Weaving indigenous agricultural knowledge with formal education to enhance community food security: school competition as a pedagogical space in rural Anchetty, India

Abstract

Like many socially and economically disadvantaged farming communities around the world, the Anchetty region of Tamil Nadu, India, has been experiencing serious food security challenges mainly due to the loss of traditional foods such as small millets and associated crops (SMAC) and associated indigenous agricultural knowledge (IAK). Drawing on community-based participatory research conducted in Anchetty’s Pandurangdoddy village, this paper explores the local understanding of IAK related to SMAC through young learners (school-going students) and their mentors (local farmers and community members), using a case study of school-based competition. Follow-up interviews with participating students, mentors and teachers were organised to explore the potential of a school competition as a pedagogical strategy to promote learning of IAK in formal school settings in order to safeguard the existing and future food security of local communities. There was a general consensus among the teachers, participating students, mentors (community members) and NGOs anout the potential for a school competition to create an alternative pedagogical space where IAK and curriculum-based knowledge could be intertwined and exchanged. Pedagogical spaces that weave IAK into schools, however, bring together the different and contested perspectives of the participants to understandings of the potential values of IAK.