The success of maintaining or enhancing soil quality depends on our understanding of how the soil responds to agricultural land use. Concern about soil quality is not limited to agricultural scientists, natural resource managers, and policymakers, but also farmers have a vested interest in soil quality. A growing number of ethnopedological studies on local soil knowledge have been published over the last two decades, demonstrating an increased recognition of farmers’ knowledge offering insight into soil quality, which can guide future research to develop sustainable land use . Yet, its use is often limited due to general lack of understanding of local knowledge and how it can be explored , and to a subjective sense of inequity between formal science and farmers’ knowledge. Local soil knowledge has been defined as “the knowledge people
living in a particular environment for some period of time have of soil properties and soil”. Many studies have compared local
farmers’ perceptions of soil fertility and/or perception of soil classification with scientifically determined soil parameters.
Other studies have highlighted the potential of local soil knowledge for sustainable soil management. One study examined how farmers assess soil quality. In general, such studies provide good information for particular soils and land management practices. Besides, they reveal that a worldwide consensus of standardized soil quality indicators is difficult to reach because local knowledge is location specific. With regard to the production of irrigated rice in the south of Brazil, the relevance of local soil knowledge has not been documented. Rice is the predominant crop in the southern lowlands producing
approximately 5.5 million Mg rice per year, equivalent to 52% of total Brazilian rice production. Production levels are high,
but there is clear evidence that the threat to soil quality in terms of physical, chemical and biological degradation due to intensive rice production also is high. As a first step in reversing this trend, researchers need to understand what local farmersknow about soil quality. However, this information is only valid when the potential use of this knowledge for maintaining soil quality and developing sustainable land management is assessed and put in the context of decision-making.
The objective of the study presented here was to answer the following questions: Which soil quality perceptions do rice
farmers have? Which soil quality indicators are most important to them? Do rice farmers use their local knowledge about soil quality indicators as a tool for guiding soil management decisions and developing sustainable land management?