By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 9: In a bid to pave the way for further research on and development of a 6,000-year-old rice species in Garo Hills region, a community seed bank project has been launched by the government for the preservation and promotion of the same.
The project was launched by Forest and Environment Minister James Sangma in Sadolpara, West Garo Hills, on Thursday and will be facilitated by the North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS) in association with ELP Foundation.
Speaking on the occasion, Sangma said one of the agendas of the project is to understand the scope for its development so that large-scale cultivation could be made possible with the help of local communities.
“Dramatic changes are happening to our biodiversity today due to climate change. In such situations, it becomes important to identify and preserve such rice species because they are climate-resilient and therefore, a dependable source of food,” Sangma said.
“As of now, most of our rice comes from states like Andhra Pradesh, which also bears a significant cost to our state. As the Sadolpara species has withstood the test of time, it is both nutritionally and economically beneficial for Meghalaya,” he added, while also highlighting the potential boost for the local economy.
The species are currently found in the hill slopes of Sadolpara and are not resource-intensive to grow as compared to usual paddy, which requires submergence in large volumes of water.
The species were first promoted by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) wherein the organisation partnered with celebrated filmmaker Mira Nair to produce a documentary in 2003 — Still, the Children are Here.
“NESFAS will be collaborating with the local community who will be the active stakeholders, eventually running the seed banks. It will be very meaningful to have a rice-centric seed bank at Sadolpara because of its historic significance dating back to the Sumerian civilisation. There are 17 varieties of rice at present in Sadolpara village, out of which seven have unfortunately disappeared over the years. Efforts will be made to interact with other neighbouring villages to bring back those that have been lost and have all the 17 species. It is our bid to preserve the seeds physically along with the traditional knowledge embedded within these seed varieties,” the minister said.
The project launch was attended by farmers of Sadolpara, local Nokma, researchers from NESFAS and members of the ELP Foundation.
The villagers also presented a Dorua – a traditional practice of story-telling on rice.
“We are solely dependent on the farming of these rice species and despite requests for nearly two decades, no initiatives were taken here. We are happy that finally someone is taking active steps to give us the recognition we were deserving of for years,” a local farmer said.
