• Indigenous knowledge

Indigenous knowledge

This thesis describes the sheep husbandry and healthcare system of the Raikas in south-central Rajasthan.

The article concludes that:

• Raikas rely on self treatment and traditional healers and will rarely avail to Governmental veterinary hospitals and veterinarians
• some beliefs by the Raikas about disease etiology, epidemiology or an animals biology are not always scientifically correct, though they often promote productive animal management
• validation of ethnoveterinary knowledge and practices is important because it cannot be assumed that all of the practices are effective
• the amount of ethnoveterinary knowledge differ greatly between different Raikas
• most Raikas deal with modern drugs inadequately
• the Raikas are capable to distinguish between the different symptoms through careful observation. Their careful observations also results in a considerable good analysis as to what could be the etiology of some (not all) diseases

The article recommends that future development projects should give more careful consideration to the livestock-related role of pastoral women and to their indigenous knowledge

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