Scientific rationality of indigenous technical knowledge related to pulse production: Researchers’ perception

Indigenous knowledge is the pool of knowledge resources accumulated by a community over years of experimentations for surviving the challenges faced. This knowledge resource offer many advantages in terms of availability and affordability to the indigenous farming community. Assessment of this precious knowledge resource for its scientific rationality could be a step towards their integration in the formal research system. The study was conducted among 68 pulse researchers for assessment of their perception on indigenous knowledge as well as documented indigenous technical knowledge related to pulse production from Uttar Pradesh state. Majority of the researchers perceived that integration of indigenous knowledge in formal agricultural research could lead to easy adoption of technologies by the farming community (79.41%) and their integration with improved agriculture practices could make agriculture more sustainable (82.35%). More than 71 per cent of the researchers found the four documented indigenous practices related to pulse production to have high scientific base while about 58 per cent of the researchers perceived the indigenous practices relating to forecasting of insect pest to have high scientific base. Majority of the researchers (>75%) recommended the indigenous practices relating to crop protection for scientific validation.