Most of the tribal groups in northern and eastern India practice the slash-and-burn method of agriculture, compared to the plow cultivation practiced by the nontribal peoples. The tribes living in the regions bordering Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and Tibet are more isolated from the mainstream of Indian life and still tractice traditional agricultural methods. Most farms are very small. In terms of area sown, the leading crop is rice, the staple foodstuff of a large section of the Indian population.
In the early 1990s the country had about 192.7 million cattle, substantially more than any other country in the world. These animals, like the buffalo, horses, and mules, are utilized almost exclusively as beasts of burden, mainly because meat consumption, owing to religious or social scruples, is not permitted among the Hindus.
