Journals Proceedings

Abstract

Local knowledge (LK) has played an active role in the lives of rural communities in virtually every part of the world such as in agriculture. At the same time, the contribution of LK towards sustainable development is getting wider acceptance especially in today’s agricultural practice. Therefore, continuous study to define the sustainability element is needed especially within community who still utilise LK. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contribution of local knowledge practiced by the Iban farmers in lowland paddy cultivation located in the coastal areas of Sarawak in relation to the sustainable development context. The study was conducted in two Iban villages in Kuala Tatau namely Kuala Serupai and Sungai Semanok. There are 22 farmers of different age and gender involved in this research through in-depth interview, focus group discussion and participant observation that were carried out for a year. The findings show that this knowledge contribute to the three pillars of sustainability frame work such as socio-culture, socio-economic and environment.