DEVELOPMENT-UN: Traditional Knowledge Under The Spotlight

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Jaya Ramachandran

ROME, Feb 25 2000 (IPS) - The knowledge and innovations of the rural communities – seldom noticed in a rapidly globalising world – will draw the focus at the Second Global Knowledge Conference (GK II) to be held in Kuala Lumpur Mar 7-10.

The event is being organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations, headquartered in Rome.

IFAD’s Luciano Lavizzari said, as a depository of the knowledge for development, improving lives, reducing poverty and empowering people, the Fund was playing an important role in the overall planning and organisation of the event, in close collaboration with the Government of Malaysia.

More than 1,400 people, representing the public and private sectors, key Non Governmental Organisations, NGO’s and international agencies, will meet in Malaysia’s capital, to hammer out strategies that will put the tools of the information age in the hands of developing countries and the world’s poor.

An active member of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), IFAD firmly believes that the knowledge and innovations of the rural people should be fostered and tapped in a more systematic manner, because they provide a significant contribution to the development process, says Lavizzari.

The GKP emerged from the cooperation of several dozen organisations in sponsoring the Global Knowledge 1997 conference, “Knowledge for Development in the Information Age” in Toronto, Canada, in June 1997.

As one of several initiatives towards highlighting and creating awareness of the importance of using the knowledge and innovations of the rural people, IFAD organised an international competition to scout for grassroots knowledge and innovation through its projects.

A total of 172 entries were received from 28 projects in 26 countries from all regions.

The entries were screened and verified by an Indian NGO, Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), based in Ahmedabad, India.

SRISTI’s research programme has focussed around how the innovations and knowledge of the rural people can be best utilised for development and how their associated knowledge systems help in linking ethics, efficiency, excellence, equity and environment.

Three entries – from Uganda, Kenya and India – were selected as particularly significant. Persons who were involved in innovatons are being sponsored by IFAD to enable their participation in the Conference.

An awards ceremony will be held during a Knowledge Sharing Session that the Fund is organising. On this occasion, the winners will present and discuss their innovation-knowledge with a wider audience, Lavizzari told IPS.

The other entries will be inserted into a database that will be displayed at the exhibition IFAD will set up in the Knowledge Fair in Kuala Lumpur, as part of the Global Knowledge Conference.

The winner from Uganda is a farmer named Avta Deogratias at IFAD’s Vegetable Oil Development Project. By layering fresh leaves of lantana camara – considered an obnoxious weed in most parts of the world – between the layers of sweet potato being preserved, he has succeeded in prolonging its storage life by four months.

The innovation based on traditional knowledge provides households the possibility of preserving their main source of staple food.

The second winner is Morris Nyaga Rucha, a Kenyan farmer at another IFAD project. He has come up with a herbal medicine which will provide relief to cash-strapped villagers and their disease- emaciated animals. Morris says he got motivation from his father who was a herbalist.

The third winner, Shri Jayant Dattatreya at IFAD-aided Maharashtra Rural Credit Project in India, has found a way to increase the life of betel leaves by using milk.

Betel leaves covered in cloth are immersed in a solution of fresh milk and water. They are then stored in a bamboo packing box. By adopting this process the shelf life of leaves is prolonged by 25 percent.

The importance of applying the traditional knowledge lies in the fact that betel leaves are chewed after meals for digestive properties. High shelf life may in fact expand market prospects.

Among the ‘Ten Best Innovations-Knowledges’ entries to the IFAD initiated competition is one from Ethiopia. A farmer has found a way to treat animals with ‘Bole’ – creamy in colour, with physical properties similar to a mineral. It is retrieved directly from farm-wells. ‘Bole’ is used to cure cattle of internal parasite, improve body condition and better the feeding and watering habits.

Another farmer, Olato Bazil, in Uganda has succeeded in developing a home-made cement which is a very economical building material, that may be adopted in various applications and can generate alternative means of livelihood.