Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 9 (2), April 2010, pp 261-263 Indigenous technology of tribal farmers in Jharkhand Valeria Lakra*, MK Singh, Rekha Sinha & N Kudada Directorate of Extension Education, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi 834 006, Jharkhand E-mail: valeria_rmr@yahoo.co.in Received 18 April 2007; revised 17 April 2009 Tribals are known to have rich knowledge of indigenous technology pertaining to agriculture practices and an attempt was made to document the indigenous knowledge. Data was collected from 3 districts covering 9 villages from 225 farmers with the help of a structured questionnaire. In all, broadly classified 26 indigenous knowledge were identified in the study area. Keywords: Indigenous technical knowledge, Tribals, Jharkhand IPC Int. Cl. 8 : A01B1/00, A01C1/00, A01G1/00, C05G3/00, A01M1/00, A01M5/00, A01M31/00, A01N3/00, A01F25/00 Jharkhand is one of the eastern states, where bulk of tribals live, constituting about 28% of total population. It is a homeland of 30 tribes including 8 primitive tribes. The tribes happened to be primarily rural and their economy is predominantly agricultural, based on natural seasons comprising and exploited on primitive methods. These tribes have rich knowledge about the indigenous practices especially in soil management, seed protection and post harvest aspect on paddy. This traditional knowledge has been derived from the tribe’s farming experience through trial and error method and handed down from previous generation to present generations. Many of these indigenous methods and practices are very human in nature and can play an important role in sustainable suitable agricultural production. This indigenous knowledge may be exploited and blended with existing scientific technologies to explore more sustainable and human friendly methods of agricultural practices. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and document existing indigenous knowledge related to agricultural practices followed in different regions of the country. Keeping this in view, the study was taken up in Jharkhand. Methodology The study was carried in 3 districts of Jharkhand during 2003 to 2004. Ranchi district is situated in the central part of Jharkhand, Gumla district in the western part and Hazaribagh in the northern part of the state. In each district, 3 community development blocks were selected based on forest ecology and open ecology of the area. In each block, one village was selected randomly on the basis of 3 different tribal sub-groups present in the area. The data was collected from 25 farmers in each village through a well structured questionnaire. Questionnaire was pre- tested for its validity through a well structured questionnaire. Questionnaire was pre-tested for its validity and reliability purpose before data collection. Frequently and percentage was computed for descriptive analysis. Results and discussion Twenty five indigenous cultivation practices had been identified. Of 25, 10 were found to be used for soil management, 3 for weed management, 2 as plant protection measures, 6 for management of seed, and 5 for post harvest activities. The extent of adoption of various indigenous agricultural practices of tribals of 3 districts is presented (Table 1). Under soil management, 6 indigenous practices were found to be adopted by cent percent of the respondents and these were ploughing the field 3-5 times before sowing, breaking the clods by wooden cylindrical shaped implements (Fig.1). FYM is kept in the field basket full of helaps for direct seeded/ transplanted rice, practice of crop rotation and mixed cropping (Figs.2&3) as well as bunding and terracing of land according to slope. It is a common practice among tribals to go for crop rotation and mixed cropping in upland for maintenance of soil fertility. About 15%, —————— *Corresponding author