Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 1993

USING IK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT ISSUES
AND STUDIES - D. Michael Warren

Developing countries have a valuable, but largely untapped, reservoir of indigenous agricultural and natural resource experience and knowledge. Development planners and policy makers are beginning to recognize the need to understand existing knowledge systems and decision-making processes as they focus their attention on the role that small-scale agricultural producers can play in achieving national food self-sufficiency. These systems influence current farming practices and responses of the small-scale producers to agricultural and natural resource policy initiatives and technological innovations.

Daunting problems

Dr. Oyetunji Aboyade, Chairperson for Nigeria's Presidential Advisory Committee, noted in a recent address presented at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture that we have '...learnt from experience that it is easier to throw money at the problems of smallholder agriculture than to painstakingly try and understand its logic, and build gradually on the established farming system... We now know and gracefully accept that the smallholder farmer and his farming system must be the centerpiece of the policy analyst as well as the operational focus of the research scientist. We also acknowledge that these problems are probably the most daunting that the development community has so far faced...'. The daunting nature of these problems is based on several observations. The overwhelming majority of the population in most developing countries are small-scale farmers working on less than two hectares each. These farmers represent hundreds of distinct language and ethnic groups. In most instances the knowledge systems of these farmers have never been recorded systematically in written form, hence they are not easily accessible to agricultural researchers, extension workers, and development practitioners. They have remained as invisible to the development community as the myriad of indigenous organizations operating in every rural community as forums for the identification of and search for solutions to community problems (Warren 1992b).

Recent case studies

Despite these difficulties, the situation is becoming less daunting due to a number of new circumstances. Based on a growing number of case studies, planners, policy makers, and agricultural researchers are recognizing the fact that an understanding of indigenous knowledge systems can play an important facilitating role in establishing a dialogue between rural populations and development workers. Some of the best recent studies have been produced by social scientists working in the CGIAR such as Rhoades and Prain (CIP), Fujisaka (IRRI), Lightfoot and Pullin (ICLARM), Ashby (CIAT), Dvorak (ICRISAT and IITA), Jodha (ICIMOD), and Rocheleau (ICRAF). These case studies recognize the active roles of rural people in problem definition and in the search for their solution through local level experimentation and innovation. The studies also explore the variability in a given knowledge system, particularly as this reflects gender-based occupational roles related to agriculture and natural resources management. CIAT and CIP/UPWARD have pioneered in farmer participation in on-farm trials and in playing active roles in crop germplasm research. Plant breeders at IRRI have responded very positively to farmers' perceptions of positive and negative characteristics of varieties of major crops such as rice, encorporating such feedback into their research agenda. ICLARM has actively involved farmers through the use of participatory rural appraisal techniques such as drawing of village transects and diagramming of bioresource flows. ICRISAT and IITA have demonstrated the importance of understanding indigenous soil classification and management systems in carrying out Farming Systems Research. Formal approaches to farmer-to-farmer exchange of information related to on-farm experimentation conducted in collaboration with national and international agricultural research centres have been very successful in programmes sponsored by IRRI. Agricultural economists such as Dommen and Titilola have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of incorporating indigenous knowledge components into agricultural research and rural development projects.

Most importantly, a growing network of regional and national indigenous knowledge resource centers is emerging that can play a fundamental role in carrying out inventories of a wide variety of indigenous knowledge systems that can help to shape the future directions of agricultural research in the international and national agricultural research centers.

Inventories

A wide array of types of inventories has been suggested that would be of immense value to international and national agricultural researchers and to agricultural extension workers:

* the types of indigenous organizations involved in development activities; * the types of indigenous specialists recognized within a community; * indigenous knowledge of animal breeding and production, animal disease classification, and ethnoveterinary medicine; * indigenous agricultural and natural resource management systems for aquatic resources, water and soil, domesticated and wild plants, crop varieties (including assessments of the negative and positive characteristics of each variety), and crop pest management; * human disease classification systems and use of herbal remedies in treatment of diseases, knowledge of relationship between food and nutrition status; * common property management; * knowledge relating to crop production, crop storage, food processing, and crop/food marketing; * examples of indigenous approaches to innovation and experimentation as responses to locally identified problems. The establishment of international data bases that include scientific and indigenous knowledge has already started with FISHBASE at ICLARM (See Articles, Some prose on a database on indigenous knowledge of fish) (Palomares and Pauly l992).

