A Folk Expert System: Soils Classification in the Colca Valley, Peru

Abstract

The agropastoralists of the Colca Valley, Peru, have achieved an enviable record of maintenance of soil fertility in their terraced fields over more than a millennium. This paper concerns the native classification of soils in that region, part of a larger team study that examined the indigenous knowledge of land use and management in the Quechua-speaking community of Lari. Soils classifications were obtained from ten primary informants. This study employed ethnoscienceprocedures, such as controlled elicitation, general sorting tasks, and triadic sorting tasks. These data were then used, in consultation with native farmers, to prepare two models of a Folk Expert System of the indigenous knowledge of soils classification. The FAI/SOILS models comprise the first Folk Expert System to be reported. Construction ofthe Folk Expert System led to a simple class~fication ofsoils byfertility which, with soil quality categories and other considerations, is useful in predicting crop and field management strategies. Further, thefolk classification may be compared with some aspects of the Western scientific classification. [expert systems, folk classification, knowledge acquisition, soil classification, Quechua]