Our Lead Associate from NESFAS, Kong Gratia E. Dkhar was a keynote speaker at the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress (IAC) that took place on the 17th of November, 2021 via a virtual event. The Objective of the Annual Congress is to essentially promote agrobiodiversity and support an equitable food system; the event focused on revitalizing Indigenous Food Systems and addressed key issues and methods of improving the practices of food systems around the world.
“Indigenous Peoples’ governance systems promoted solidarity and dignity for all. Their abundance in traditional knowledge has however been neglected by the prevailing modern agriculture development and initiative. The richness in their nature based diet system is another game changing aspect, and their resilience is due to their respect towards nature and socio-cultural biodiversity and planetary boundaries. The modern approach of the green revolution has resulted to the marginal collapse and disaster. Today, the government department is interested in bringing back the old system to fix the broken green revolution system by adopting the practice of agro ecology or regenerative agriculture.”
— Phrang Roy, Founding Chairperson, NESFAS; Coordinator, TIP
The presentation took note of the rich and valuable indigenous culture which has guided us in better conserving agrobiodiversity. Gratia spoke of how we are the custodians of biodiversity and that community-led actions should be initiated to increase the consumption of local food.
The youth must be exposed to such concepts early on by means of school and community gardens; the role of women was spoken of with much gravitas and so was the integration of the Government in the recognition of the Indigenous Food systems and in the process of uplifting the same from the grassroots levels. A question was raised regarding the key challenges involved in increasing awareness about agrobiodiversity; this included the lack of involvement of youth, the need to promote local produce, and the lack of documentation and research.
A memorable and thought-provoking quote by Gratia from the event: “Agrobiodiversity is the foundation of resilience in the Indigenous Food Systems. The IAC provided an opportunity to share evidence of the role of Agrobiodiversity in positively transforming the food systems of Meghalaya, discuss models and existing solutions. We hope to build on this network and partnership to strengthen the capacity of these local food systems to contribute to global health, nutrition and livelihood.”
