Indigenous Agronomics and Agricultural Development in the Indus Basin

Abstract

Symbolic anthropology, often preoccupied with expressive systems or classificatory schema, has generally been regarded as having little to contribute to development issues. Here, the symbolic analysis of Punjabi agriculture in Pakistan's Indus Basin reveals an anthropomorphic humoral agronomy used by farmers to make crop production decisions. This agronomy is found to be systemic, coherent, and empirically constituted. Innovations of the green revolution, while productively and conceptually accommodated within this system, have led farmers to consider contervailing hot, crop-centered and cool, soil-centered production strategies. Findings suggest ways in which seed, fertilizer, and water resource development and extension servicing may be pursued, and lead to a general discussion of the uniqueness of the anthropological contribution to development studies and its consistency with participatory approaches.