Uncultivated food festivals held

Gradual depletion of biodiversity is one of the climate change impacts as said climate change expert and researchers. BARCIK, the non-governmental organization is striving to facilitate primary resource users conserving biodiversity by maintaining sustainable use and management of these resources. As part of its facilitating initiatives, BARCIK is currently implementing activities in its working areas to encourage grassroots people conserving biodiversity as well as to promote the right of these people who have been conserving biodiversity through their daily lives and livelihoods.

However, uncultivated food festival is one of the campaigning activities of BARCIK which has been implemented in Shymanagar and Manikgonj recently by this organization. Rural women, who have been collecting wild spinaches and earn their livings, participated in the festivals. 10 Rural women in Shymnagar collected Amra, Pepul, Helencha, Kolomy, wild potato, Katha, Ghora Senchi, Khudkuri, Thankuni, Telakucha, wild lily, Ghum, Shazne, Dudh, Adabarun and some other unknown wild vegetable and spinaches. They cooked the collected vegetable and spinaches and feed the participants attended in the festivals. Agriculture official in Shymanagar having the test of cooked wild vegetable and spinaches appreciated the initiative taken by BARCIK with the aim to facilitate grassroots women conserving and protecting biodiversity. He said, “Vegetable and spinaches are very useful for one’s health though we concentrate on buying big fish and flesh in the market. These vegetable and spinaches grow naturally in the wet, plains and hilly lands. In order to protect biodiversity and ensure nutrition, we need to conserve these kinds of plants for our own sake.” He said, “ensuring nutrition does not mean that we need to buy expensive food from the market but the thing that we need to do is conserving the wild plants which the rural women have been doing  through their daily lives and livelihoods”.

Meanwhile rural women in Manikgonj collected 16 kinds of wild vegetable and spinaches such as Kolomy, Helencha, Sechi, Baita, Taka Thankun, Kharkun, arum, Dheki, Telakocha, Fechi, Katalitia, Kata Kochu, Pipul, Bewtha, Nunonita and Taka Noira in the food festival arranged in Horirampur sub-district of Manikgonj. Women cooked the collected wild vegetable and spinaches and feed all the participants.  Agriculture official of Manikgonj having the test of the collected food said, “We should all conserve and protect these kinds of wild vegetable and spinaches to ensure our food security as well as provide nutrition to our family members.” He said, “We need not use chemical fertilizers and pesticides to get these foods rather the only thing we need to do is protecting these plants from extinction.”

It is mentionable that almost people of all stakes participated in the food festivals campaign arranged by BARCIK and appreciated the unique initiative taken by the organization. BARCIK to encourage women doing this very task in their daily lives and livelihood, thus manage to reward the participants who took part in the cooking contest of the wild vegetable and spinaches.