Farmers, students and environmental groups gathered in Rajshahi’s Tanore to celebrate agrobiodiversity, promote indigenous seed conservation and highlight the links between trees, soil, water, wetlands and sustainable rural livelihoods.
Farmers, students, teachers and youth groups gathered beneath a 350-year-old tamarind tree in Mohor village of Rajshahi’s Tanore upazila on Thursday for an agrobiodiversity festival that highlighted the deep links between trees, soil, water, seeds and rural life.
Held to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity 2026, the event was organised under the theme “One Tree, One Ecosystem” by the Tanore Upazila People’s Organisation Coordination Committee, Green Coalition and the Bangladesh Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge, also known as BARCIK.
Organisers said the festival aimed to inspire people to rethink the interconnectedness of nature and to underline the importance of conserving indigenous biodiversity and agroecology.
They said a single tree supports an entire living system. Beneath its roots live countless microorganisms while its branches shelter birds, squirrels, bees and other beneficial insects. Fallen leaves enrich the soil and help create new life. A tree, they said, is not just a tree. It is life, agriculture and the planet itself. An ecosystem grows around an old tree.
The festival displayed 140 varieties of rice, vegetables and wheat seed. It also presented components of aquatic ecosystems including water lilies, lotus, snails and mussels, as well as fish, traditional environmentally friendly fishing gear, 45 species of uncultivated leafy vegetables, water collected from different rivers in the Barind region, soil diversity from the Barind region and an environment-friendly stove. Through these exhibits, organisers showed the relationships among different elements of the environment. Participating farmers also exchanged seeds among themselves.
The event was moderated by BARCIK programme officer Amrit Sarkar. Mohammad Atikur Rahman Atik, president of the Barind Youth Forum, presented the concept note of the agrobiodiversity festival and explained the significance of the International Day for Biological Diversity.
“Biodiversity is not only a question of wildlife or forests. It is the foundation of food, water, health, agriculture, the economy and culture,” Atik said. “Nature-based economy is now being seen as the future of global development. The biggest economic sectors including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, construction and food systems depend directly on biodiversity. Respecting, protecting and restoring our biological resources is now one of the most important responsibilities of our time.”
Farmers from 10 villages in Tanore upazila joined the programme along with teachers, students and members of youth organisations. Speakers discussed local initiatives taken to conserve biodiversity.
Jaidur Rahman, 55, a farmer from Duboil village and president of the Barind Seed Bank, said he cultivates 170 varieties of rice during the aus, aman and boro seasons every year to preserve indigenous rice diversity.
“I exchange those varieties with other farmers because if these rice strains disappear, our history, heritage and the Nabanna harvest festival of rural culture will disappear with them,” he said.
Setara Begum, 46, a woman farmer from Jagadishpur village, said she grows chemical-free vegetables and does not use any chemical fertiliser.
“I use organic pesticides. I preserve different kinds of seeds at my home and people from the area collect seeds from here,” she said. “In the past, many uncultivated leafy vegetables could be found around homesteads, but now they are disappearing. I grow 30 species of uncultivated leafy vegetables at my home. They provide me with nutrition and also help protect these plants from disappearing. I grow toxin-free vegetables and eat toxin-free food.”
Monika Tudu, 45, an Indigenous woman farmer from Mondumala village, said many edible snails, mussels and other aquatic species that were once part of local food and culture had already disappeared.
“I am working to conserve snails, mussels, water lilies and other aquatic plants in a pond,” she said. “This will help aquatic biodiversity survive.”
Nur Mohammad, 65, a self-taught agricultural scientist from Gollapara village, said biodiversity must be protected for the future and pesticides should not be applied indiscriminately on cropland.
He said many fish species and aquatic organisms had disappeared from Kumari Beel, known as a reservoir of biodiversity in Tanore upazila, because crops are cultivated beside the wetland and excessive pesticides and chemical fertilisers are used there.
He added that they had formed the Green Coalition and were holding discussions and meetings at different levels to stop excessive pesticide use in Kumari Beel and Beel Joana.
