Himalayan Bio-Resources Innovations

The Himalayan region, which is rich in bio-resources, also has a rich knowledge system. Although some are documented in research articles, news articles, books, and classical codified literature,  much remains to be documented and disseminated across the states in the local language. We are building a bilingual (Hindi and English) database of 1000 innovations and knowledge of the farmers, artisans,  mechanics, women, etc. The absence of a multilingual multimedia database of farmers’ innovations and knowledge may lead to “reinventing the wheel” in different geographies. Many of the local practices may have commercial value as well. Our idea is to document, disseminate, augment and trigger bio-enterprises based on socially or commercially viable technologies from and for the Himalayan region. The proposed platform will have innovations and traditional knowledge of agriculture, animal husbandry, culinary packable (pre-cooked)  dried dishes of uncultivated plants/weeds, etc., food and agro-processing, OTC herbal formulations, vegetative dyes, fibres, etc. An e-commerce platform and a catalogue listing of the best bio products from the Himalayan states and Union territories, supplemented by local market interventions, will be one of the concrete outcomes besides the bilingual database. The platform shall also aggregate products from the other programme-implementing agencies. While market linkages of entrepreneurial ventures of validated and value-added products will be facilitated, the adoption of climate-smart agriculture and resilient varieties will be facilitated through on-farm trials. If successful, this platform will become a resource for a) sustainable herbal biotechnological solutions, b) innovative small farm equipment, and c) nutritious recipes for uncultivated plants/weeds, providing alternate sources of nutrition for economically poor sections and other products of the region.