Biate town is in the eastern part of Mizoram at a coordinate of latitude 23.2488° N and 93.1215° E longitude. The town has a population of a little over 2000 persons belonging to around 500 households.

Status and management of natural resources

There are around 6 to 7 community conserved forest area which extends to around 2 kms buffering the village residential area towards all sides. There is also one protected river called Tuipui river. Green Biate Mission formed by the village is actively undertaking green initiatives.

There are around 4 streams which are being accessed (Balhla tui, Sakhi tui, Thianga pa tui and Sakhi sih) and several springs. Groundwater are accessed by submersible pump at four different locations and by hand pumped borewells at three locations within the village.

Rainwater harvesting is quite common at houses.

Agriculture and horticulture issues

Trend of shifting cultivation is declining while stable land agriculture is increasing. Shifting cultivation areas depends on rainfall while irrigation by pipeline and canals are practised at WRC areas.

There are around 165 household who have orange orchards, they are the leading producer of oranges and tea leaves in Mizoram. Average annual turnover from tea leaves is 40 lakhs per year. Chemical fertilizers are utilised quite common in tea gardens. Herbicides, insecticides and pesticides are also applied at orange orchards.

Water sources are declining gradually. Acute shortage of water for domestic and agriculture consumption during dry season. During 2019 to 2020, paddy suffers greatly from erratic rainfall. Phenology of oranges changes significantly since the recent years. In 2020, size of orange fruit becomes significantly smaller than the past years. Tree beans fails since the past 5 to 6 years.

Landuse landcover change

Not much change has happened. And since the availability of LPG increased, forest quality in the reserves improved. Forest fires are quite rare.