Role of local soil knowledge in sustainable agriculture and natural resources conservation. Case study

First, the data was gathered from 146 farmers by a household survey conducted in two communes of Nam Dong district, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. Second, from the household survey’s results, the study selected 24 farmers with moderate or good LSK for key informant interviews, to explore their ways of soil assessment. Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) was then conducted independently by farmers and scientists of a field chosen by the farmers and compared with their perception of its quality. Based on early findings from interviews and VSA, two workshops in each commune were organised to examine the opportunities for exchanging LSK and relevant issues between experienced and less experienced farmers as well as scientists. To analyse all data, Excel, SPSS, Nvivo software were used.