• IPLCs occupy 30% of the planet and 80% of global biodiversity in their habitats.
• Seed collection from the wild serves as a foundation for plant multiplication.
• Community Seed Bank is crucial for food security and sustainable livelihood.
• Seed sowing festival is a tradition of exchanging seeds and ensuring crops’ genetic diversity.
Image: A lively group photo of Phalee on Seed-Sowing Festival.
Indigenous seeds conservation
Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLC) used wild species and diverse semi-domesticated crops as a part of their livelihood, culture, and festivals. IUCN reports that the IPLC make up 5% of the world’s population, occupying 28% of the globe’s surface, and 80% of the world’s biodiversity is available in the vicinity of tribal and indigenous people territories. They preserved tubers, roots, and seeds for yearly cropping. Correspondingly, significant numbers of indigenous landrace have developed over hundreds of years from continuous uses and bio-cultural practices through selection in our region. We celebrate the seed sowing festival blending with bio-culture to acknowledge and bless the upcoming agro-activities. Some of Ukhrul prominent landrace are Citrus jambheri of Kachai village with GI-446, Shirarakhong Chilli with GI tag, Coix lacryma-jobi of Northern Ukhrul, garlic of Talui, etc., and their promotion and sustainable management have the potential to provide sustainable livelihood to the local community. The traits of the plant species generally exploited by the Tangkhul community are color, size, texture, taste, and aroma.
However, traditional seed varieties have fallen wayward with the introduction of high-yielding varieties (HYVs) in the 1960s for higher yield, forcing farmers to abandon traditional varieties. The erosion of seed diversity is exacerbated by cash cropping, cultural change, climate change, and the monoculture farming system. Climate change, unpredictable rainfall, drought and turmoil reckon the importance of traditional seeds in the last few years. They are crucial for sustainable, resilient, and climate-friendly farming. The Indigenous seed varieties are inherently adapted to local ecological conditions and resilience against adverse climatic conditions and environmentally sustainable. They are pest-resistant and require limited use of fertilizers or chemical pesticides.
Traditional method of seed preservation
Our paddy granaries have been functioning for more than 100 years sustainably, and it’s the main reserve for unforeseen natural calamities or accidents, said Ningshem, who looks after one the church granary in Phalee. Diversified community seed bank (CSB) based on the traditional granary is essential for food security and sustainable livelihood. Seeds are generally stored mostly by farmers and women in various forms and states, sometimes still attached to plants and fruit, while some seeds are stuck on the wall or wrapped in cotton cloths and preserved, but till now it is at the family level. The tradition of plant seeds collection relies on the new moon lunar phase and dry weather as described by Yarkao, an nonagenarian farmer. The secondary leftover from decomposition and feeding from birds, animals, and insects are preferred provided the seeds are unharmed. However, each seeds have its own characteristics, most of the recalcitrant seeds need fire, boiling, or cracking treatment. Varamla, an octogenarian and a traditional knowledge (TK) holder, explained that animals and birds always picked the best fruits.
Indigenous seed varieties from the wild
Seed collection from the wild serves as a key foundation for plant multiplication in plantation and cultivated seed production systems for farmers till date. It provides a reliable and cheaper source of native seeds while limiting potential negative impacts on the natural population and food chain. However, the collection from the wild is in short supply to support the ever-increasing demand for native fruit and seeds for food processing, juice extraction, and value addition. The wild species are also declining due to deforestation, forest fires, unpredictable climate conditions, declining of pollinators, and conservation efforts. Interestingly, many native plants can be propagated through vegetative means like cutting, grafting and air layering in a controlled environment of greenhouse. The native seed bank and grafting in local cultivation settings have the potential to meet the rising demand for native seeds for nursery, food processing, and agro-forestry. The native seeds are also imperative for improving farming practices, production, ecosystem restoration, and innovation through double and mixed cropping. In the local setting, family-based seed conservation is effective and the women and farmers remained the guardian. We have estimated based on our nursery production (which required at least 20,000 seeds in a season), the business of seeds in a typical Tangkhul village will generate 10-20 lacs rupees per year which is a sizeable economy for a village. Seedling through purchasing non-local seeds is expensive and shrouded with failure of germination and infestation of different diseases, and it is not a sustainable approach.
Check this | Dr. Senganglu Thaimei’s ‘Birds, Beasts, and Blooms’ Launched Virtually: A Fusion of Proverbs and Art
Protecting biodiversity through seed conservation
Despite the wide availability of natural resources, the indigenous communities in many rural areas are contending with climate change and land degradation, pollution, and deteriorating the availability of native crops. Literature predicts our region is home to more than 3,000 plant species. Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee (RBP) recorded more than 1,700 plant species by groups while our community relies on a small number of about 500 plant species, out of which 22 species constitute the majority of daily calories which include cultivated and foraging crop plants (Image 1). TK holder, Yarkao said that only a few plant species are poisonous and non-edible in our region. Can we revive more neglected plant species used for our daily calories through conservation and sustainable management of resources? Therefore, protecting biodiversity goes beyond simply earmarking the most threatened and useful plants or seeds for conservation. It involves protecting the incredible genetic diversity contained within. This includes conserving the crop wild relatives of the foods we consume today by preserving their natural ecosystems (in-situ conservation) and storing their genetic material in seed banks (ex-situ conservation).
