Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), Shillong organized a seminar themed “Embracing Indigenous People’s Food system” on 27th September 2022, to commemorate the National Nutrition month. The seminar saw the participation of students and faculty members of the Dept. of Nutrition & Dietetics, MLCU.
NESFAS Senior Associate for Nutrition, Chenxiang Marak, was the guest speaker at the seminar and shared the experience of the partner communities and NESFAS in the field of nutrition. She highlighted the resilience of the Indigenous People’s Food Systems (IPFS) as game changing solutions for food and nutrition security.
The objectives of the programme is to promote and highlight the nutritional importance of indigenous food and also to emphasize the need for healthy nutrition and healthy eating while addressing malnutrition.
Chenxiang stressed on the NESFAS study on the agrobiodiversity mapping in 32 communities that showed high diversity of crops and wild edibles. It was found that the average number of food plants within these 32 villages of Meghalaya and Nagaland was 202.
The importance of the use of diversity of cereals and millets in the diet to improve micronutrient adequacy was also shared.
On another note, the communities source their food crops from forests, kitchen gardens, paddy fields like for example Khweng village which has high access to wild edibles, fish and crab, was pointed out at the seminar. The communities have also been preserving local seeds and practicing seed exchange to strengthen crop diversity.
“There is a need to bring more knowledge about the value of indigenous food systems because they are the game-changing solutions that are going to be at the forefront of a sustainable and resilient future”, Chenxiang concluded.
