrarian economy where majority of the population practice shifting or jhum cultivation since the time of their forefathers. With the changing requirements of the growing population, jhum cultivation became devastating in nature, causing drastic decline in crop yield, loss of forest wealth, soil fertility, and biodiversity. It also causes environmental degradation. The need to develop alternative and sustainable form of land utilisation that could replace shifting cultivation was felt by the elites since the 1950s.