Shillong, Oct 15: Jasenta Ranee learnt farming from her father. Today, the shifting cultivation farmer from Nongtraw in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills continues to work the land, even as unpredictable rains and hailstorms make farming increasingly challenging.
Her story is now part of A Farmer’s Daughter, a short film by filmmaker Ibapdianghun Myria that documents Ranee’s farming practices, her concerns over saving seeds and the women who work alongside her.
The film was screened at Mawstep on Thursday, alongside a photo exhibition featuring women farmers from Meghalaya. Organised by The Locavore and the North East Society for Agroecology Support (NESFAS) on National Women Farmers’ Day, the event brought together 30 community members and 50 schoolchildren from 10 villages.
For Ranee, seeing her life and farming practices documented was an opportunity to share her experiences with a wider audience.
“I am very happy that Ibapdianghun and Queeneerich came to our village to film our traditional farming practices,” she said.
“My children were also featured in the film, and I’m grateful to be part of this film because I’m getting a chance to show others (the general public) my knowledge, my life as a farmer,” she added.
The exhibition featured more than 10 photographs documenting the lives and work of women farmers. It was the culmination of four months of fieldwork by Myria, an audiovisual fellow, and Queeneerich Kharmawlong, a writer-researcher fellow under The Locavore’s Woman Farmer Project.
Between May and August this year, the two visited villages across the Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi and West Jaintia Hills to document women’s experiences and traditional farming practices.
The project brought together six early-career women journalists and filmmakers from Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for training in field reporting and storytelling.
At Mawstep, the fellows walked community members through the photographs, sharing experiences from their visits and explaining how the stories had taken shape. The screening was followed by a discussion on how the women farmers had been portrayed and how they viewed their own work.
The programme also sought to introduce younger people to local food systems and farming traditions. Fifty schoolchildren attended the exhibition and screening and took part in a game on Meghalaya’s food biodiversity.
For Queency Riahtam, a college student from Nongtraw, the film offered a reminder of the importance of farming.
“Especially as someone who was born and brought up in an urban area, I did not have much opportunity to engage in farming,” she said.
The film made her reflect on the need to keep farming alive, irrespective of educational qualifications, she added, describing it as essential to food security.
She also thanked NESFAS and its leadership for helping young people learn about wild foods and revive traditional farming practices.
NESFAS executive director Pius Ranee said the partnership with The Locavore had helped take community stories beyond the villages and bring them into wider public discussions.
The organisation has worked with Indigenous communities across Northeast India, with a focus on women’s role in safeguarding biodiversity, food traditions and local knowledge.
Alethea Kordor Lyngdoh, deputy executive director of NESFAS, said the fellows had brought the farmers’ experiences to life through their work.
Chef Thomas Zacharias, founder of The Locavore, said the project sought to draw attention to the knowledge women apply in their everyday farming decisions and the demands they face in sustaining local food systems.
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