157

TRADITIONAL FARMING AND INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

SYSTEMS IN AFRICA: PERSPECTIVE FROM THE IKALE-
YORUBA EXPERIENCE

Olukoya Ogen
Department of History, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
koyaogen@yahoo.co

ABSTRACT
This paper argues that the abysmal failure of conventional agricultural techniques in Africa
has made it critically necessary for Africa’s agricultural policies to evolve from its age-long
indigenous agricultural technologies. The study, therefore, highlights several instances of
the application of indigenous knowledge to the Ikale farming system. Essentially, the
adequate utilisation of the Ikale’s indigenous knowledge system enabled Ikale farmers to
become the undisputed regional experts in food crop production in southeastern
Yorubaland during the period under review. The paper concludes that modern approaches
to agricultural development in Africa will continue to fail unless they take into consideration
Africa’s home-grown innovative farming techniques and indigenous knowledge systems.

Keywords: Traditional farming, farming techniques

INTRODUCTION
The Ikale are a major Yoruba sub-ethnic group in Southwestern Nigeria whose
socio-economic history has largely been neglected in the mainstream of Yoruba
historiography (Osoba 1976; Akintoye 1969 and Ogen 2003). Curiously enough,
studies have revealed that the Yoruba are one of the most researched ethnic
groups in Africa (Falola 1999; Arifalo and Ogen 2003). As result of the dearth of
scholarly works on the Ikale people, Ikale’s pre-colonial agricultural history has
not only been greatly misunderstood, but has also been subjected to grave
misinterpretations at the hands of colonial historiographers and their apologists
who still rely uncritically on colonial sources and methodologies for the recon-
struction of the socio-economic history of African pre-colonial peoples (Ogen
2006a).
As a matter of fact, the prevailing neo-classical view on Ikale pre-colonial agricul-
ture is tainted by the belief that Ikaleland was not “self-sufficient in food crops
production” due to “poor soil and local lethargy” (Forde 1969: 63). The general
conclusion, therefore, is that pre-colonial Ikaleland was a backwater where
farmers – sunk in barbarism, backwardness and docility – and lived in splendid
isolation from their neighbours (Garvin 1934 and Richards 1985).
As argued elsewhere, these grand generalisations and flawed assumptions –
exemplified in the neo-classical charges of indolence, barbarism, subsistency
and poor soil – are a mere manifestation of a lack of proper understanding of the
socio-cultural dynamics of Ikale’s pre-colonial agriculture (Ogen 2006). Indeed,
the available body of evidence suggests that Ikale’s pre-colonial agriculture was
as efficient as it was productive. Most significantly, however, this present study
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158

shows abundant evidence of the application of indigenous knowledge to Ikale

farming practices and concludes that the Ikale succeeded in becoming the
undisputed regional experts in food crop production basically because their
farming system was adequately enhanced with experimental, adaptive and
innovative indigenous technologies.

CONCEPTUALISING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS

Indigenous knowledge is a critical and substantial aspect of the culture and
technology of any society. It is sometimes referred to as folk knowledge, ethno-
science or traditional knowledge, among others (Adedipe, Okuneye and Ayinde
2004). Rajasekaran (1993) defines it as the systematic body of knowledge
acquired by local people through the accumulation of experiences, informal
experiments and the development of an intimate understanding of the environ-
ment of a given culture.
Indigenous knowledge also refers to the knowledge base acquired by indigenous
peoples over many centuries through direct contact with the environment. It
includes an in-depth and detailed knowledge of plants, animals, and natural
phenomena, the development and use of appropriate technologies for hunting,
fishing and farming, and a holistic knowledge, or "world view" which parallels the
scientific discipline of ecology (Bourque, Inglis and LeBlanc 1993).
For several centuries before the arrival of the Europeans, farmers in Ikaleland as
well as in other parts of Africa have, through hard work, experience and ingenu-
ity evolved many indigenous farming techniques. They have consequently
developed rare abilities to select good agricultural land at sight, devised and
adopted ingenious farming methods and strategies for pest control and soil
regeneration with a view to boosting agricultural productivity. These indigenous
practices have been passed down over countless generations and have stood
the test of time.
Although indigenous knowledge has, for a long time, been frowned upon by
Western oriented scientists, the positive role which the application of indigenous
knowledge systems can play in engendering sustainable development in devel-
oping countries has now been gradually realised. Interestingly, the United Na-
tions Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (commonly known
as the Earth Summit) which was held in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro acknowl-
edged the contributions of indigenous peoples and their traditional knowledge to
the quest for a sustainable future (Bourque, Inglis and LeBlanc 1993). Modern
approaches to agricultural development will continue to fail unless they take into
consideration a society’s indigenous skills and knowledge systems. In order to
properly appreciate the efficacy of Ikale’s indigenous knowledge systems, it is
important to first highlight the dynamics of its food crop economy.

