A photo essay in Yes! Magazine titled, The Seed-Saving Farmers Who Pass Down Land to Their Daughters, showed how a matrilineal Khasi tribe passes on land to their daughters. Indian photojournalist, Rucha Chitnis, traveled to the village of Nongtraw in Meghalaya, where women pass down the knowledge of their food culture and seeds to their children. This story highlighted how indigenous women step up to the plate in myriad ways: they are keepers of the seeds, holders of traditional knowledge that enables them to gather medicinal plants and wild edibles in the surrounding forests, and gives them deep understanding of the ecology. Isn’t it time the world valued the knowledge and efforts of women farmers to feed their families and communities? We all can learn to live in harmony with Mother Earth.
Photo by Rucha Chitnis