Parade of research results

Readers who turn to these pages expect to find the next article, an account of research into a specific aspect of indigenous and local knowledge systems and practices (IKSP), in which the author puts forward suggestions about how these insights can best be implemented in the interests of sustainable development. Instead, you see before you a research communication, and another, and another, and so on. A grand total of seven reports which together highlight what is currently taking place in the field of IKSP research. As a rule, these communications appear in the second section of the Monitor, together with other reports, calls, announcements, and the ever-popular book reviews. We thought it might be a good idea to 'promote' these pieces to the front of this issue, to the spot usually reserved for the third article. 

While this parade of research results is based on a fairly arbitrary selection, it does include contributions from the three key continents for IK: Asia, Africa and the Americas. It begins with a report on a successful participatory project involving the validation of traditional meteorological principles used to predict monsoons in India. Next, there is an introduction to the system behind the classification of soils currently practised by the Iraqw farmers of Tanzania. This is followed by another communication from India, focusing on a traditional method of controlling the pigeon pea pod borer, which can cause crop losses of up to 100%. Using the 'shaking and killing method', it is possible to eliminate some 90% of the pod borer larvae without the use of pesticides. The next piece deals with an investigation into the impact of subsistence hunting on fauna and wildlife numbers in Costa Rica. Focusing on the Guaymí, an indigenous people whose daily lives are still dictated by their traditional culture, it deals with the problem of reconciling the interests of local communities with those of the authorities, while safeguarding biodiversity and ensuring sustainable development. This is followed by another report from Africa: written by two researchers from the Department of Botany, University of Benin, Nigeria, it centres on the plants used by the Koma people to treat ailments and diseases.

The research parade concludes with two slightly more personal contributions. C.O. Izugbara of the University of Uyo in Nigeria stresses the need for proper behaviour on the part of researchers doing fieldwork. On the basis of his own fieldwork experience, he hopes to alert IKSP investigators to the importance of minding their conduct while doing research among indigenous peoples, if they hope to generate reliable information. And finally Neerchal Balakrishnaraj asks himself whether farmers can think like researchers. He reports on his experiences in Karnataka, India, and answers his own question with an unequivocal yes! Farmers and farm labourers do understand the importance of technology, and they are able to assess new technology as logically and rationally as researchers. This is a fitting conclusion to our series of research reports.

We hope that our readers will find this new initiative useful, and we look forward to hearing your comments (see inside front cover for address). If the reactions are favourable, we will consider devoting several pages of the last issue of the year to a similar parade of research communications.

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