THE NATURE OF IKALE FOOD CROP FARMING

The Ikale country is well suited to the cultivation of root crops such as yam-
dioscorea (usu), cocoyam – colocasia esculentum (lambo), maize – zea mays
TRADITIONAL FARMING AND INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS IN AFRICA: PERSPECTIVE FROM THE IKALE-YORUBA EXPERIENCE
159

(igbado), banana – musa sapientum (loboten), plantain- sapientum paradisiaca

(ibatiyan), cassava – manihot utilisima (gbaguda), waterleaf – anaranthus hy-
bridus (efo gbure), pumpkin leaf – cucurbita pepo (efo uroko) and okra – hibiscus
esculentum (ila) (Irvine 1981). The pre-colonial economy depended mainly on
agricultural activities. Farming which was based on the traditional knowledge
systems was by far the most popular and widely practised of all occupations.

The Ikale Intelligence Report describes the Ikale people as “exclusively farmers”
(Garvin 1934), while the Ikale Assessment Report states that the sizes of Ikale
farms varied considerably depending on the wealth of each farmer but that
normally an acre of farmland normally contained about 3,700 yam heaps
(Mathews 1932). Indeed, the wide expanse of a typical Ikale farm is also de-
picted in popular Ikale praise poetry:

Oko Ikale!
Ubo yi atighoro ti raun
Jo fofofo
Je rigi bale (Ogen 2006b).
Ikale farms!
Where allied hornbills
usually fly for a long time, and
always grumbling of not getting
even a single tree to perch on.

The import of this piece of praise poetry is that farms were usually very large – to
the extent that all the trees in the vicinity would have been felled during clearing
and this would have made difficult for allied hornbills to find a tree to perch on.

Given the above, it is not surprising that the Ikale eventually emerged as a major
regional food producer and exporter in pre-colonial south-eastern Yorubaland.
Ikale foodstuff exports reached the territories of the Ilaje, Apoi, Izon and Itsekiri
in the Niger Delta as well as the Ijebu and Lagos areas (Richards 1992). Ironi-
cally, in spite of the vibrancy and efficiency of Ikale’s food crop economy, colo-
nial historiographers still found it expedient to describe it as a subsistence mode
of production and to pin the tags of indolence and barbarism on Ikale farmers.
Before going into the details of Ikale’s indigenous ecological and agricultural
knowledge system, it may be worthwhile to briefly note possible reasons for
these unfortunate and misleading labels.

The above misconceptions emanated from the fact that the British colonial
officials greatly misunderstood the nature and cultural dynamics of Ikale agricul-
ture and the socio-political structure of a country where food production rather
than overseas export was a major interest. Also, the British could not understand
why the Ikale preferred to live in their numerous farm estates (egunre) in deep
rural locations rather than their metropolitan capitals (ode) (Richards 1985). The
British colonial officials’ bias towards the world of commodity trade made it
difficult for them to understand that local groups producing foodstuffs for regional
markets (like the Ikale) might be progressive, enjoy economic advantages and
political authority over other groups oriented towards the highly volatile overseas
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export trade. Consequently, the lack of enthusiasm for the export trade – espe-
cially in palm oil – by the Ikale was interpreted as ‘indolence’ and ‘backward-
ness’. In a thought-provoking essay, Richards (1992:169) argues that:
The Ikale in the nineteenth century had not shown themselves to be espe-
cially peripheral and backward. They had participated as strongly as any
other group in the mercantile networks of the Nigerian littoral… their main in-
terest in supplying this regional system with food rather than in participating
in the overseas trade directly, reflected strong comparative advantage, since
there were few other areas so well placed to make good the food deficits of
the creek and delta trading communities. That Ikale specialization in food
production was not just second best is shown by the fact that they vigorously
expanded their supply to delta towns such as Sapele and Warri, and eventu-
ally as far as Lagos.
Ikale’s enviable status as the undisputed regional food crop specialist and
foodstuff exporter was dependent on the efficient and effective application of
indigenous knowledge.

