Meghalaya Mission for Indigenous Knowledge has found a 6000-year-old traditional species of rice in the Garo hills of the state. [...] Women are the caretakers of these varieties of rice. They select the right varieties for cultivation and handle processing and storage of rice. Men help in cultivation and manage the fields. ”These hardy strains of rice must be protected and should not be contaminated by any hybrids or genetically modified (GM) crops,” the document paper of the Meghalaya Mission for Indigenous Knowledge noted.