Indigenous Technical Knowledge of Tribal Farmers about Pest Management in Crop Production

Abstract

The paper presents data on a study conducted in four villages of two blocks of tribal dominated Dumkadistrict of Jharkhand, India. The study having objectives of documenting and appraising the indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) about pest management in crop production used the interview schedule, observation and informal group discussion methods. Two categories of respondentsi.e100 Farmers and 30 Scientists constituted thesample size. Findings indicated that altogether eight ITKs were found to be practiced by the farmers. All eight ITKs were reported to be having scientific rationale with explanations given by the scientist respondents. Four ITKs out of eight were put before the respondents for studying their perception on selected four attributes i.e productivity, stability, sustainability and equitability. All four ITKS were perceived to be effective and useful by both the categories of respondents