The rich who are already accustomed to more comfortable technologies are unlikely to return to IK-based technologies. Indigenous knowledge is often unknown to development professionals because it remains only in the minds of local groups. It is not always documented and is increasingly being lost with each succeeding generation because the younger generation may not be prepared to adopt indigenous knowledge systems which have been practised by their ancestors. It is being forgotten as it is replaced by modern technology and education. It is also often ignored and condemned by many who claim that it is not scientific.
Indigenous technologies are, in some cases, less effective in dealing with modern problems.
Above all, people who are already accustomed to modern technologies which are easy and comfortable, are unlikely to return to the indigenous technologies. Therefore if indigenous knowledge is to be promoted and utilized for sustainable development and poverty alleviation, there should be an organized body in casu the national IK resource centres. Documentation also facilitates easy access to indigenous knowledge so that the interested development workers and scientists could familiarize themselves with it. By recording indigenous knowledge systems, they can be compared and contrasted with similar international knowledge systems in other parts of the World. Very little is known about the economic viability and the applicability of indigenous knowledge in modern production systems.