Plastic Yam and Plastic Yam Sticks – Perspectives on Indigenous Technical Knowledge Among Jamaican Farmers

Abstract

Yam farming in Jamaica has been one of the few success stories in agriculture since Independence in 1962. Production is entirely dominated by small farmers who have intensified production systems. Over the last decade yam farmers experienced a 'yam stick problem' due to the scarcity, poor quality and high prices of yam sticks. This paper focuses on the content and contextualisation of indigenous technical knowledge among yam farmers. The intrinsic dynamic nature of indigenous technical knowledge is revealed by showing how farmers have adapted their cultivation methods and have themselves innovated new ways of staking yams in efforts to solve the yam stick problem. In effect they have had to rely on their own indigenous knowledge base as a source of new ideas. We discuss a series of alternatives to traditional yam staking methods with a large sample of farmers, including both real and hypothetical examples of externally-induced innovations. Farmers' responses to these innovations are reported and analysed in the context of Briggs' recent review of indigenous knowledge and development issues. Our research suggests that farmer innovation is a normal consequence of coping with farming problems. Further, farmers are not intrinsically unresponsive to externally-induced innovations, which supports the view that 'Western science' and indigenous knowledge are not necessarily bipolar and mutually exclusive knowledge systems. We conclude that indigenous technical knowledge can provide a nexus for research in fostering partnerships with farmers, NGOs and planners in their search for sustainable solutions to the yam stick problem and broader aspects of rural development and resource management.

Sustainable Food Production Systems and Food Security: Economic and Environmental Imperatives in Yam Cultivation in Trelawny, Jamaica

“…The vines trail along the mulch which also keeps down weeds and eliminates weeding and attendant costs. Farmers in the area have shown an abiding resistance to minisett over the years [8]. In this study however, a shift in attitude was evident.…”

“…Thirteen of the respondents were females and all farmers in the survey planted yams. The paper also draws on previous research in the area [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. …”

Climate Change, Drought, and Jamaican Agriculture: Local Knowledge and the Climate Record

“…The majority of these studies are from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with a paucity of studies for the Caribbean (Beckford, Barker, and Bailey 2007). The few studies that have been completed in Jamaica include analysis of environmental knowledge and decision making in small-farming systems (Davis-Morrison and Barker 1997) and the use of indigenous knowledge in yam production (Beckford 2002;Barker and Beckford 2006). No studies have been completed to date that have specifically assessed local knowledge and perceptions of drought and climate change and compared these to the climate and vegetation data for Jamaica.…”

Caribbean Agriculture in a Period of Global Change: Vulnerabilities and Opportunities

“…Mulching is central to farmers' traditional knowledge, skills and resourcefulness in coping with hazard vulnerability. Indeed, traditional knowledge has allowed Caribbean farmers to survive and adapt to change and adversity throughout the region's turbulent past and problematic present (Barker and Beckford 2006;Beckford and Barker 2007).…”