Introducing Agronomy Students to the Concepts of Indigenous and Cultural Knowledge

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge is the knowledge of the practitioner based on generations of experience. While not scientific in origin, it is usually valid. When we ignore either indigenous knowledge or cultural knowledge, research and extension programs cannot fully succeed. Failure to recognize and utilize this knowledge is in part due to our training and heritage. Unless we educate the next generation of agronomists to consider indigenous knowledge, it will continue to be ignored, and help is available to agronomists to collect this information. Successful cooperative activities between ethnoscientists (those who study indigenous knowledge) and agronomists have been undertaken. New centers to address these issues are appearing on university campuses. Teachers need to give students examples of successes and failures to serve as an example in their future planning. Such efforts can lead to the development of agricultural systems that will be agronomically, environmentally, and economically sound, and because they recognize more than just the scientific viewpoint, will be more likely accepted from the human perspective of the practitioner.