Harnessing the Indigenous Knowledge Base Associated with Horticultural Enterprise for Sustainable Development of North Eastern State, Manipur, India (original) (raw)
Related papers
Importance & need of indigenous knowledge
Over the centuries, innovations coupled with man’s search for excellence and creativity has made such developments possible. Even today, a few communities around the globe who practice their indigenous knowledge, local innovations and creativity for their day to day life. Based on their rich ecological knowledge, they manage and conserve natural resources and biodiversity. Conserving natural resources and maintaining biodiversity to achieve sustainable agriculture by the communities take place through their traditional ecological knowledge, collective decision making process and local democratic institutions. Besides all these, people’s belief, taboos and customs facilitate sustainable farming and protect the environment. Their traditional agricultural systems are based on rich indigenous ecological knowledge gained over generations. The field preparation, choice of crop, varieties and season of sowing, intercultural operations, nutrient management, soil and water conservation, eco-friendly pest and diseases control measures, harvest and storage methods showcase their rich traditional knowledge on sustainable agriculture and natural resource management techniques.
International Journal of Agricultural Invention, 2020
Integrated crop management strategy is inadequate without involvement of indigenous knowledge. Indigenous Technical Knowledge based on local knowledge of environment, natural resources and peoples' experience accumulated over many years. Further, the traditional technologies are eco-friendly because of being free from use of chemicals. North Eastern states are the sleeping giants and considered as store house of indigenous knowledge base due to presence of many different tribes which may be helpful in utilizing their practices for sustainable development of the rural areas without hampering the ecological pursuits of the region. The horticulture is one of the important enterprises of the north eastern hill region people and their management practices are ancient, indigenous and traditional in nature. Therefore, it is important to explore the indigenous knowledge base associated with the horticultural enterprise in the north eastern region for sustainable development. Keeping the above consideration in view, the present study is conducted to document the utilization of Indigenous knowledge system by farmers in the production of horticultural enterprise in North Lakhimpur district of Assam. The participatory methodology was followed to construct and conduct the whole research study. The key informant methods and focus group discussion methods were followed to collect the information.
Environmental Management, 2021
Globally, Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKSs), which have evolved through rigorously tested methods and practices, are a testimony of human intelligence and endurance. The diversity of goods such as food, beverages, herbs, etc., and its associated systems, which form an integral part of modern cuisine and healthcare systems, are deeply rooted in IKS and immensely contributing to overall well-being of mankind. The present study is an attempt to document and understand the contribution of indigenous and local knowledge to biodiversity conservation and management. Appreciation to the value of traditional and indigenous knowledge is globally recognized for their principles of coexistence and sustainable use practices. Past studies indicate a strong relationship between indigenous knowledge and sustainable development goals. This knowledge is valuable not only to dependent communities, but also to the modern world for ensuring food security and human well-being. The documentation of such valuable knowledge is therefore fundamentally essential for mainstreaming and strengthening the discourses on sustainable ecosystem management, and to address the preponderance of poverty among indigenous communities. Amid the changing scenario of consumption and the trend of revisiting nature-based solutions, the IKS hold a tremendous scope of engaging the community people in sustainable harvest and utilization of natural resources.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, 2017
This paper focuses on application and documentation of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) which is a local knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. It is a key element of the social capital of the poor and constitutes their asset in their efforts to gain control of their own lives. The flow of indigenous knowledge communication is necessary for preservation, development and sustainability of local wisdom. The study is based purely on secondary sources. Indigenous traditional knowledge system consists of an integrated body of knowledge system which tends to focus on different aspects of agricultural sciences i.e. agriculture, home science, animal care & soil and water conservation. It can be concluded that traditional knowledge is vital for the well-being and for sustainable development as it has evolved after thousands of years of observation and experience. By linking the indigenous knowledge systems of the people with farmer, research and extension, the output of researches can be made more fertile and usable. The participatory Mini-review Article
