author(s)
Aoufa Mushtaq, SS Pathania, ZH Khan and Mir Owais Ahmad

abstract
Since inception of human civilization man has been fully dependent upon nature for food, fibre and habitat. In the course of development, man learned to domesticate and cultivate plants. And thus, the plants became crops. On the other hand, terrestrial herbivorous insects also became dependent on plants for food and habitat. In this cross road of inter-specific competition, human has led to evolve several unique system of knowledge with regard to protection of their domesticated/cultivated plants. For centuries, humans planned agricultural production and conserved natural resources with the instruments of indigenous technical knowledge (ITK). The development of indigenous knowledge (IK) systems is cumulative, representing generations of experience, careful observations, trial and error experiments. The people have evolved ecologically sound technologies to deal with issues related to agro-ecosystem management. Most of these indigenous technologies and practices are at par with modern technologies and have provided the desired results. ITK is stored in people’s memories and activities and are expressed in stories, songs, folklore, proverbs, dances, myths, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community laws, local languages, agricultural practices, equipments, materials, plant species and animal breeds etc. An attempt has been made to review the ITKs prevalent at different parts of the country; and such technologies adopted and practiced by different communities, many of which may be on brink of extinction. Most of these indigenous technologies and practices are validated and documented: still a vital link between the indigenous practices and modern technical knowhow is missing; most often there exist serious issues related to intellectual property rights.