On the 9th of June, 2022, NESFAS’ latest project “Rice-centric Community Seed Banks for Healthy and Resilient Food Systems” was inaugurated by Shri James P K Sangma, honorable cabinet minister, Government of Meghalaya, at Sadolpara in West Garo Hills
NESFAS and its communities have been regarded as guardians of the Indigenous FoodSystems (IFS) for the continued work to promote and conserve the traditional food systems and the agrobiodiversity that supports these systems.
Samingre is a small, peaceful village of 100 households, located in West Garo Hills. The village is self-sufficient and most of its people are dependent on agriculture. Samingre is an active and promising partner village of NESFAS. The Community Hall renovation project undertaken by NESFAS has been successfully completed in 2021, and the recent monitoring and cluster workshop was conducted there for Community Facilitators from all of the partner villages of NESFAS in Garo Hills.
A virtual event was organized by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 20th May on World Bee Day to commemorate the diversity of bees and beekeeping systems, also highlighting pollinator experts and practitioners from across the world.
Before the intervention of SURE and NESFAS, farmers of the Mulum community in West Jaintia Hills preserved their seeds in the traditional method that had been practised since the olden days - the seeds were either kept hanging above the fireplace or wrapped in a cloth and kept near the fireplace.
NESFAS facilitated an exposure visit on May 12, 2022 for the 2nd Semester students of Bachelor of Social Work, St Edmund's College at Khweng, Ri-Bhoi. The programme saw the participation of 36 students. The main objective of this exposure visit is to collaborate with various NGOs for their study tour and rural camps as part of their curriculum and also to understand the works done by such organisations.
