Documenting the agriculture based indigenous traditional knowledge in Manipur State of North Eastern India

Abstract

The North Eastern Region (NER) is bestowed with unique ethnicity and rich biodiversity (flora and fauna) that are inherent to this region and inquisitive traditional practices. The region is a reservoir of indigenous knowledge and practices. NE agriculture has its own merit, demerit, diversity and heterogeneity which distinguish it from the agriculture of the rest part of the country. Indigenous knowledge’s used in agriculture in various parts of Manipur state of NE India is still not fully explored explored. Given this background, a survey was carried out in 15 villages of Manipur for identification and documentation of different indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) used in agriculture. Initially the detail information was collected from respondents and further validated. All total 15 numbers of ITKs were documented and validated by triangulation method. These includes seedling raising of crops (1), crop protection from birds (2), crop protection from insect-pest and diseases (10), soil management (1) and poultry farming (1). There is a great need to document and validate ITK before it vanishes with the passage of time. Hence, folk wisdom and modern scientific approach may be combined to achieve the ―technology blending‖ for the evolution of new technology.