Indigenous Agricultural Practices for Cultivation of Medicinal Plants

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is defined as the knowledge that, the people in a given community have developed overtime, and continue to develop. The term 'indigenous knowledge' is used synonymously with 'traditional' and 'local knowledge' to differentiate the knowledge developed by a given community from the international knowledge system, sometimes also called as 'Western' system generated through Universities, Government research centers and Private industries. Further IK is dynamic and not static, as the word 'traditional' commonly 'implies'.

India over several millenniums has been the treasure land of biological wealth, intellectual knowledge and spiritual wisdom. She had also been the cradle of many ancient human civilizations like the world famous Indus valley, Ganges delta, Cauvery delta civilizations etc. During both pre and post Vedic periods, arts, science and technology had flourished well in various fields. Ancient mathematicians of India invented the 'zero' and made remarkable contributions to the field of 'Algebra'. An ancient astronomer named Aryabhatta discovered about the earth's rotation and also the solar and lunar eclipses. Five planets had been known to the Vedic Indians even before the telescopes were invented.

Ancient physicians had established two excellent medicinal systems viz., 'Siddha' and 'Ayurveda' which are now recognized as 'health friendly' systems. A scientist named Bramagupta had discovered a scientific theory synonymous to the Newton's laws of gravity.

When India attained independence, it faced a shortage of food supply during 1950's and 60's due to various other reasons. To overcome this problem, India entered in to the era of Green Revolution. By this, self-sufficiency in food production was somehow achieved with the introduction of so called high yielding varieties, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, modern implements etc. These were imported from western countries in the name of 'technological packages' without taking care for their adaptability to Indian conditions and the possible consequences. The development of modern agricultural production was achieved by creating large scale specialized farm production units, increased mechanization and use of chemical inputs.

Hence, for the developing countries, the other alternative viz., traditional methods have special advantages over modern agricultural techniques. Also the capital and technological skill requirements in the use of traditional technologies are generally low and their adoption often requires little restructure of the traditional societies. These traditional technologies are nothing but indigenous knowledge. By adopting such indigenous knowledge, our ancestors did not face any problem of large scale pest out break or economic crisis unlike the today's farmers..

Indigenous practices in agriculture are organic in nature. They do not cause any damage to the air, water and soil, safe to the human beings and are free from causing environmental pollution. These practices are dynamic because they are region specific, depending upon soil type, rainfall, topography etc. and are often modified by the local farmers.

It is based on experience, often tested over centuries of use, adapted to local culture and environment and it is dynamic and changing. Indigenous knowledge is not confined to tribal groups or the original inhabitants of an area. It is not even confined to rural people. Rather any community possesses IK - rural and urban, settled and nomadic, original inhabitants and migrants.