SOME ASPECTS OF THE APPLICATION OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE TO

FARMING
The Ikale’s application of indigenous knowledge to farming can first be observed
in their ingenious farming methods. The two most prominent methods were
shifting cultivation and mixed cropping. The system of shifting cultivation was
based on rotational bush fallow method whereby used or the over-used farmland
was left for a few years in order for it to regain its fertility before being re-
cultivated. The system enabled farmers to meet the food requirements of the
people and also to produce surplus for exchange while the fertility of the soil was
maintained (Falola 1984). It was a cheap method of land regeneration, soil
conservation and pest control. The system is not peculiar to Africa and is prac-
tised all over the world and works admirably well as long as the man/land ratio
remains low. The system breaks down whenever there is a remarkable increase
in population because a renewed pressure on land (Hailey 1968: 818; Buchanan
and Pugh 1995).
Initially, Western agricultural experts and a few African scholars were of the
opinion that shifting cultivation seemed perverse and was wasteful of land, and
that it was a major cause of deforestation (Adedipe, Okuneye and Ayinde 2004).
However, modern scientists have now recognised the value of the traditional
bush-fallow system associated with shifting cultivation (or slash-and-burn agricul-
ture) which had hitherto been seen as primitive. In fact, agricultural experts since
the 1960s have adapted this method and modified it into what is generally known
as alley cropping. Alley cropping capitalises on the beneficial attributes of shifting
cultivation (Lal 1990). Between 1984 and 1988, the International Livestock
Centre for Africa (ILCA) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture
(IITA) were involved in various on-farm research projects that introduced alley
cropping to indigenous Nigerian farmers (Lalonde 1993).
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The second method that was employed was mixed cropping. Different crops that
would not be harvested at the same time were grown on the same plot (e.g.
yam/maize, cocoyam/okra, yam/melon, and so on). Mixed cropping has several
advantages. It makes the maximum possible use of the land under cultivation
since the crops require different soil depth for their nutrient supply, it protects the
soil from erosion as each harvested plant is replaced by a new one, and lastly, it
increases yield through the interaction of supplementary crops (Agboola 1967).
Pre-colonial Ikale farmers adopted these ingenious methods in their farming
system to maintain soil fertility as a way of increasing their agricultural output.

Given the importance attached to the cultivation of yams in pre-colonial Ikale-

land, it is important to devote considerable attention to this aspect of the Ikale’s
economic life. It is a widely acknowledged fact that the Ikale were renowned
experts in yam cultivation. Yams were also said to be “the great staple of the
Ikale country” and cassava “a less palatable alternative” (Richards 1992: 169). It
should be noted that Captain Ambrose, a British colonial official, reported during
a tour of Ikaleland in 1900 that only some ex-slaves of Yoruba extraction grew
cassava. Also, in 1872, Maser, another official, found the produce on sale at the
Itebu market on the Ikale-Ilaje border as consisting of “chiefly yams” – a fact that
had earlier been noted by David Hinderer, a German missionary, at the Arijan
market, an Ikale market close to Itebu in Ogun State (Mathews 1932). It is
significant to note that the widely acclaimed prowess of Ikale farmers in yam
farming was not fortuitous – it was built largely around the Ikale’s indigenous
knowledge systems.
Indeed, there is sufficient evidence that Ikale farmers did apply their indigenous
knowledge systems to the cultivation of yams. They also embarked on major
indigenous scientific experiments to boost yam production. While some of these
experiments were highly successful others were not so fruitful. An outstanding
example is the Ikale’s brilliant indigenous experimentation with the possibility of
germinating yams from yam seeds. The experiment started in the nineteenth
century as a result of the increased demands for Ikale yams by Ikale neighbours
who were involved in intensive slave raiding and warfare during the nineteenth
century (Ogen 2006b). Ikale farmers felt that if yams could be grown from yam
seeds then yields would be increased by the proportion of tubers normally set
aside for replanting purposes. Somewhere between a quarter and one third of
each yam tuber was often set aside for replanting (Richards 1985).

