Farmers in north India have been relying on their knowledge of animal behavior and wind patterns to plan their agricultural practices for hundreds of years, and now we might finally have the data to understand why it works.
After a year of recording weather parameters, Pravesh Singh, a doctoral student at the Indian Institute of Technology, told Devex how their preliminary data analysis corroborates the generational knowledge used by farmers in the upper Gangetic plains of the Uttar Pradesh state in northern India to plan irrigation and harvesting — which until now had not been scientifically explained.
India is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, which is set to affect 50% of the population reliant on agriculture and other climate-sensitive sectors for their livelihood. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that by 2030, India’s food production could drop by 16%, with those at risk of hunger potentially increasing by 23% due to climate change. Recognizing and incorporating generational knowledge into localization efforts can help scale climate strategies and ensure that solutions are derived from the people who know the climate best — which will be essential to reaching India's net-zero emissions target by 2070.
“Purely from a perspective of effectiveness, these initiatives that take community Indigenous knowledge into consideration tend to be more effective because there's already buy-in and there is already consensus,” said Shuchi Vora, resilience evidence coalition lead the Global Resilience Partnership.
Corroborating with data
Uttar Pradesh is one of the major hotspot regions that will be impacted by climate change, Singh said, explaining how the region's agriculture, reliant on the monsoon, will be severely impacted by changes in precipitation patterns.
Farmers in Uttar Pradesh believe that westerly winds — known as Pachuwa — dry out the soil of moisture, needing more frequent irrigation, while easterly winds — known as Puruba — reduce the need for irrigation. This belief is embedded in local folklore, but until recently there had been no evidence to back this up.
“Traditional farming techniques, which have been used by farmers for a long time, are more aligned with nature and natural resources. However, their impact on climate change mitigation is not well studied in this part of the world,” he said.
That is why a key focus of Singh’s research was to explore the plausibility of farmers' traditional knowledge systems about wind direction and soil moisture. The research is being conducted under the guidance of professor Shivam Tripathi, a hydraulics and water resources specialist at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
Farmers use many different cues from nature to help them make farming decisions, Singh said. These vary from looking at ants and birds to meteorological factors such as wind speed, direction, temperature changes, and even astrology. By paying attention to these factors, farmers have been able to predict when monsoon rains will start, decide the best times for planting, and plan irrigation schedules, he said.
To test this, data was collected from two sites in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, using automatic weather stations to record parameters such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, soil moisture, and solar radiation every minute. Soil evaporation and transpiration were also measured using low-cost Internet of Things devices, he said.
Soil evaporation is the process where water is converted from liquid to vapor and lost from the soil surface directly to the atmosphere. Transpiration is the process by which water is absorbed by plant roots from the soil, moves through the plant, and is then released as vapor through small openings in the leaves called stomata. Together, these processes determine water loss from soil, influencing irrigation needs. Evapotranspiration is evaporation plus transpiration.
To review the body of generational and traditional knowledge, Singh interviewed local farmers, reviewed news articles, and consulted books containing local proverbs. The research was also assisted by a local farmer, Luvkush Kumar, who helped with farming at the study site and to better understand the traditional knowledge that farmers in that area believe in.
The study's preliminary findings suggest that relative humidity is higher and evapotranspiration is lower during easterly winds, supporting the farmers' traditional knowledge. While they are still in the process of collecting more data, Singh and his colleagues presented the preliminary findings in the form of a poster at last year’s National Youth Conference on Indian Knowledge Systems.
The findings were part of a broader research that aimed to compare how much of the applied irrigation water contributes to plant transpiration, how much is wasted as soil evaporation, and the effects of conventional, fertilizer-reliant farming compared with organic methods.
How can traditional knowledge help improve localization?
“Traditional knowledge is accumulated over generations and is deeply rooted in the local context. This makes it very relevant in dealing with specific climatic challenges … ‘one solution for all’ approaches do not always work,” Singh said, highlighting how culturally relevant solutions both encourage community participation and are more likely to be accepted and adopted by the local community.
For example, he explained how knowledge systems often employ diverse cropping methodologies, such as using local seed varieties and mixed cropping systems with organic fertilizers. These practices help farms minimize the risk of total crop failure due to climatic variability. Generally, traditional knowledge systems follow sustainable practices. “They have been fine-tuned over generations to work harmoniously with the local environment,” Singh said.
The Global Resilience Partnership’s report exploring failure and culture in climate resilience projects found that when Indigenous knowledge is not considered, interventions can fail. The burden of this often falls on the communities involved, said Vora. Donors, intermediaries, and local NGOs typically move on, she explained, which often leaves the communities to pick up the pieces.
Bridging the gap between science and traditional knowledge
Among the top things we can do to authentically integrate these knowledge systems is to enter every context with humility, said Vora. “You're here to learn, and you're here to learn from anyone who's willing to impart knowledge.” This is why she encourages those working on localization and mitigation efforts to ask questions about what is already known, not just from scientific sources and peer-reviewed literature or reports, but also from oral histories, lived experiences, and those at the intersections of a community.
To question the biases present in every knowledge system is also important, according to Vora. Certain types of knowledge, such as peer-reviewed data, are often valued more highly in scientific communities, she explained, adding that it doesn’t mean that other forms of knowledge, such as lived experience or traditional knowledge, are less valuable.
Singh’s research is a great example of scientists stepping out of their comfort zone and reevaluating their understanding — in this case of weather — by considering farmers' knowledge, she said. She suggests that this inversion that challenges traditional top-down models of knowledge transfer can lead to more holistic and effective solutions and localization efforts.
It is not necessarily a straightforward process though, Singh said, adding that incorporating traditional knowledge into scientific frameworks comes with challenges corresponding to the highly localized nature of traditional practices and the lack of written records. Bridging this gap requires respectful understanding, observational studies, and supportive policies, he said.
The role of traditional knowledge in decolonizing development
The push for valuing and including generational and traditional knowledge reflects a broader shift in localization efforts to decolonize global development.
To do this effectively — from the perspective of a practitioner working to facilitate transdisciplinary action that includes Indigenous and local knowledge — Vora suggests the need to rethink and redefine what decolonization means, first. Any of the current discussions and practices place the responsibility for decolonization on the communities that have been colonized, she said.
This is problematic, she explained, because it ignores the power dynamics at play. Those in positions of power therefore need to approach decolonization with humility, take on more responsibility for the process, and work to expand their power inclusively.
From a donor perspective, there are three main areas of focus to support the integration of traditional knowledge systems, said Vora. These include changing strings to how funds are disbursed, ensuring there is patient capital, as mentioned in the local adaptation principles, and finally investing in learning.
Dig into Roots of Change, a series examining the push toward locally led development.
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About the author
Katrina J. Lane
Katrina Lane is an Editorial Strategist and Reporter at Devex. She writes on ecologies and social inclusion, and also supports the creation of partnership content at Devex. She holds a degree in Psychology from Warwick University, offering a unique perspective on the cognitive frameworks and social factors that influence responses to global issues.
