Adivasi Women Train Youth on Forest Foods in India

Our work in Adukkam to have exchanges and training among women and youth on forest foods have extended.

This is a report of work done in villages of indigenous peoples in Bastar district, Chhattisgarh:
Kakalgur and Sandh Karmari. The idea was to have exchanges between the people of the villages,
especially the women and the youth, to improve their knowledge about forest foods. This included
growing some of the foods in selected plots for the youth to learn about their native food and
medicinal plants; the plots were (and will) be maintained by them and more species added as and
when new plants are found.

The plot chosen in Sandh Karmari is a 13 acre area given by the people of the village to our organisation LEAF about 15 years ago to set up a nursery and conservation space. This place was then quite barren and over the years planted with native tree species and protected. It is in this placewhere the food plants have been planted – mainly tubers – by the women of both the villages.

In Kakalgur the area chosen is in the outskirts of the village. The space was fenced and, in the
empty patches beween the native forest trees, various food and medicinal plants have been planted.
About 50 species are now hosted in the space.

Over the past months meetings have been held between the village communities and plants
exchanged for planting in their respective villages to increase the diversity of their plots. Alongside
the discussions held helped in sharpening identification of the plants, harvest methods, cooking and
storage techniques. Most important was that the youth in these communities showed much interest
in learning about their traditional food plants.In the plots the stones have been cleared to form
protective guards around some of the important plant species. This also marks them out for easy
spotting. This work was done collectively by the women and the youth of the village.

The ongoing work now with the plots and the communities is to continue the exchanges, have
regular food festivals and discussions to increase their overall knowledge about food plants and
conservation as a whole. Another activiity that has happened is that at least 7 of the women in the
core groups in the villages have their own kitchen gardens where they are growing some of the
tubers and greens for household consumption.

The full report is attached with photos. 

• Global_Giving_narrative_report.may26.pdf (PDF)
  

The Adukkam Resource Center and Forest Foods Field School partners with the Palni Hills Conservation (PHCC)  Council in the area on various trainings and learning exchanges on apiary and nursery management, for example. PHCC has existed for over 36 years, and actively partners with local organisations, farmers and environmentalists, and centers such as the Adukkam Resource Center. It provides hands-on expertise in  biodiversity conservation and resource management measures. Its other activities include grassland restoration, bio-gas generation, biodiversity and water monitoring.PHCC runs six nurseries, rearing saplings suited to different elevations, climactic and soil conditions. These nurseries assist with reforestation measures and serve as a bank for native species, and as learning sites and hands on management especially for community members, and traditional / local wisdom holders and ecology experts. 

We share with you one of the training videos suited for community learners and trainees on proper harvesting of apis cerana honey. 

Links:

• Harvesting Apis Cerana Honey