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Availability and Use of Indigenous Knowledge Amongst Rural Women in Nigeria

2014; University of Idaho Library; Linguagem: Inglês

1522-0222

Ugboma, Margaret Uyouyou,

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture

IntroductionIndigenous is central to Africa's development in all ramifications especially in the rural communities. Africans are endowed with with which human development is enhanced. The efficacy of this special knowledge cannot be over emphasized and this is best described as indigenous knowledge. Indigenous is traditional associated with African tradition or culture. It is largely inherent in man. It is not associated with any form of formal learning/training but transmitted or learnt orally. It is associated with oral tradition and highly rooted in African culture. African cultural heritage consists of different cultural values, indigenous and heritage materials. Indigenous resides in the heads and on the lips of the custodians and passed down from generation to generation orally from the elderly to the younger. This is different from common sense. Even with the advent of computers, oral tradition remains an important means of preserving and transmitting indigenous knowledge. Oral tradition is the oldest system of cultural memory (Goucher, Le Guine and Walton, 1998). This is done in form of folklores, folktales, bedtime stories, songs, among others.In Nigeria, individuals in rural communities especially women are endowed with indigenous of traditional medicine, land use and management, family healthcare, breeding of food crop species, preservation of seeds and the domestication and use of wild edible plants (Olatokun and Ayanbode, 2009). Women pivotal role in sustainable development in rural communities is evident in their contributions to the family and society at large as wives and mothers. They engage in production and marketing of foodstuff to enhance the local economy.Women, have been central to the production, processing and marketing of food. They are custodians of biodiversity and knowledgeable in land use and management, child delivery, family planning and health care. Women's contribution to the maintenance of the local economy is made possible through the use of their indigenous knowledge. As observed by Adebobola (2004) 86% of the rural women in Tonkerere Village in Ife Central local Government (South West Nigeria) are herb sellers, with the ability of detecting the medicinal value and viability of local herbs. In India, rural women were able to identify no fewer than 145 species of trees and their uses, while forestry expert were familiar with only 25 species (Shiva and Dankelmann, 2006). This is a reflection of indigenous inherent in rural women. With the help of indigenous knowledge, women in Burkina Faso carefully collect the fruit, leaves and roots of native plants, like the bark baobab tree (Adansonia digitata), red sorrel leaves (Hibiscus Saddarifa) Kapok leaves (Ceiba pentandra) and tigernut tubers (cyperus esculentus L) for use in diet of their families, supplementing the agricultural grain (Wole and Ayanbode 2009).Rural women also use their indigenous to improve their livelihoods. Dirrar (2005) mentioned that two women groups operate community biogas plants (non-scientific in approach and nature) in Karnataka region of India. This is for the provision of tap water and light, to all the houses in the village. In Mali, rural women use indigenous to produce Jatropha Curcas oil as raw material and fuel (Hennig, 2002). They use Jatropha curcas for medicine (seeds as a laxative, later to stop bleeding and against infection, leaves against malaria) and for soap production. Jatropha system also helps in erosion control, soil improvement as well as renewable energy. There is no gainsaying the fact that women possess an enormous amount of about food production and processing, health, child rearing, breeding of food crop species, preservation of seeds and the domestication and use of wild edible plants. In the area of agriculture, rural women use their indigenous to raise agricultural productivity. …