Identification and Efficacy Assessment of Indigenous Technical Knowledges (ITKs) as Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Technology

Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) is the actual knowledge of a population that represents both traditional and current experiences. A careful amalgamation of ITK and modern scientific knowledge would be most promising regarding the adoption of technology and adaptation to the technology by the farmers.  To foster the rapid transfer of technology related to farming, an understanding of indigenous technical knowledge is needed. ITK in farming is important for reducing the cost of cultivation, reducing pollution, and also safeguarding the natural resource base. ITK remains largely inaccessible to development workers and researchers. On the other hand, Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is a pathway towards development and food security built on three pillars: (i) increasing productivity and incomes, (ii) enhancing resilience of livelihoods, and (iii) ecosystems and reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. Many of the ITKs could play their role as CSA technologies. However, the scientific alignment between ITK and CSA is still lacking adequate experimentation. This proposal attempts to identify and assess the efficacy of ITKs as CSA technology in the study area concerning different aspects of agriculture.

• Research Project