Using Indigenous Knowledge in Agricultural Development

This paper reviews three types of project scenarios: projects where local knowledge provided an improved approach to managing natural resources than proposed project technologies, projects that inadvertently ignored indigenous structures, and those projects whose success at meeting their objectives can be linked to the deliberate incorporation of indigenous knowledge components. According to the author, the literature shows that by understanding and working with indigenous knowledge and decision-making systems and indigenous organizations, participation, capacity-building, and sustainability all can be enhanced in cost-effective ways. The case for using indigenous knowledge in project work is straightforward. Technical solutions to unperceived problems are not readily adopted, new technologies that duplicate indigenous ones are superfluous, and ignoring local approaches to local problems is wasteful.