Image 1. Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee recorded 1,700 plants and counting from Phalee and surrounding villages, out of which about 500 species are in use-200 plant species are used for vegetable, cuisine, and herbal medicine plants, 37 are fruit bearing plants, 12 species are agricultural weeds, 80 are orchids, 16 are domesticated crop cultivars, 50 are ornamental, more than 100 species are fuel wood and a few species be algae, and moss and a few are under IUCN red lists (Image Courtesy: Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee).
Wild plants, neglected under-utilized crop species, and their wild relatives of the popular crops we consume, hold a much wider diversity of genes and traits that can unlock the potential to target challenges, including climate change, drought, disease, and pests. Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) 2011-2020, published by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), called for at least 75% of threatened plant species to be held in ex-situ collections, including living plants in botanic gardens, as well as at least 75% of known threatened plants to be conserved in-situ. Doing so adds security, makes seed collections more accessible to farmers, researchers, conservationists, and scientists, and helps foster relationships between communities, farmers, institutes, and other stakeholders.
Image 2. The indigenous agricultural crop seeds display in small packets. Indigenous seeds exhibition and competition with local SHGs during seed sowing festival on 20th March, 2023.(Image Courtesy: Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee).
People culture and seed conservation
The seed sowing festival is an annual event of the Tangkhul Naga community held between February and March. It is closely linked with our culture and livelihood. It is a tribute to our ancestral and agrarian culture to mark the beginning of seed sowing. However, recently the focus has shifted from agricultural culture celebration to entertainment. The RBP along with seed-saving groups, and individuals with the support of the village and the village network of local women’s SHGs initiated indigenous seed conservation at the local level (Image 2). The seeds are exchanged among the farmers to preserve local landraces, enhance climate resilience, and restore the local ecosystem. It is a part of a tradition of exchanging seeds and ensuring crops’ genetic diversity.
There is a huge gap in biodiversity conservation in our region and the rural communities can fill and come up with a solution backed by rich bio-cultural practices. The seed sowing festival of the Tangkhul community is a cultural heritage, one could learn all about the cultivation of crop plant varieties that define the village agriculture and horticultural settings. It also displays traditional skill, craftsmanship, bio-cultural practices, and other traditional artisanship. The seeds are the social and livelihood security of the farmers which constitute more than 70% of the Ukhrul population and the main pillar of local agrarian livelihood.
Check this | Ukhrul: A town of thousand dried pond
Conclusion
The cultivation of indigenous crops has the potential to make agriculture climate smart, genetically diverse, and sustainable. The most important benefits of local landrace crops are their field resistance to different prime pests and diseases, and they are highly adapted to the climatic conditions of the land. These crops are resilient to disturbing weather events and climate variability. The impact of climate change, disturbed weather systems on crops, uneven rainfall, crop failure, pest infestation, etc. are significant labor and financial burdens on the community. Even the local forest and ecosystems are so degraded that they are unable to deliver the expected services to support the survival of the community and it would be more difficult in times of such distress as evident from the COVID-19 pandemic and other social turmoil. Therefore, CSB is crucial for food security, resilience, and sustainable community livelihood.
The overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for cash cropping to get high yield causes physical and chemical degradation of the soil by altering the natural micro-flora and increasing the alkalinity and salinity of the soil. The higher yield comes at a huge socio-ecological cost such as environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, and increased vulnerability to climate change, land degradation, and decline in human health and livelihood. Therefore, restoring the link between crop diversity, climate resilience, and community livelihood is essential. Indigenous crops including the wild relatives and neglected under-utilized crop species have potential for local food security and livelihood. We can utilize traditional wisdom to preserve indigenous seed varieties, which are on the verge of extinction, to practice sustainable livelihood. The preservation initiative will immensely help small and marginal farmers in the region and at least 75% of threatened plant species to be held in ex-situ collections, as well as at least 75% of known threatened plants to be conserved in-situ.
This work is a part of study of Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee towards the North East India Bio-cultural Conservation Initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the National Biodiversity Authority and the United Nations Development Program.
Written by:
Rinyei Khamrang, Shimreishang Ngashangva, Wunglengam Zimik & Ng Ngashangva
Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee,
ngashangva.ng@gmail.com, phalee.rfb@gmail.com
This is not a Ukhrul Times publication. UT is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any reports or views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of Ukhrul Times.
About The Author
