Indigenous Technical/Traditional Knowledge (ITK)
Dr. Chumki Dutta,
Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
The advent of the concept of sustainable agriculture in the late eighties in the Indian
agricultural scenario has evoked interest in indigenous technical knowledge (|TK) that
uses natural products to solve the problems of agriculture and allied activities. Indian
farmers, over centuries, have learned to grow food and survive in difficult
environments, where the rich traditionof ITK has been interwoven with the agricultural
practices followed by them.
Indigenous Technical/Traditional Knowledge (ITK) is an accumulated inherited
knowledge of farmers to manage problems by taking a series of decisions and
implementing them by allocating resources in an efficient manner. They depend
entirely on locally available resources and knowledge base for maintaining productivity
of crops and livestock. In the modern developmental efforts, knowledge of such
indigenous practices provide valuable inputs to make efficient use of natural resources.
Such components can be incorporated for the development of sustainable farming
system and practices. Indigenous Technical/Traditional Knowledge (ITK) is community,
local and rural in origin. It is used in weather forecast, good seed germination, soil
fertilitymanagement, soil and water management, management of insect pests and
diseases of plant and animals, post harvest management etc.
The special features of indigenous knowledge are:
1.Local: It is rooted in a particular community. It is aset of experiences generated by
people living in those communities.
2. Tacit knowledge and, therefore, not easily modifiable
3. Transmitted orally, or through imitationand demonstration.
4. Experiential rather than theoretical knowledge. Experience and trial and error,
tested in the rigorous laboratory of survival of local communities constantly reinforce
indigenous knowledge.
5. Learned through repetition, which is adefining characteristic of tradition even when
new knowledge is added. Repetition aids in the retention and reinforcement of
indigenous knowledge.
6. Constantly changing, being produced, discovered as well as lost.
The Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) System has been developed by the people
based on their experiences and continuous improvement through informal
experimentation over centuries. These ITKs are interwoven and assimilated in the
cultural life of the people. ITKs are based on experience, often tested over a long period
of use, adapted to local culture and environment, dynamic and changing, and lays
emphasis on minimizing the risks rather than maximizing the profits. ITK covers a wide
range of subjects such as crop production, livestock rearing, natural resource
management, food preparation, health care and many other related topics.
Few examples of ITKs:
1. Application of wood ash in vegetables to control major vegetable pest (Fig. 3a):
Farmers take enough amount of ash that can cover allthe foliage of the crop. It is
usually done when some symptoms of pest feeding appear. Ash forms a physical
barrier between the plant and pest due to which the pest is unable to feed on the
crop.
2. Smoking in cucurbits to control fruit fly as a repellent (Fig. 3b): After fruiting in
cucurbits, farmers apply smoke to the crop on every alternative day tillthe final
harvest. Here smoke acts as a repellent to the fruit flies as they feel suffocated and
uneasy due to smoke.
3. Straw wrapped around the tree trunks to control insects (Fig. 3c): Farmers wrap
straw around the trunk of tree to prevent insects from crawling upward.
4. Cutting of tips of rice seedling before transplantation as a plant protection
measure towards stem borers (Fig. 3d): Rice stem borer and hispa lay their eggs on
the tips of leaves of rice seedlings. This practice helps to eradicate those eggs laid
on the leaf tip from further spreading to the mainfield.
ITK'S used by the farmers, (a) Application of wood ash, (b) Smoking in cucurbits, (c) Straw wrapped
around the tree trunks, (d) Cutting of tips of rice seedling before transplantation
5. Use of dryneem leaves in storage structures toprotect grains from stored grain pest:
The most significant component of neem is azadirachtin, which has been proven to be
an effective insecticidal ingredient. It works as an anti-feedant in insects.
6. Lightning of diyas/lamp in rice field at night to control rice pest: Insect pests are
attracted to light at night, and when they get close enough to the light, they are killed
by the heat.
rest
7. Application of bamboo T-perches in rice field to control rice pests: Birds come to
perches,
on these perches, andthey can readily view and feast on insects from these
thereby helping in reducing pest population.
8. Keeping scarecrow in nursery as wellas in main field to frighten birds that prevents the
birds from eating up the seeds.
9. Kerosene oil dipped rope running over standing crop in the rice field to control rice case
worm as kerosene acts as toxicant: Farmers dip the rope in a bucket full of kerosene oil
in such a way that whole rope gets covered with kerosene and then dislodge the cases
by passing a rope through the crop inone direction and manually collect the cases and
destroy them.
10.Use of pumelo peel in rice field to control rice pest.
