Meghalaya: Agro biodiversity walk help youths learn wild edibles and herbs in Jaintia Hills

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 6, 2020

To facilitate the youths about the richness that nature has to offer, the Society of Urban and Rural Empowerment (SURE) in collaboration with North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS) on September 4 organized an Agro Biodiversity Walks at Mulum village under Laskien Block, West Jaintia Hills.

The program is part of the ‘No one shall be left behind initiative’ project which is supported by REC and implemented in some villages in Meghalaya and Nagaland. 

The main purpose of conducting the ABD walk is to help the young generation of the village learn and appreciate the rich biodiversity of the area and the importance of protecting Mother Nature and its richness. This ADB walk helped identify and document 25 local plants, 9 wild edibles, and 5 herbs. 

Member of the youth club, the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) group, and Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the village total number of 30 people took part in the ABD walk to identify edibles which start from the kitchen garden and end at the nearby forest.

Two knowledge holders of the community Reviancy Suchiang, who is also the member of the Agro biodiversity Learning Circle (ALC) and PGS group and Marki Lamare guide these walk and introduce the group to the various local plant, wild edibles, and medicinal herbs. 

In the garden Reviancy Suchiang shared her knowledge about the local plants which the community has been cultivating and used for many generations and in the forest, she identifies wild edibles, fruits and shared the different ways of how these wild edibles were used while Marki Lamare, a young herbal medicine practitioner in the village shared his knowledge about medicinal herbs available in the vicinity of the village.

Earlier in the programme, Daka Bareh Field Coordinator SURE, welcome the entire group and highlighted the importance of local food for good health and also enlightened the group about Agrobiodiversity.

Hamsniawpher Suchiang Community Facilitator said that the goal of conducting the ABD walk is to help the group know how to appreciate the rich biodiversity in Nature and to instill in them the need to preserve it.

Suchiang also observed that the youths of today are detached from nature; they have lost touch with nature and she encouraged the youths present in the gathering to reconnect with nature.

After the walk, the cooking demonstration was held in the forest where the group cooked a healthy sumptuous meal using ingredients that were collected from the walk.

The group particularly the youths enthusiastically participated in the program and when given the opportunity they raised questions which were clarified by the knowledge holders.

Dawanroi Suchiang also shared the same concern that youth now a day’s don’t respect Mother Nature anymore. She cited an example of young people cutting the branches of a tree instead of just plucking the fruits they need.

Phrang Suchiang 70 years old man and a custodian farmer said that he loathes people who destroy nature. He suggested the need of imposing fines by the village dorbar to people who destroy nature.