89 1 Associate Professor (e mail: dkpextension@gmail.com), 3 Associate Professor (e mail: phukan.br@gmail.com), 4 Associate Professor (e mail: mehra_chf@hotmail.com), 5 Assistant Professor (e mail: bhanumishrabhu@gmail.com), 6 Assistant Professor (e mail: matounaroem709@g mail.com), 7 SWO (e mail: tomarhorti@ rediffmail.com), CHF, Pasighat. 2 Principal Scientist (e mail: bhuthnath@gmail.com), ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar. Information, credit and market access by upland tribals in north-eastern Himalaya of India: An empirical study D K PANDEY 1 , H K DE 2 , B R PHUKAN 3 , T S MEHRA 4 , B P MISHRA 5 , T M CHANU 6 and KRISHNA S TOMAR 7 College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University (I), Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh 791 102 Received: 21 November 2017; Accepted: 28 June 2018 ABSTRACT The present study was conducted during 2016-17 in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura states of the North-Eastern Himalayan (NEH) region to analyze the extent of institutional support, viz. information, credit and market access in the tribal dominated districts. Findings of the study reveal that 87.80% respondents owned/use mobile phone, whereas extension contact was found to be very poor in the study area as a whole. Awareness and usage of formal information sources reveal that about one fourth (24%) were aware of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) centres, whereas only 17.6% respondents were aware of Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Agricultural University/line department. Access to these institutions was found to be poor owing to poor connectivity and remoteness of the area. About 43% respondents had no access to institutional credit, whereas informal sources of rural credit account for about 21.8% of the loan volume to tribal households and kins/relatives (41.4%) were the largest source of informal credit. Marketing and associated infrastructure were identifed as major determinants of their livelihood diversifcation. Key words: Credit, Information, Market access, Shifting cultivation, Tribal Information is an indispensable factor for promoting the development of society. Kemp (1976) observes that information has been called, the ffth need of man, ranking after air, water, food, and shelter. Luck et al. (1981) add that information is the life blood of planning, directing, and controlling any enterprise. It makes the satisfaction of the demands of the population possible in an effcient way. The present age is rightly characterized as the age of information, where its success in any activity is based on the amount and accuracy of information available. The fact that information is a key resource for the progress and development of a nation (Raina 1998) is nothing but the socio-economic, cultural, and political development of its citizenry. Knowledge and information are fundamental in supporting livelihood security and rural development. Communication initiatives are increasingly recognized as effective means to promote capacity development, empowerment and social change, and FAO has been active in this area for numerous decades. Communication initiatives also foster the blending between local/indigenous knowledge and ‘technical’ information for development. Indeed, recognition of the resourcefulness of traditional agricultural knowledge systems and their complementarity with ‘scientifc’ innovation systems is a growing area of interest today (FAO 2015). Communication can generate capacity development, empowerment and positive social change. Access to information, combined with the preservation of traditional skills and knowledge systems, can bring novel solutions to food insecurity, providing effective avenues for sustainable development. Information is a basic and fundamentally important element in any development activity. Finding ways to harness it more effectively to assist those making decisions affecting the sustainability, productivity and proftability of their livelihoods is a priority concern (DFID 2000, 2002). In addition, the promotion of sustainable rural development strategies, including sound management of natural resources, is a central concern of agricultural information systems. Economic opportunity for sustainable livelihood is one of the major constraints to addressing the needs of indigenous and tribal people. Besides they have lack of access to markets, fnancial resources and stable sources of production to alleviate poverty and food insecurity. Creating income-generating opportunities and building long-term capacities for stable rural employment are central components of FAO’s work and an objective of sustainable and self determined development (FAO 2015). Providing Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 88 (12): 1897–1902, December 2018/Article https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v88i12.85443