Abstract:
Understanding folk knowledge of soil offers broader insight to help
design more appropriate participatory agricultural research programs and
facilitate better communication with farmers. To address this issue, semi-structured
interviews were conducted with 90 farmers (age > 20 years) from three
villages in Bengkulu Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The objective of this
study was to explore the folk knowledge toward soil classification, soil
fertility, soil degradation and soil management. Farmers used 11 criteria
to classify the soils. They described nine soil classes based on color
and texture. Common colors for fertile soils are black, brown and mixed
brown-black, but infertile soils are red and red-yellow. To better manage
the soils, farmers recognized the importance of manures, crop residues
and compost as soil amendments and legumes in cropping systems. Two-year
fallow was commonly applied by farmers to restore soil fertility after
five years of cultivation. This study suggests that there is a need to
maximize the benefits of local knowledge of soil by combining it with
scientific knowledge to enhance rural development projects, help precision
farming and better manage natural resources.
Subscribe Today 
