Kerala - Kannur   

Scientists’ initiative to save indigenous farming practices

KANNUR: It is meant to be a reverse extension with agricultural scientists planning an initiative to test field-level application of indigenous knowledge and practices with the objective of reclaiming and preserving them before they disappear for ever.

A one-day workshop to be held here on November 20 by Kerala Agricultural University’s College of Agriculture at Padannakkad, Kasaragod, is not for extension scientific farming methods developed by agricultural scientists for farmers. It is rather part of a larger initiative to save indigenous agricultural knowledge and practices from being lost for ever, especially considering the threat of multinational companies patenting them.

The workshop is being organised in association with the Agriculture Department. It was part of a research programme conducted by the KAU with financial assistance from the State Planning Board for collecting and documenting indigenous knowledge and practices to avert any probable patenting of the collective knowledge and practices of a community, M. Govindan, professor, at the college, and K.M. Sreekumar, assistant professor, said at a press conference here on Friday.

Various aspects of indigenous rural technology and knowledge had already been documented in Kannur and Kasaragod districts as part of the programme, they said.

Dr. Govindan and Dr. Sreekumar said the workshop was planned to examine the application of the identified indigenous practices and their improvement through scientific methods. It was for the first time that a programme to test the indigenous knowledge and practices was being held in the region, they said, adding that rare seeds of fast vanishing agricultural crops would also be protected as part of the initiative. Special emphasis would be given to paddy cultivation, they added.

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