Farmers are Engineers

Farmers have developed their own highly competant and often very technical ways of dealing with farming problems and land degredation. Such measures, for example erosion control or water channelling structure, have been developed from indigenous knowledge of the conditions, and are easily maintained by existing local skills. Here, it is recognised that the farmer has both engineering and managerial skills, which enable soil conservation measures to be carried out. The limits both to ITK and farmer innovations are also recognised, and the need for a compromise is stressed. A number of examples, on both agricultural land and types of drainage, are given, with illustrations.