This paper is a theoretical investigation to identify the relationship between traditional knowledge theory and the impact of ‘absence’ the latter on continuity of Indian historic landscape. The understanding of this relationship is becoming increasingly critical in post-colonial India if the growing dissociation of people and their context is to be prevented and to prepare effective policies which recognize the potential to safeguard ecological balance sustainably. Indian Historic landscapes are epistemic construct or can be considered a creation of collective intelligence. Such geo-cultural expanses embody generations of resource and context specific practices that were evolved to ensure protection and management of natural resources for communities thrived productively. Every geo-cultural region in India shows such a pattern where each or a number of ethic group inhabit eco-sensitive zones and have a series of well defined ‘codes of conduct’ with which individuals and groups (of varied scale and composition) interface with each other and with the landscape. Such codes of conduct and types of interfaces formed a part of the common knowledge shared through a highly evolved system of communication which not only ensured the continual sharing and protection of the information, but also lent people and their community a distinct identity, established their association with their context and most importantly enabled life without creating pressures on the resource. All traditional landscapes (of India) reflect a gamut of well-co-ordinate knowledge systems that governs life and use of resources in context, where the meta-cognitive knowledge exists within the community while its procedural knowledge is owned by specific persons or groups. With the change in properties of context (geo-physical features, natural resources, climatic conditions, flora and fauna), the interfaces and modes of communication of the inhabitants with their environment is modified to protect and maintain resources and support habitation pattern. The operation of such systems had continued unbroken till the 18th cent CE when a new system of resource management was forcefully introduced to dissociate man from his landscape. The superimposition of the Victorian mind for more than two centuries has resulted in severing the bond of men with his landscape and ultimately questioning and living in denial of his traditional self. As a result, with the passage of time, the traditional mainstream has become ‘minority’ and their knowledge is no longer ‘valid’ or competent to manage the landscape which they once sculpted. Today India stands at the cross roads of change. On one side is a scavenged landscape supporting global aspiration and on the side is the growing consciousness towards ‘traditions’ and the relevance of the same in resource management. There are two forces which work against re-integrating the new community with their resource. First, the intellectual amnesia, as the colonized mainstream-mind can no longer accepts the existence and importance of learning from tradition. While the second is the non-conventional form of traditional knowledge i.e. it exists as procedural knowledge which is context and lacks theory. Unlike on-going studies by geographers, biologists, sociologists who look at Indian historic landscapes as a by-product of a particular principle, this paper aims to identify the synchronized operation of hidden sciences which generated by a community or a group of communities to develop habitation systems in consonance with nature. Three landscapes (Braja Bhumi, Bishnupur and Majuli Island) have been selected for the purpose to show the importance and potential of traditional knowledge in developing effective policies for sustainable resource management. It also highlights the importance of the methods of knowledge generation, preservation and communication to determine how human-beings will ultimately impact the environment and validates ‘other’ forms of knowledge over theory.
Management of Indigenous Knowledge for Developing Countries
2010
Abstract—Indigenous knowledge refers to a large body of knowledge and skills that has been developed outside the formal educational system. It is embedded in culture and it is unique to a particular location and its culture. Although many authors in the past wrote masses about the importance of indigenous knowledge, its management is still lacking. However, management of indigenous knowledge can be essential for the food security and health of millions of people in the developing world.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems for Appropriate Technology Development
Indigenous People, 2017
Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) comprises knowledge developed within indigenous societies, independent of, and prior to, the advent of the modern scientific knowledge system (MSKS). Examples of IKS such as Ayurveda from India and Acupuncture from China are well known. IK covers diverse areas of importance for society, spanning issues concerned with the quality of life-from agriculture and water to health. The IK resident in India and China have high relevance to rural life, especially given the level of engagement with agricultural and health technologies. The goal is to establish a heuristic whereby IK can be reviewed and evaluated within particular contexts to determine if the IKS can lead to the development of appropriate technology (AT) addressing that need sustainably. Although much work on cataloguing and documenting IKS has been completed in these two countries, a paucity of attention has been paid to the scientific rationale and technological content of these IKS. Evaluation of many indigenous technologies reveal that many of these technologies can be classified as 'appropriate', focused on basic needs of water, sanitation and agriculture, and many have origins in IKS that survived. Thus, IKS must be validated, exploited and integrated into AT innovation and development.