Indigenous knowledge and modern sciences: complementary wisdom to help farmers: combining two knowledge systems to help sustain agricultural production in South Africa

Abstract

For a very long time African communities, especially rural smallholder farmers, have relied on information gathered using indigenous systems to define their farming practices, as well as predicting the quality of seasons. The natural indigenous climate indicators involved the observation of animal behaviour, plants, and the atmosphere, as well as human ailments. However, due to climate variability and change, these indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) have become unpredictable.