Promoting Indigenous Knowledge: A Way towards Indigenous Peoples’ Food Security

For centuries, indigenous peoples in the country have survived by relying on their indigenous knowledge systems and practices. Parts of these are the various genetic resources and the related farming practices that have ensured, not just their food security, but the sustainable use of natural resources.

Lampisa, lapat and innabuyog, as some of these indigenous knowledge systems and practices are called, include the practice of gathering seeds from the best of the yield to sow for the next season; sharing seeds among members of the community and with other indigenous communities, maintaining soil fertility with the use of organic matter; the use of plants with insecticidal properties to prevent outbreaks of pest infestations; and a water management system for the control of weeds. Also, the practice of crop diversity and crop rotation in traditional agriculture reduces chances of losing a whole cropping season in times of disasters. Traditional agriculture ensures food security by providing households with a diverse and balanced diet consisting of cereals, root crops, legumes, and a variety of vegetables and fruits.

But with the advent of the Green Revolution, indigenous communities were not spared. Hybrid seeds steadily encroached into indigenous communities, replacing traditional varieties that are of superior quality. The chemical inputs these seeds require posed burdens on indigenous farmers who never had to spend money on chemical fertilizers and insecticides. With them came modern farming methods that are stamping out traditional and sustainable agricultural practices. All these are now causing food insecurity among indigenous communities and the degradation of natural resources that further threatens their survival. This erosion of indigenous farming practices also has implications on the indigenous communities’ way of life that forms part of their cultural identity.

As with most other farmers in the country, indigenous peoples did not gain from the agricultural policies being peddled by agro-chemical transnational corporations, through international agricultural research institutes, such as IRRI, in cahoots with the government. They did not only push indigenous communities into worse states of poverty and debt but also slowly weakened their indigenous knowledge systems.

Now, more than ever, we are calling for the promotion of indigenous knowledge for the attainment of indigenous peoples’ food security. Let us assert and defend the rights of indigenous peoples to land, food sovereignty and self-determination within a truly democratic and sovereign Philippines.#