Garo Hills village that cultivated rice 6,000 yrs ago still in neglect
SHILLONG: Sadolbra village (commonly called Sadolpara), around 30 km from Rongram Block in West Garo Hills, preserves and cultivates a unique rice dating back to thousands of years passed on to generations after generations.
During a recent visit to the ethnic Garo village consisting believers of traditional faith (Songsarek), the villagers revealed their commitment to preserve the different varieties of Mi Ma (mother rice) in the village consisting of eleven localities. While some studies say the rice variety being cultivated by Sadolbra village dates back to over 6,000 years ago, the villagers say their practice of cultivating the Hill rice is from time immemorial. The uniqueness of rice had prompted International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to entrust famed film personality Mira Nair to produce a documentary in 2003 on the ancient practice of rice cultivation in Sadolbra.
The film, ‘Still, the Children are Here’, directed by Dinaz Stafford, was released in 2004. The documentary highlights that the villagers of Sadolbra started cultivating rice six thousand years ago.
The exposure of the village to the outside world through the documentary on rice cultivation, however, has not improved their plight or the promotion of the varieties of rice being cultivated by the villagers which include Mi Gitchak (red rice), Mi Gisim (black rice), Minil (sticky rice) and Migra (ordinary).
While the film depicts the 6000 years’ tradition of keeping the rich collection of rice varieties like a genetic store in the village, the hamlet provides scope for further research and development of the rice variety for large scale cultivation elsewhere.
The age-old tradition of cultivating the unique variety of rice for the villagers is now for survival in the context of the fast changing world around.
The method of cultivation of the hill rice organically is that first the trees and weeds are cut and burned to prepare the fields for planting the rice. Every family cultivates the rice and keeps them in granaries for use by both men and women.
“This year the yield was good,” said Gingan Marak, a close relative of the Nokma.
According to Marak, people know only to cultivate the indigenous variety of rice.
“We do not know anything about the new variety of rice. Nobody has planted here the rice variety from outside. We do not sell the rice to the people outside, but cultivate them in the hills only for our consumption,” he said.
According to a woman cultivator Gonsi Sangma, the variety of rice they cultivate is tastier and it has more resistance power. Kislou Marak, her husband also echoed the same.
The indigenous variety of rice gene bank needs protection as well as promotion, admitted the villagers who, however, said that there was neither any government intervention nor the attention of the policy makers from the State and the Centre.
Though the documentary on the rice cultivation was the basis of a mega project by the State government to protect and preserve Meghalaya’s unique tradition, through the ‘Meghalaya Mission for Indigenous Knowledge’, there was hardly any follow up action.
The concept paper for the Mission was released by the State government during a conference on biodiversity on the concluding day of the 96th National Science Congress at the NEHU campus in 2009.
During the release of the concept paper, former Lok Sabha speaker and the then chairman of the state planning board, PA Sangma, had said the Meghalaya Mission for Indigenous Knowledge would be the basis for future efforts of the State government to explore the rich potential the state has in the field of traditional knowledge which is yet to be properly documented.
Former IAS official from city Toki Blah was one of the members of the Meghalaya knowledge mission.
When contacted, Blah admitted that there was no follow up action by the government. Blah added that no one knows who planted the variety of rice in the village as it can be in existence centuries ago.
“We need to preserve the indigenous gene bank. We also have to look into the same variety of rice found elsewhere in the Northeast which also needs documentation,” he said.
According to Blah, the district council can play a role to protect the gene bank for posterity.
Dhrubajyoti Nath, Director, Finance , North East Region Community Resource Management Project, an initiative of IFAD, said the film has helped in documenting the age-old tradition of the community and now it is up to policy makers to carry forward further livelihood initiatives.
Nath who worked in Garo Hills since 2001 to 2006 as part of the project said that ICAR, Umiam can take steps to carry out research on the rice variety being cultivated by Sadolbra villagers as once the indigenous rice variety becomes extinct, it will be difficult to revive.
