An Introduction to Agricultural Anthropology: Pathway to Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

The ultimate goal of agriculture is to produce food. All of the agricultural practices are done by people. So, agriculture deals with crop and people who are engaged in agriculture. The aim of this article is to introduce a new branch of applied anthropology, which is Agricultural Anthropology as the breakthrough for sustainable agriculture. It also presents a clear understanding about the concept of Agricultural Anthropology and the inter link between Anthropology and Agriculture. A meta-analysis method was administered to obtain the objectives. Agricultural Anthropology deals with a techno-economic combination that explains the socio-cultural and ideological components and their interaction with the natural environment. The article argues that there is a strong relationship between agriculture and anthropology. It further contends that Agricultural Anthropology is necessary to conduct agricultural learning and research by using anthropological methodology especially for studying agrobiodiversity conservation, participatory and collaborative research involving farmers, farmers’ technology adoption behavior, and historical study of some dangerous diseases and insect pest of crops. This article proposes that it is high time to integrate Agricultural Anthropology into agricultural sciences and its related disciplines for developing participatory technology for sustainable agriculture.