Although ways of breaking seed dormancy were discovered, the ultimate result
was not very exciting since the tubers produced from ‘seed’ yams were very
small. It is interesting to note that this experimentation – attempted among Ikale
farmers since the pre-colonial period – became the focus of major research by
the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan in the 1970s and
80s. Despite the application of modern scientific research techniques, the IITA’s
researchers were also confronted with the same disappointing results (Richards
1985; Ogen 2006b). The case cited above clearly underscores the centrality of
research and development in the Ikale’s agricultural system.
In the distant past, Ikale farmers used barns (ogba) to preserve their yams. A
typical barn is made by erecting two or three upright poles. Long cross poles are
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then tied to the erect poles with bush fibres. The yams are cleaned and tied one
by one to the erect poles in such a way that there is enough space between one
tuber and another. This prevents the spread of diseases from one yam to the
other (Irvine 1981). An ogba might store between 200 and 500 tubers. Yams
could be preserved in this way for as long as two years or more. The ogba was
an ingenious method for preserving surplus yams that were earmarked for
exchange or for the new planting season. The size and number of barns a
farmer owned was a major determinant of his wealth and social status in those
days (Ogen 2006b).
As a way of arresting declining fertility on root-crop farms, Ikale farmers also
experimented with new intercrop mixes by increasing the ratio of water yam to
white yam and by actively encouraging the development of “compound yams”, of
usuode (Ogen 2006b). Usuode, which were a common phenomenon in Ikale-
land, were yams planted in the vicinity of each household both at the egunre and
ode. They were fertilised by household refuse. It has been observed that it was
common to see some of the biggest and best white yams grown around the farm
house in inverted heaps – hollows scooped out and filled with compost (Richards
1985). These examples show just how perfectly the Ikale farmers perfectly
understood their environment. These case studies also reveal how innovative
and resourceful Ikale farmers were in contending with the imperatives of Ikale’s
ecological features.
The Ikale also distinguished themselves with the application of indigenous
knowledge in checking the menace of the Variegated Grasshopper (Zonocerus
Variegates L.), known locally as tata – a cassava pest of epidemic proportions.
Modern research had indicated that the simplest and most effective method of
control was to mark out the egg-laying sites of this pest in the late dry season
and dig them up later in the year. It has been discovered that Ikale farmers had a
wealth of indigenous knowledge regarding the pests’ egg-laying sites. Richards
(1985) reports that a group of Ikale farmers in the Osooro kingdom were able to
demonstrate to him their striking knowledge of the dreaded pests’ behaviour by
locating all the egg-laying sites active on their farmlands in 1976. Ikale farmers
claimed to have inherited this indigenous technique from their great ancestors
(Ogen 2006b). This account neatly underscores the fact that the Ikale people
had detailed ecological knowledge of their terrain.
Moreover, Ikale pre-colonial farmers also introduced the use of organic fertilizers
or manures in their traditional farm estates. Organic fertilizers originally consisted
of compost or farmyard manures from livestock droppings as well as the deliber-
ate planting of leguminous and non-leguminous plants. It has been discovered
that organic fertilizers are more advantageous than inorganic fertilizers because
of their slow and steady release of nutrients which nourish and rejuvenate the
soil (Opeke 2000).
It appears important to add that one of the distinguishing characteristics of
Ikaleland during the pre-colonial era was the prevalence of herds of elephants in
the district (Perreira 1975). Indeed, elephants were so common in Ikaleland that
one of the Ikale kingdoms, Erinje, chose its name based on the ubiquitous
presence of elephants in the kingdom. Erinje in Ikale dialect simply means “a
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163

