ITK IN AGRICULTURE

What is ITK: Indigenous technical/traditional knowledge in a community, local and

rural in origin. The source of ITK is our ancestors who learned techniques from their past
experiences and experiments. These varies from place to place, and knowledge spreads
through folk songs, stories & scriptures etc.

DEFINITION OF ITK

Indigenous knowledge (ITK) is the local knowledge – knowledge that is unique to a given
culture or society. It is the basis for local-level decision making in agriculture, health
care, food preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a host of other
activities in rural communities. (Warre ,1991)

WHY ITK IN AGRICULTURE

·0 Has great role and scope.

·1 Avoidance of synthetic chemicals & keep soil alive.

·2 Stress on sustainability.

·3 Offers potential to accomplish organic agriculture.

ITK IN ORGANIC FARMING

There are many practices of ITK out of which some are discussed here : – PRE-SOWING
PRACTICES

·4 SOIL AND WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

·5 PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT

·6 POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT

ITK in Good Germination

Ø Radish seeds are soaked overnight in butter milk before sowing.

Ø Cucurbits seeds are kept embedded in fresh cow dung ‘ball 'which are then buried deep in soil
for better germination.

Ø In desert areas ,chickpea is sown behind camel drawn ploughs in sand dunes areas.

Ø Cut end of sugarcane setts are plastered with a mixture of honey, ghee, the fat of hogs and
cow dung.
Weed management by I.T.K

·7 Apply the Neem seeds @ 40 kg / ac as basal to get more yield as compared to the
equal quantity of Neem cake to control weed growth.

·8 Cultivation of sun hemp or daincha helps to control the nut grass (Cyperus rotundus)
weed. Crop growth promoter

·9 5% fermented coconut milk solution(1lit in 20lit of water mix and use as Growth
promoter

·10 Goat dung- 5kg, Goat urine- 5lit , Goat milk- 2 lit , Goat curd- 2 lit, Cow Ghee -1lit ,
Sugarcane juice- 2lit, Banana -10 nos, Tender coconut water-2 lit , Toddy – 2 lit/ yeast
-800g, Jaggery – 800g, water- 5 lit. Mix and use after 20 days as growth promoter

Mulching

Ø Tree leaves(karanj-pongamia ponnata) and paddy straw are used as mulch materials .This
conservs the soil moisture and simultaneously keeps the soil cool which provides favourable
conditions

Ø These mulches act as organic matter to enhance the crop

Ø effective for weed management

ITK IN RICE

Ø Common salt is dissolved in water and sprayed in rice fields for controlling major weeds

Ø To prevent lodging in rice crop at maturity in water logging conditions . The upper portion of
the rice plants is cut with the help of sickle. After two months of transplanting ,excess growth of
rice plant is checked due to pruning . Lower part of the plant becomes strong.

BEUSHENING IN RICE

üPracticed in direct -seeded low land rice in odisha ,MP,Bihar.WB,UP to control weeds optimize
crop stand and provide soil aeration

ü cross ploughing young crops 4 to 6 weeks after sowing with a light country plough in 5-10cm
standing water once or twice depending upon the density of weeds and crop stand. if there are
too many weeds it is followed by flanking.
ITK AND DIFFERENT CULTIVATION PRACTICES

Jhum cultivation/Slash & Burn cultivation/Shifting cultivation.

·11 well suited to the heavy rainfall areas of the north east India.

·12 the trees are slashed & burned and the seeds are sown only after the 1st rainfall.

·13 After cultivating for 2 - 3 years, fields go into fallow. Then, the farmer moves on to the
next plot or forest area to protect the soil and allow for build up of nutrients.

·14 soil erosion is controlled and fertility maintained by constructing contour bunds often
may reduce the incidence of soil born diseases .

Terrace or Bund cultivation

• Practiced in valleys and foot hills.

• Bench terraces are made across the slope.

• The vertical interval is not more than 1m.

• This helps to maintain soil erosion and retaining rain water in the slopes and depositing runoff
to the foothills.

• Widely grown crops are rice and turmeric. Jaintia hills, the small village of Nongbah,
(Meghalaya)India

Irrigation practices- Bamboo drip irrigation

• Bamboos divert water from perennial springs on hilltops to the lower reaches by gravity.

• Used to irrigate the betel leaf or black pepper crops.

• 18-20 litres of water entering the bamboo pipe system per minute gets transported over
several hundred meters and finally gets reduced to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of the
plant.

• Used mostly in winter, as there soil in Meghalaya has low water holding capacity.

ITK and Soil Fertility Management:

In Madhya pradesh, soil fertility is renewed by using :

• cow dung, sheep, goat, and camel feacal pellets,

• wood ash,animal urine

• growing nitrogen fixing leguminous crops intermixed/ intercropped with cereals/oilseeds

• allowing certain local weeds and xerophytic plants viz. bui (Kochia indica), fog (Calligonum
polygonoids), kheinp (Crotolaria burhia), bordi (Zizyphus manuritiana) to grow undisturbed
maintaining adequate khejri (Prosopis cineraria) tree population in the field.

