Contribution of Indigenous Knowledge and Practices in Food Technology to the Attainment of Food Security in Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Indigenous knowledge and practices are important aspects of a society's culture and its technology. They include accumulated knowledge, as well as skills and technology of the local people, usually derived from their direct interaction with their local environment. These aspects need due recognition and full understanding and utilization because of the valuable contributions to food security, especially in African communities.Africa's people have traditionally utilized indigenous knowledge, skills and structures, most often locally developed and handed down in the course of centuries. Insufficient attention has been given to this local knowledge within the mainstream food security development and management interventions. However, there is now increasing awareness of the fact that technology includes not only energy sources and tools, but also knowledge and skills, as well as social organizations. It is, therefore, imperative to approach indigenous communities as partners and collaborators in all food security endeavors in order to realize the objective of sustainability. African communities offer a vast array of indigenous knowledge and practices in food technology that are favorable to the food supply, as well as to food quality and food safety and thus directly contribute to food security. As such, indigenous knowledge and practices in food technology that have proved capable of ensuring food security need to be implemented before considering the introduction of external ones if food security is to be realized in Africa. Emphasis of the same should be especially made for foods that are adapted to local conditions thus improving food access, safe food availability, and utilization to meet local and regional needs. This paper seeks to outline the numerous contributions and enormous potentials that indigenous knowledge and practices in food technology have in ensuring food security in Africa.