A couple from Pune, in their mid 50s - one an accomplished agricultural scientist with over 30 years of field experience and his wife, a committed educationist - have been living in Aben, an extremely remote village, for almost 2 and half year in Manipur’s most backward district, Tamenglong, studying the impact of Jhum cultivation on the lives of the Zeme tribe, who inhabit the village to counter the challenges that the hill people of region are facing by offering an viable alternative cultivation, a  climate-change smart sustainable method of agriculture.

 Sloping Agriculture Land Technology or Small Agro-Livestock Land Technology or SALT in short, is what the couple is successfully introducing in the village with encouraging results, leading to increasing the productivity of the hill farmers and enhancing their income by introducing integrated system of farming.

 Aben is tucked so far away, untouched by modern civilization and villagers rely primarily on shifting or jhum cultivation and the forest for their sustenance. With the region receiving eight months of rain in a year and given the pathetic conditions of the inter-village roads, 4×4 vehicle or foot is the only means of communication to Aben during monsoon.