The All Manipur Trained Medical and Aromatic Plants Promoters Consortium (AMAPCON), in collaboration with Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (India Seed Sovereignty Alliance), Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE) and ActionAid India, Northeast Region, will organise a three-day Northeast Indigenous Plant Seeds Festival at Central Agricultural University (CAU), Iroisemba, from December 16 to 18, 2026.
Announcing this at a press conference at CAU on Friday, AMAPCON president Potsangbam Devkanta said the festival would be held under the theme, “Plant Seeds for Peace and Harmony: Our Common Heritage, Cultivating Climate Resilience through Culture and Traditions.”
The festival aims to revive, protect and celebrate the rich agro-biodiversity of Northeast India by conserving indigenous seed heritage, empowering tribal and indigenous farming communities, and promoting sustainable and climate-resilient food systems for future generations.
Devkanta expressed concern over the rapid loss of native genetic resources in the Northeast, attributing it to development pressures, habitat destruction and changing agricultural practices driven by chemical-intensive farming.
He said the region’s diverse agro-climatic conditions and multi-ethnic communities possessed a rich agricultural heritage that needed to be protected and passed on to future generations.
The festival also draws inspiration from the National Indigenous Seeds Festival held in Manipur in 2019 and subsequent seed and biodiversity festivals organised across the Northeast.
The press conference was attended by Keishamthong MLA Nishikant Sapam, who is the chairman of the festival organising committee; cultural activist and researcher Mutua Bahadur; agricultural expert Meitalkeishangbam Thoithoi; and Chief Scientist Dr. Huidrom Birkumar of CSIR-NEIST, Lamphelpat.