Research

In addition to the actual documentation of indigenous knowledge systems, there is need for research on the adaptibility of these systems in circumstances involving rapid population growth, environmental degradation, and shift from extensive to intensive approaches to agriculture and natural resource management. How national agricultural research and extension services can work with parallel indigenous systems also needs further exploration (McCorkle and McClure). Standard guidelines need to be developed that establish ethical standards in the use and release of indigenous knowledge, based on principles such as informed consent and right-to-know, intellectual property rights, compensation rights, breeders' rights, rights to choose, cultural rights, and other generally recognized human rights (Lamola). Research on national educational policy must be conducted to provide guidelines to indigenous knowledge resource centres working to introduce material on a nation's indigenous knowledge into the various educational curricula such as K-12, universities, and extension training institutes. Further exploration of the use of indigenous communication channels and their application in sustainable development must be carried out (Mundy and Compton). Effective mechanisms to ensure that local people are fully involved in the development of national and regional centres must be defined.

Role of national centers

National centers can provide a two-way conduit between the indigenous knowledge-based informal research and development systems and formal research. The centers can also further increase existing levels of awareness within the extension systems of the value of indigenous knowledge, developing the skills among extension agents to work with rural people to document their knowledge while identifying knowledge and technology needs that could be met either from other indigenous knowledge sources (in-country or from other countries) or from the formal research system (Quiroz l992). This would strengthen efforts of the training and visit approach to extension through which field agents are expected both to convey new knowledge to the farmers and to observe what farmers already know and practice, learning from the farmers' practices and knowledge in order to bring the farmers' views back into the system (Cernea et al. l983 and l985). A national indigenous knowledge resource center can serve as a focal point for the accession and storage of this invaluable knowledge gleaned through the extension system.

Already there are examples of collaboration between indigenous knowledge resource centers and members of the CGIAR. A recent inventory of Nigerian soil classification and management systems was sponsored jointly by the African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (ARCIK) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (Warren l992a). Currently the Regional Program for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge in Asia (REPPIKA) is discussing possible collaborative ventures with the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM).

A recent publication of the U.S. National Research Council (l992) states that 'Development agencies should place greater emphasis on, and assume a stronger role in, systematizing the local knowledge base--indigenous knowledge, 'gray literature', anecdotal information. A vast heritage of knowledge about species, ecosystems, and their use exists, but it does not appear in the world literature, being either insufficiently 'scientific' or not 'developmental'. The U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and other donor agencies can lend support to the collection and analysis of this important information through their resident offices or missions by providing support to local universities and research institutes as part of project and program development' (National Research Council l992: l0). The report stresses the important need to 'identify and characterize local and national institutions that currently record local knowledge and are most appropriate for recording and disseminating it' (National Research Council l992: lll).

D. Michael Warren Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development (CIKARD) 318 Curtiss Hall Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 USA Tel: +1-515-2940938 Fax: +1-515-2946058 E-mail:dmwarren@iastate.edu

The article is based on the draft of a concept paper exploring the potential utility of the global network of indigenous resource centres for international and national agricultural research centres. The author is grateful to those individuals who have provided valuable suggestions, particularly Gordon Prain (UPWARD/CIP), Sam Fujisaka (IRRI) and Michael M. Cernea (The World Bank).

Abbreviations

CGIAR: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CIAT: Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical CIP: International Potato Centre ICIMOD: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ICLARM: International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management ICRAF: International Council for Research in Agroforestry ICRISAT: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics IITA: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IRRI: International Rice Research Institute REPPIKA: Regional Programme for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge in Asia UPWARD: User's Perspective with Agricultural Research and Development

References

Aboyade, Ojetunji (l99l) Some missing policy links in Nigerian agricultural development. Ibadan: IITA.

Ashby, Jacqueline A. (l987) 'The effects of different types of farmer participation on the management of on-farm trials', Agricultural Administration and Extension 24:234-252.

Cernea, Michael M., John K. Coulter, and John F.A. Russell (l983) 'Strengthening extension for development: current issues and prospects', pp. 143-154 in M.M. Cernea, J.K. Coulter, and J.F.A. Russell (eds) Agricultural extension by training and visit: the Asian experience. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.

Cernea, Michael M., John K. Coulter and John F.A. Russell (l985) 'Building the research-extension-farmer continuum: some current issues', pp. 3-10 in M.M. Cernea, J.K. Coulter and J.F.A. Russell (eds) Research-extension-farmer: a two-way continuum for agricultural development. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.

Chand, S.P., B.D. Gurung and P.G. Rood (l99l) Farmers' traditional wisdom: where does it stand within the present agricultural research system of Nepal? Pakhribas Agricultural Centre Occasional Paper No. 4. Paper presented at the National Workshop on Regenerative Agriculture in Nepal. Kathmandu: Pakhribas Agricultural Centre.

Dommen, Arthur J. (l989) 'A rationale for African low-resource agriculture in terms of economic theory', pp. 33-40 in D.M. Warren, L.J. Slikkerveer, and S.O. Titilola (eds) Indigenous knowledge systems: implications for agriculture and international development. Studies in Technology and Social Change, No. ll. Ames: Iowa State University, Technology and Social Change Program.

