Chengu festival celebrated at Kivikhu village
Dimapur, Nov. 23 (EMN): Tizu Valley Biodiversity Conservation and Livelihood Network (TVBCLN) celebrated the second Chengu (Great Barbet) festival at Kivikhu village under Zünheboto district on November 22 with G Kaito Aye, Minister of Agriculture and Co-operation, as the special guest.
Speaking at the celebration programme, Aye lauded the sincere effort of TVBCLN in conservation of natural resources and urged them to persevere in acquiring more knowledge and educate other neighbouring villages.
While assuring all assistance in his capacity to help in the initiative taken by the three villages, he looked forward to more success stories on biodiversity conservation in the days to come. On the occasion, Aye also released two Chengu bird which was rescued by TVBCLN members from the hunters to mark the festival.
Supongnukshi Ao, CCF and NSBB member secretary, delivered a talk on sustainable use of biological resources, while short speech was delivered by Raj Kumar M, DFO Zünheboto.
In the cultural session, several cultural items such as such as Ami Kukula, tug-of-war, war dance and spear kicking were displayed by the three villages of Kivikhu, Ghukhuyi and Sukhai.
A free medical camp was also conducted by the medical department, veterinary department and ATMA during the festival.
TVBCLN consists of three villages namely Sukhai, Ghukhuyi and Kivikhu.
An update from the organising committee stated that the name of the festival drew its significance from the fact that the great barbet has since time immemorial had strong cultural attachment to the community in the area. The main concept of the festival was to create mass awareness campaign on the importance of biodiversity and its conservation.
In a run-up to the festival, many events and activities including workshops, trainings, seminars and cultural exchange programmes with other neighbouring villages were conducted. The cultural exchange programme was strategically included to bring other neighbouring villages to participate in the programme while also spreading awareness for community participation towards biodiversity conservation.
For activities such as workshops, seminars and trainings, resource persons were roped in from NGOs, agencies and government officials from various departments. The participants were divided as per the target group ranging from school children to elderly group as well as women folk and youth.
The activities included training for BMCs and their roles, while the youth and students were sensitised on their roles towards conservation and sustainability of bio-resources and women were asked to form SHGs.
