PRETATERRA Answers: Why Does Traditional Knowledge Matter in Agroforestry?

Mapping is a crucial process for planning any production system. In the case of an agroforestry system, in addition to the physical and environmental mapping of the property, it is essential to understand the socioeconomic context, that is, the people who will be behind that system and the market that the products can reach.

Speaking specifically about people, understanding the context of that farmer, family, community and workers is crucial for planning a successful agroforestry system. This is because this mapping is when we understand which crops are desired, which operations are known, who will work in agroforestry, etc. The success of an agroforestry system is directly related to traditional knowledge.

Traditional knowledge is anything that is part of the culture of a place, is part of routinely used practices, is passed from generation to generation, relates to a use or custom, is adopted by a family or a community. Having this knowledge at hand is the key to creating production systems suited to local needs, especially when we talk about biodiverse systems. This is because understanding these factors guides the choice of species, their management and their products. For example, if in an indigenous village women traditionally make handicrafts with banana or palm leaves and this is one of the sources of income, it makes sense to include these species in greater numbers; in the same way, if a tree is used medicinally by the same Village, but requires a lot of pruning and maintenance, labor that the Village does not have, it makes sense to adapt the presence of that tree in the system at a lower density, guaranteeing its presence but restricting the time and effort for its management. In another example, if a farmer plants coffee, but there is a market in his region for native fruit jams, it is likely that some species available in nurseries in the region will be suggested to compose his system. Of course, knowing the farmer's own context also helps a lot in the decision process: is he willing to learn new practices? Does the farmer have the time and resources to do this? Would they like to expand their market or invest in a developing value chain? All of this counts too.

Traditional and local knowledge acquisition tools

To learn more about this farmer, this family, this community, the most important thing is to talk. Exchanging ideas, experiences, people's stories are incredible! In these conversations, we at PRETATERRA apply our knowledge in learning from local knowledge by structuring some tools, such as semi-structured questionnaires, rapid rural diagnoses (Rapid Rural Appraisals, in English) and pairwise ranking. Valter Ziantoni, during his master's degree in Zambia, delved deeply into these tools, and with Paula, they developed PRETATERRA's own methodology, which we use in all our projects. The idea is not to subject a person to an “interview”, but to conduct a targeted conversation to acquire information that will later be systematized and guide decision-making in agroforestry planning. And everything is carried out in a co-creative and transparent way. Likewise, if you want to plan an agroforestry project for your property, you can do this exercise with yourself, your family, etc. Putting everything on paper is the best way to start planning that will have a successful execution!