place where elephants graze” (Ogen 2006b: 270). Gbonowe, situated near Taibo
beach on the road to Irele in Ikaleland, was formerly known as Gborigbogbo
which means “elephant bush”, also on account of the elephants in the area
(Mathews 1932). For a long time these elephants presented a menace to Ikale
yam farming because they fed on the yam tubers on the farms. Apart from
hunting down these elephants, the people of Ikaleland also applied their indige-
nous knowledge and found a solution to the menace by cultivating a special
poisonous plant known locally as aluk, which was eventually planted on the
fringes of almost every farm. A popular saying in Ikaleland is “erin e je aluki” – an
elephant must not eat aluki. If it does, as it often does, the result is death (Ogen
2006).
The Ikale indigenous religious knowledge system was also utilised to enhance its
farming system. Ayelala, a prominent Ikale goddess, was much revered and
feared. Through the use of a non-linguistic communication symbols (kukubaku),
Ayelala was used to protect the Ikale’s agricultural system. Kukubaku were
placed on farms and farm products to serve as a deterrent and scare away
people, preventing them from tampering or claiming ownership of another per-
son’s property. This, of course, augured well for farming activities. In fact, it is
often said that the fear of kukubaku is the beginning of wisdom (Sheba 1999). It
is interesting to note that even Mr. Mathews (a British colonial official) corrobo-
rates the efficacy of Ayelala in the protection of Ikale’s social and agricultural
systems:
Aiyelala is a good juju and protects the town, and it has the special power of
detecting criminals, witches and the users of bad medicine. A person caught
by Ayelala will confess all his past offences, and his body will then swell up
and he will die. If a person leaves any property in the bush and wishes Aye-
lala to protect it, he will take a cowry from the shrine and tie it to the load and
if a thief interferes with it he will swell up and die. In the same way the en-
trance to a farm will often be protected by an Ayelala cowry hung on a string
(Mathews 1932: 149–50).
Another traditional Ikale deity, Eminale – the god of the earth – was also em-
ployed in providing adequate security for farm produce. It was common to see a
bundle of yam, firewood and roofing poles tied with a palm leaf at the entrance to
a farm. The belief was that any thief who tampered with farm produce under the
protection of Eminale would be crippled (Mathews 1932). In fact, during the
colonial period, criminals were eager to swear by the Bible or the Koran in
European courts in a bid to escape punishment, but they dared not swear by
Ayelala or Eminale. Clearly, the Ikale’s traditional religious knowledge system
was very effective in curbing the activities of criminals on Ikale’s numerous farm
estates as well as in the prevention of disputes that could have arisen from
conflicting claims to farmlands.

CONCLUSION
The primary focus of this paper is on Ikale pre-colonial agriculture and the extent
to which Ikale farmers succeeded in applying their indigenous knowledge sys-
tems in an effort to boost agricultural productivity, conserve soil fertility, curb
 164

criminal activities and control pests and diseases. The study argues that the
Ikale became the undisputed leading experts in food crop production in south-
eastern Yorubaland during the period under review because of the application of
home-grown innovative farming techniques and indigenous technology.
This study maintains that the adaptation of Africa’s indigenous knowledge sys-
tems would be of immense benefit to future agricultural researchers and policy
makers in Africa. A proper appreciation of the dynamics of African indigenous
knowledge systems, when situated within its cultural framework, has the Poten-
tial to assist researchers and policy planners understanding more fully the
intricacies, complexities and peculiarities of the local ecosystem. The failure of
conventional agricultural practices in Africa has made it critically necessary for
Africa’s agricultural policies to evolve from age-old indigenous agricultural tech-
nologies. There is no doubt that every society is imbued with an innate tendency
to develop faster through the development of its traditional knowledge base
rather than through the wholesale adoption of foreign technological know-how.
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165

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