Showing papers on "Traditional knowledge published in 1984"

Traditional Agricultural Knowledge: Past Performance, Future Prospects, and Institutional Implications

Abstract: Whether as economists concerned with agricultural development or conservationists concerned with sustaining the services of environmental systems, we have been of multiple minds with respect to traditional agricultural practices and their supporting cultural systems. Traditional knowledge has been viewed as part of a romantic past, as the major obstacle to development, as a nonissue, as a necessary starting point, and as a critical component of a cultural alternative to modernization. Only very rarely, however, is traditional knowledge treated as knowledge per se in the mainstream of the agricultural development and environmental management literature, as knowledge that contributes to our understanding of agricultural production and the maintenance and use of environmental systems. Our views have an extended romantic antecedent. But with modernization we rather

Developing Pest Management Strategies for Small Farmers Based on Traditional Knowledge

Abstract: For centuries traditional farmers have kept pest damage within acceptable levels by employing a wide variety of cultural practices based on local lore and resources. One such practice is the use of polycultures. Factors involved in pest regulation in polycultures include: increased parasitoid/predator populations, available alternative prey /hosts for natural enemies, decreased colonization and reproduction of pests, feeding inhibition or repellency from non-host plants and prevention of movement and emigration. These elements of natural pest conttol built into small farming systems should be examined, so that the valuable ones are retained in the course of agricultural modernization. Thus, traditional knowledge must be considered to guide changes and attain optimum yields in regions with low-input agriculture. All development approaches should be village-based, with emphasis on self-sufficiency, use of local resources and indigenous agricultural regimes.