Teachers’ Perceptions on Inclusion of Agricultural Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Crop Production: A Case Study of Zimbabwe’s Ordinary Level Agriculture Syllabus (5035)

Abstract

The study sought to establish perceptions of Ordinary Level Agriculture teachers on the inclusion of Agricultural Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) in the Crop Production Section of Zimbabwe’s Ordinary level Agriculture Syllabus (5035). Absence of local content in the syllabus, yet indigenous farming practices have stood the test of time, motivated the study. The study employed the descriptive survey research design which used structured questionnaire and a Focus Group Discussion as research instruments. Stratified random sampling was used to select 50 Agriculture teacher respondents. The study established that the respondents were aware of, Agriculture Indigenous Knowledge Systems, but unofficially utilising them in the teaching of the subject. Respondents agreed that the inclusion of AIKS in the syllabus would foster sustainable development and enable agriculture to reclaim, revitalize and renew its cultural identity denigrated through colonization. However AIKS inclusion was found to face challenges chief among which were its current reliance on oral tradition and the inferiority complex it suffers to Western agricultural practices. The study recommends that AIKS be harmonised with Western agricultural practices in the curriculum as complementary cosmologies and that more research be carried out to document AIKS literature.

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge systems, Curriculum, Postcolonial theory, Agriculture, Western agricultural practices, Colonisation, Harmonise.