Original title: Integrating indigenous knowledge systems into regenerative agriculture for sustainable crop production in southern Africa
Indigenous Knowledge Systems are farming knowledge built by communities through generations of living and working with local ecosystems. This review brings together evidence from publications on Southern African farming. Practices such as keeping crop residues on fields, growing different crops together, and harvesting rainwater can improve soil, help it hold water, and stabilize harvests during climate stress. Some local pest-control methods also keep pests below levels that cause economic harm, while reducing reliance on synthetic pesticides.
Imagine tending a garden through a dry summer. The soil dries out, pests arrive, and a single kind of crop may struggle. In this paper, keeping plant leftovers on the ground, growing crops together, and catching rain are ways of making a farm cope better with those pressures.
Rain-fed smallholder farmers in Southern Africa face drought, poor soils, biodiversity loss, and rising pest pressure. The review finds that locally developed practices can improve soil and water conditions, steady yields under climate stress, and reduce reliance on synthetic pesticides.
The review identifies gaps in quantitative validation, long-term assessment, and integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems into formal agricultural research and policy. Its abstract does not report how strong the evidence is for each practice or establish that the reported benefits apply in every farming context.
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Integrating indigenous knowledge systems into regenerative agriculture for sustainable crop production in southern Africa — Albert Thembinkosi Modi — Discover Sustainability — doi:10.1007/s43621-026-04926-8
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.