Indigenous knowledge and modern sciences: complementary wisdom to help farmers: combining two knowledge systems to help sustain agricultural production in South Africa

For a very long time African communities, especially rural smallholder farmers, have relied on information gathered using indigenous systems to define their farming practices, as well as predicting the quality of seasons. The natural indigenous climate indicators involved the observation of animal behaviour, plants, and the atmosphere, as well as human ailments. However, due to climate variability and change, these indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) have become unpredictable.

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Publication Details

Journal
Human Science Research Council SA
Published
2026-05-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.14749/32378118
Primary Topic
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Indigenous knowledge and modern sciences: complementary wisdom to help farmers: combining two knowledge systems to help sustain agricultural production in South Africa

Human Sciences Research Council
Human Science Research Council SA
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
article

Indigenous knowledge and modern sciences: complementary wisdom to help farmers: combining two knowledge systems to help sustain agricultural production in South Africa

Human Sciences Research Council
article en

Abstract

For a very long time African communities, especially rural smallholder farmers, have relied on information gathered using indigenous systems to define their farming practices, as well as predicting the quality of seasons. The natural indigenous climate indicators involved the observation of animal behaviour, plants, and the atmosphere, as well as human ailments. However, due to climate variability and change, these indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) have become unpredictable.

Human Science Research Council SA
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
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