African Knowledge for African Problems?

For the final three blog posts I will be focusing in on knowledge and power, a topic that is relevant in all of the blog posts that I have written. This week I will be taking a closer look into indigenous knowledge, and next week’s blog will focus on how power dynamics and relationships impact the key discourses and practices of agriculture in Africa. The final blog post will draw all of the topics that have been discussed together, but it will also provide a critical analysis of the representations that exist in our minds about Africa.

As said above, this week I will be talking about indigenous knowledge and its impact on the use of food and water in Africa. Indigenous knowledge, or traditional knowledge, is the knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities (UNESCO, 2017). Indigenous people rely on this knowledge to make fundamental decisions on everyday life.

Such indigenous knowledge is most powerful in rural environments where the knowledge is specific to the location. Knowledge of climate patterns or of local flora and fauna can result in huge advances to productivity and efficiency in agriculture, hunting and water usage (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2019). Families and settlers that have farmed and cultivated an area for generations are likely to have developed specific practices that enable the greatest productivity.

  

Source: (CGIAR, 2017)

An image from an article discussing the combination of meteorological, biological and astrological indicators used to predict weather

A report conducted in 2017 published the responses of several semi structured interviews with farmers in different regions of rural Africa (Rankoana, 2017). They found that the practices of indigenous knowledge focused on factors such as “improvement of soil fertility and structure, maintenance of crops, and seed selection and storage for future planting” (Rankoana, 2017). The climatic patterns such as rainfall prediction were also discussed due to their influence in the planting season.

The title of this blog, ‘African Knowledge for African Problems’, has been chosen because of the way that western nations and large non-governmental organisations (NGO) are so quick to discard indigenous knowledge in favour for generalised blanket schemes. The ‘one size fits all’ approach driven by the western powers has immense influence on agriculture processes in Africa (Perroni, 2017). This doesn’t even factor in the colonial style disempowerment that will be discussed in future blogs.

Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu is an expert of indigenous knowledge. Ezeanya-Esiobu’s research has provided academically solid backing for the advantages of indigenous knowledge in agriculture in Africa. One example of this is the Tassa technique developed in Niger. The technique is an indigenous method of irrigation management that has been shown to be far more effective and efficient than the comparative western methods (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2019).

Tassa is a traditional practice that increases the fertility of soil and conserves water originating in the Sahel region. Small hand dug pits that are uniformly spaced around a field collect rainwater. Manure is placed in the bottom of each pit and then seeds are planted along the ridges of each pit. When it rains the pits fill up with nutrient rich and highly fertile soil to enable plants to maximise healthy growth (Dewalt, 1994). The technique is simple and does not require polluting ammonia-based fertilisers or expensive and heavy machinery that frequently breaks. The technique helps farmers build up resilience against drought and majorly improves crop yields.  

“In an experiment that was conducted, two similar plots of land were used…one plot of land did not have the Tassa technique on it, the other one had Tassa technique constructed on it. Then similar grains of millet also were planted on both plots. During harvest time, the plot of land without Tassa technique yielded 11 kilograms (24 pounds) of millet per hectare. The plot of land with Tassa technique yielded 553 kilograms (1,219 pounds) of millet per hectare” (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2019).

I hope this blog provides insight into the power of indigenous knowledge. Next week I will discuss how these practices are frequently discarded in order for generalised western practices to be implemented in colonial fashion.