Farmers’ local knowledge of soil fertility and management strategies plays a significant role in fertility maintenance of farmlands and also contributes to the participatory development of interventions to sustain farm productivity.
Soil fertility decline has become a major concern of policy makers worldwide. While many researchers assume that the problem is universal, others question the assumptions, evidence, methodologies and scale upon which beliefs of soil decline are based.
Worldwide, environmental conservation directives are mandating greater inclusion of Indigenous people and their knowledge in the management of global ecosystems.
Agriculture in Niger is a complex and challenging operation. Farmers are faced with low-fertility sandy soils, variable rainfall, changing social and political situations and an unfavourable economic environment. Concerns about sustaining soil fertility have been voiced by agricultural scientists, who view agriculture as the maintenance of soil nutrient capital.
African farming systems are highly heterogeneous: between agroecological and socioeconomic environments, in the wide variability in farmers’ resource endowments and in farm management. This means that single solutions (or ‘silver bullets’) for improving farm productivity do not exist.
Despite the importance of livestock to poor people and the magnitude of the changes that are likely to befall livestock systems, the intersection of climate change and livestock in developing countries is a relatively neglected research area.
There is an urgent need to develop the underlying theory and principles of ‘‘sustainability science,’’ based on an understanding of the fundamental interactions between nature and humans. This requires a new research and education paradigm that embraces biocomplexity, integrates the physical, biological, and social sciences, and uses a coupled, human–natural systems approach.
Porcine Cysticercosis (PCC) and Human Cysticercosis (HCC)/Neurocysticercosis (NCC) are a burden to the community owing to the reduced value of animals, associated costs of treatment, decreased labour productivity and social discrimination. There is limited knowledge on the management and prevention of PCC and epilepsy in Iringa rural.
Indigenous knowledge cannot be verified by scientific criteria nor can science be adequately assessed according to the tenets of indigenous knowledge. Each is built on distinctive philosophies, methodologies, and criteria.