Sadolpara:
Hope sprung on Thursday for a strain of rice, which dates back to over 6000 years, when a community-based seed bank project was launched for its preservation and promotion at Sadolpara village in West Garo Hills.
The project helmed by the North-East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS) was inaugurated by James P K Sangma, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, in the presence of Pius Ranee, Executive Director, NESFAS and Senior Associate, NESFAS, Janak Preet Singh, along with other dignitaries and the village folk.
The species was first promoted by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) where the organisation partnered with celebrated filmmaker Mira Nair to produce a documentary in 2003, titled Still, the Children are Here, which documents the practice and tradition of rice cultivation in the village, passed down through many generations
However, ever since then, no significant steps were taken by previous governments or other public institutions to bring the species to prominence.
The community representative, Bimsing M Sangma presented a traditional folk song referred to as doroa, a form of Garo oral tradition that is not practised much these days. The particular doroa narrated the cultural belief of the Garos regarding the original story of rice. According to old Garo beliefs, the te.teng or fairy like creatures are the ones who first laid their hands on rice grains and distributed them across the world.
Chief Guest at the event, Sangma said, “Our culture is so intrinsically linked with our food. If we lose this, we will start losing our culture and tomorrow, we won’t have any identity. Such species of rice, which date back to more than 6000 years ago, cannot be found anywhere else except in a small village in China. It is everyone’s responsibility to preserve such species.”
Saying that the government and organisations such as NESFAS can only build the foundation, he urged the community to take up the responsibility of managing and operationalising the seed banks. The project aims to preserve the declining varieties of seeds as well as the traditional knowledge.
From seventeen traditional species of rice, seven have been lost. Efforts are being made to revive lost varieties from neighboring villages and also to identity and preserve any new varieties.
Sangma said the idea of the project was also to understand the scope for further research and development of the rice species so that large-scale cultivation could be 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, entailing a significant cost to our state. As the Sadolpara species have withstood the test of time, it is both nutritionally and economically beneficial for Meghalaya,” he added, also highlighting the potential boosts for the local economy.
The species is 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.
“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 civilization. It is our bid to preserve the seeds physically along with the traditional knowledge embedded in these varieties,” Sangma said.
Ranee in his speech said, “We are really grateful that Bah James has taken this initiative to protect the indigenous rice species in Garo Hills, starting from Sadolpara. We must remember, if we lose seeds, we’ll lose the language. If we lose the language, we’ll lose the culture.” he said.
“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.