Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Igbo Traditional Agriculture

About the Book

The book documents the intricate and diverse use of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the yam and coco yam-based traditional farming systems of Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria. It highlights the significance of IKS in optimal and sustainable resource use in farming activities. It shows the role of IKS in the selection of planting and breeding materials; cultivation, tending, and harvesting of crops as well as in the protection, marketing and consumption of crops, animals and their products. The book elucidates the intricate web of inter-relationships between the farming system and the daily lives and livelihood of Igbo people by interrogating the pellucid synergy between their sociocultural and socioeconomic aspirations and the exigencies of the farming system.

About the Author

The author, Professor Francis Nwonwu hails from Oba in Anambra State, Nigeria. He obtained a Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University, Ames, USA in 1983. He has had an impressive academic career that spans over a quarter of a century in Africa and beyond. He is the author of four other books and has contributed chapters in many others. He has to his credit, scores of reputable journal articles, and a long list of local and international conference papers. In 2009, the International Who's Who Historical Society elected him the organization's Scholar of the Year. He is also Professor Extraordinary at the Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.