Indigenous knowledge of soil fertility management in southwest Niger

Abstract

Osbahr and Allan recognize that agroecology, which topically applies to ethnoecology and ethnopedology, methodologically acknowledges social, political, and cultural interactions, while pointing out that we lack understanding of the specific interactions. This knowledge, which varies by culture and location, is valuable for resource management decisions, and provides the impetus for gathering farmers' physical and biological knowledge systems. The researchers emphasize the individual as the key tool for soil fertility management, because each individual uses specific knowledge to make dynamic and complicated decisions. Management of soil resources varies with each person's different perceptions of opportunities and constraints, resource access, and skills or realized capabilities from experience.