A seed exhibition by women farmers from four khels of Thetsumi village was put up during the biodiversity festival held at Thetsumi in Phek District on December 15. (Photo Courtesy: NEN)
Biodiversity Festival held in Phek
Phek, December 17 (MExN): The North East Network (NEN) in collaboration with Thetsumi Women Society and SEWA Thetsumi Unit organised a biodiversity festival at Thetsumi in Phek District, Nagaland on December 15 under the theme “Celebrating resilience of bio diverse community.”
The programme was organised with the objective of bringing together community members – elders, leaders, women, youth, students to celebrate and deliberate on the importance of biodiversity for building community resilience in the COVID context; to acknowledge the contribution of custodians of biodiversity, and to share and exchange knowledge and experiences.
While welcoming the participants, Vetsope Venuh, VCC Thetsumi highlighted the need to value and uphold biodiversity, as its destruction has led to climate crisis and will deepen in the future if one do not take action.
Wekoweu Tsuhah, State Director, NEN Nagaland, in her keynote address highlighted the objectives of the festival and the context in which the festival is being organised.
Acknowledging the community people who serve as custodians of environmental protection, she further emphasised on the significance of biodiversity in sustaining rural communities at all times and especially during crisis like the current COVID pandemic.
Towards building resilience, she stressed on localisation and decentralisation - of food and economy; protection of common resources including land, seeds, forests, water, traditional knowledge; engaging youth and women in development processes, and strengthening solidarity.
Guest Speaker, Mesevekha Doulo, VDB Secretary, Thetsumi, in his address, reminisced about the rich biodiversity in the village, where diverse wild animals were found in abundance. He reminded about the interconnectedness of different life forms, the food chain, and the need to maintain ecological balance by respecting and conserving all life forms.
Doulo shared about the various initiatives undertaken by the community to conserve its biodiversity, and encouraged the participants to sustain traditional practices that are sustainable but discard unsustainable practices.
Vetepe-u Tsüzüh and Vekhuso Venuh shared stories on Foxtail millets and Job’s tears respectively. Vetepe-u talked about the different types of foxtail millets, cultivation seasons and the various challenges faced by communities. One such challenge is the wildlife attack on millets owing to shrinking of jhum lands and decreased millet farmers. Vekhuso pointed that Job’s tear is a climate resilient crop that can be grown under any climatic condition and soil fertility, and has medicinal values as well as high economic value.
Speaking on ‘what biodiversity mean to us’, Ngutsolo Doulo, Head GB stated that communities can remain self-reliant by protecting one’s biodiversity. Citing examples of some local trees that are climate resilient, pest resistant and that offer numerous ecological services, he asserted that these valuable trees should not be grown in a mono-cultural environment but should be in a bio diverse environment.
Vechüte-u Lasuh emphasised on the importance of agro biodiversity for health, nutrition, livelihood and ecological security. She called on the participants to recognise and acknowledge the contribution of bio diverse farmers who not only feed their families and rural community but also the urban population.
Wode Tsüzüh, President TSU in his sharing talked about the need to deconstruct development, rethink about adopting a sustainable lifestyle on a daily basis.
The programme saw the gathering of 122 participants representing the village council, GBs, VDB, youth society, women society, students’ union, church and SEWA members – weavers and farmers, stated a press release issued by Keviselhou Mepfhuo, Programme Associate, NEN Nagaland.
Other highlights of the programme included a seed exhibition by women farmers from four khels of Thetsumi Village, cultural songs, farmer’s market and food-value addition training facilitated by NEN members Neitshopeu Thopi and Munulu Chuzho where 14 participants, both men and women participated.