Dvorak, Karen Ann (l988) Indigenous soil classification in semi-arid tropical India. Patancheru: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

Fujisaka, Sam (l992) 'Incorporating farmers' knowledge in international rice research', in D.M. Warren, D. Brokensha, and L.J. Slikkerveer (eds) Indigenous knowledge systems: the cultural dimension of development. London: Kegan Paul International.

Fujisaka, Sam, P. Elliot, E. Jayson and A. Dapusala (l992) 'Where there has been no 'Green Revolution': farmers' upland rices and related knowledge in Mindanao, Philippines.' Paper presented at the International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development, IIRR, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Jodha, N.S. (l990) 'Mountain agriculture: the search for sustainability', Journal of Farming Systems Research-Extension l(l):55-75.

Lamola, Leanna M. (l992) Linking the formal and informal sectors in plant genetic resources conservation and utilization: a proposal for cooperative research. White Paper 92-2. Des Moines: Agricultural Law Center, Drake University Law School.

Lightfoot, Clive, Reg Noble, and Regina Morales (l99l) Training resource book on a participatory method for modelling bioresource flows. ICLARM Education Series 14. Manila: International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management.

McCorkle, Constance M. and Gail McClure (l992) 'Farmer know- how and communication for technology transfer: CTTA in Niger', in D.M. Warren, D. Brokensha, and L.J. Slikkerveer (eds) Indigenous knowledge systems: the cultural dimension of development. London: Kegan Paul International.

Mundy, Paul and J. Lin Compton (l992) 'Indigenous communication and indigenous knowledge: concepts and interfaces.' Paper presented at the International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development, IIRR, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

National Research Council (l992) Conserving biodiversity: a research agenda for development agencies. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Okigbo, Bede N. (l99l) Development of sustainable agricultural production systems in Africa: roles of international agricultural research centers and national agricultural research systems. Ibadan: IITA.

Palomares, M.L.D., and Daniel Pauly (l992) 'FISHBASE as a worldwide computerized repository of ethno-ichthyology or indigenous knowledge on fishes.' Paper presented at the International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development, IIRR, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Prain, Gordon D. (l992) 'Local knowledge and global resources: user participation in crop germplasm research.' Paper presented at the International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development, IIRR, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Prain, Gordon D., Fulgencio Uribe and Urs Scheidegger (l99l) 'Small farmers in agricultural research: farmer participation in potato germplasm evaluation', pp. 235-250 in B. Haverkort, J. van der Kamp and A. Waters-Bayer (eds) Joining farmers' experiments: experience in participatory technology development. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.

Pullin, Roger S.V. and Barry A. Costa-Pierce (l99l) 'Introduction', pp. vi-vii in B.A. Costa-Pierce, C. Lightfoot, K. Ruddle, and R.S.V. Pullin (eds) Aquaculture research and development in rural Africa. ICLARM Conference Proceedings 27. Eschborn: GTZ and Manila: International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management.

Quiroz, Consuelo (l992) 'Methodology for the study of farmers' agricultural local 'indigenous' knowledge systems in rural development programs: in-service training program for research/extension practitioners - an experience from Venezuela.' Paper presented at the International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development, IIRR, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Rhoades, Robert E. and Anthony Bebbington (l992) 'Farmers who experiment: an untapped resource for agricultural research and development', in D.M. Warren, D. Brokensha, and L.J. Slikkerveer (eds) Indigenous knowledge systems: the cultural dimension of development. London: Kegan Paul International.

Rocheleau, Diana E. (l99l) 'Gender, ecology, and the science of survival: stories and lessons from Kenya', Agriculture and Human Values 8(l+2):l56-l65.

Titilola, S. Oguntunji (l990) The economics of incorporating indigenous knowledge systems into agricultural development: a model and analytical framework. Studies in Technology and Social Change No. l7. Ames: Iowa State University, Technology and Social Change Program.

Warren, D. Michael (l989) 'Linking scientific and indigenous agricultural systems', pp. l53-170 in J.L. Compton (ed) The Transformation of international agricultural research and development. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Warren, D. Michael (l99l) Using indigenous knowledge in agricultural development. Discussion Paper no. 127. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.

Warren, D. Michael (l992a) A preliminary analysis of indigenous soil classification and management systems in four ecozones of Nigeria. Discussion Paper. Ibadan: African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

Warren, D. Michael (l992b) Strengthening indigenous Nigerian organizations and associations for rural development. Occasional Paper No. l. Ibadan: African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research.

Back to: top of the page | Contents IK Monitor 1(1) | IK Homepage
Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl
(c) copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 1993.