Indigenous agricultural technical knowledge for the management of common pests and diseases of rice and stored grains in Jorhat District, Assam.

A Study on Indigenous Agricultural Technical Knowledge (IATKs) commonly practiced related to the management of common pests and diseases of major crops followed by the farmers of Jorhat district, Assam, was under taken. The aim of the study was to create a database to determine the effectiveness of identified IATKs as perceived by farmers and also to determine the scientific rationality as perceived by agricultural scientists. Both pre-tested structured schedules as well as questionnaire were used to collect data from field level and institutional level, respectively. It was revealed that in rice among the IATKs studied, 32 numbers were targeted against major insect pests like stem borer, rice hispa, gundhi-bug, case-worm, rodents and birds and only 3 numbers were found to be used against the diseases like brown spot, blast and bacterial leaf blight. In case of stored grains pests of rice and pulse, only three numbers of IATK were predominantly used.