• Ancient Tamil text widely quoted the use of Calotropis gigantea, Morinda tinctoria, Thespesia
populnea, Jatropha gossypifolia, Ipomoea spp. and Adhatoda spp. to be used as green leaf
manure.

• crop rotation and intercropping to restore soil fertility.

• ants, earthworms and frogs were used to improve soil physical properties.

• FYM was used to add nutrient into the soil and to maintain the organic matter content in soil.

Zai technique

• combine water harvesting and targeted application of organic amendments ( cattle manure,
millet straw etc.) by the use of small pits dug into hardened soil.

• Increases water retention capacity of soil and is effective in restoring soil fertility

• Practiced in Burkina Faso and Sahel, Africa.

Indegenous practices for water harvesting

PHOUR :

For house Water in the pond is collected from the rainfall and seepage. To prevent inflow dyke
of about a meter height is constructed surrounding the phour. Trees are planted along the bank
to stabilize the banks. Fish may also be raised

Cross-dam irrigation:

Ø Earthen cross-dam,4-6m wide and 2.5-5m deep, is constructed across a perennial creek
between two hills.

Ø The catchment area for the creek is 80-100 hectares.

Ø People use stored water for fish culture and raising ducklings.

Ø A bamboo pipe of 5cm diameter that passes through dam is used to maintain the water level.
The pipe is kept closed with a wooden plug that can be removed to lower the water level in the
pond or provide irrigation. Cross Dam irrigation in Chittagong Hill tracts of bangladesh can be
sited as an example.

Pest & Disease Management in ITK

TULSI :Controls the Blast of rice Control of insect in sapota, guava

METHI: Control of insect of okra eg. Fruit borer

KAROSENE OIL :To control of ant in climber to control the termite

CASTOR OIL: Control of white fly in cotton ,stored- grain pest control in pigeon pea

CHILLIES: Dry chilli smoke for rat control of wheat

MADAR (Calotropis gigantia) :Used to prevent attack of thrips in paddy nursery, Control of insect
pest in ginger, cotton LEMON Control of hairy caterpillar, Aphid control in cotton ONION : Use for
pest & disease control in maize Pest control in sugarcane

GUR OR SUGAR: Control of insect in cotton Control of pod borer in pegionpea

SALT: Control of wilt in pegionpea and khaira disease in paddy

NEEM :Neem cake use for termite control ,Control of aphids in mustard by neem twings

ASH :Used as insecticide Control of root feeders and pests

DHATURA :Control of stem borer in rice Control of insect pest in fruit crops

TOBACCO: Control of aphids ,white flies and other Pests

ITK AND POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT DRYING : It is the traditional method for reducing the
moisture content of grain. Method of sun drying are 1.Field drying 2.Panicle drying 3.Drying on
mat 4.Pavement drying

THRESHING: 1. By beating the grain using a flail on a threshing floor (2) Making donkeys or oxen
walk in circles on the grain on a hard surface (3) By using threshing board

Storage : Traditional storage methods are 1. In gunny bag a. Storage of red gram with common
salt in gunny bag b.Storage of grain using camphor in gunny bag c Storage of ragi with neem leaf
in gunny bag

MUD BIN STORAGE example. Storage of grain

WOODEN BOX STORAGE Example. Storage of vegetable seeds with cow dung storage of paddy

Panchagavya Composition: Ghee, milk, curd, cow dung and cow’s urine Application:
 ·15 3% i.e. 3 kg in 100 lit of water is the best dose for application. In acre of land 6 lit
panchagavya will be applied

·16 provides nutrient to plant

·17 gives resistance of plant to insect pest

CASE STUDY : Low budget fish gunabajalam proves effective for crops fish gunabajalam (extract
in Tamil) or fish growth hormone is a traditional method which is practised by Mrs. Thangam and
some farmers in Kanyakumari district. They use this hormone for growing their rose, chilli and
paddy. Along with Mrs Thangam,several farmers in the village who use traditional methods
vouch for its efficiency in controlling pests and helping good crop growth. If one has to use
chemical sprays for an acre then he has to spend nearly Rs. 1,500 - Rs. 2,000 but they hardly
spend 100 Rs.and get equal benefit. . Cost effective

Conclusion

ØIt may be concluded that ITK based practices offers its potential to accomplish organic
agriculture where biological methods are adopted for farming, keeping away off-farm inputs.
Indigenous techniques used in different components of farming system are mostly organic, eco-
friendly, sustainable, viable and cost effective.

Ø ITK based practices will help to furthering the concept of biodynamics and natural farming
where the soil-health- building process is left to the nature, as the inputs for ITK are drawn from
the products of soil and are returned to the soil in the form of compost or manure or soil and
plant health-protecting agents.

Ø But, there is a need to explore, verify, modify, and scientifically validate these practices for
their wider use and appliction