Rawpuichhip is a village located in the eastern part of Mamit District situated between Dialdawk and Tut River. It is under Reiek RD Block with a total population of around 1650 and 400 houses, 98.94% of the residents are Scheduled Tribe. The major livelihood option in this village is agriculture, most of the farmers earn their income from settled farming.

During this survey the members of Village Council, cooperative societies and farmers have given their assistance for collecting the data and information about the livelihood of the village. Apart from agriculture the village has a large area of conserved forest, in which any agricultural or developmental activity is prohibited by the Village Council and NGO. As per the report of the respondent this area will be used as a tourist park and for recreational purposes.

Agriculture Scenario

Farming is the major livelihood for the majority of the families in rawpuichhip, out of which most of the farmers practice mixed cropping. However, it has been reported that more than 20 families still pursued Jhuming. The major crop grown in this area is Areca Nut mixed with other crops like banana, ginger and turmeric. The cultivation of areca nuts in the village has only been introduced in the recent past and practised a not long ago. In 2022, only around 10 families from the village are able to harvest Areca nuts and earn around Rs. 5 lakh. It is expected that after 5 years every famers will be able to harvest from their Areca nuts farm. Apart from Areca nut, ginger and turmeric are the major crops grown in this area. However, due to non availability of market, the area under ginger and turmeric cultivation have become unproductive.

Apart from the above, more than 10 families in the village have rubber plantations. It has been reported that only one farmer has a rubber processing plant, however due to non availability of market the farmers in the village are losing interest.

 Needs:

1. i) Ginger and turmeric processing plant:

Rawpuichhip is one of the many villages in Mizoram that have surplus production of ginger and turmeric and are faced with difficulty in marketing their produce. Ginger is sold to Tripura for about 13 rupees per kg. Small scale processing and value addition by drying or product formulation will surely boost production and income to the farmers.

1. ii) Rubber processing plant:

Due to the lack of rubber processing plant (Smoking house) and training, the farmers pursuing rubber plantation left their land untouched. Apart from that, the main reason that left the farmers lose interest in rubber plantation was unavailability of market, helping the farmers in marketing of their produce is the need of the hour especially for agriculture dependent rural areas.