Traditional Agricultural Practices and their Validation in Eastern Region of Madhya Pradesh

The study was conducted in six villages of Kusmi and Majhauli Block of Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the indigenous knowledge used in agriculture practices by tribal farmers in that area and testing of their scientific validity by the scientist which are related to respective field. Indigenous knowledge is the knowledge that has been developed over time in a community mainly through accumulation of experiences and intimate understanding of the environment in a given culture. This research covers indigenous knowledge on farming tasks such as managing soil fertility, controlling pests and diseases, harvesting, storage of grains, weather prediction, detection of underground water and mixed cropping pattern. From the result we can conclude that indigenous knowledge should be recorded and used to devise innovative research for agricultural researchers, extension workers and development practioners for improvement in agriculture. All the documented indigenous agricultural practices given to 30 scientists for validation and out of 30 practices 27 got score 3 or more than 3 on five point basis continuum which comes under rational.