The traditional use of wild edible plants in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities of Mieso District, eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background The populations in Ethiopia have developed their indigenous knowledge to use, manage and conserve wild edible plants (WEPs). In the eastern part of Ethiopia, wild edible plants are used as a means of survival during times of food shortage and as dietary supplements. Documenting the traditional and cultural use of wild food plants is a vital step in obtaining baseline data for investigating nutritional values and possible side effects, preserving indigenous knowledge, and ultimately interesting in wild edible plant conservation. However, their significance, management and utilization have not been documented in Mieso District. Therefore, this study aimed to provide documentation of wild edible plant use associated with ethnobotanical knowledge in Mieso District, eastern Ethiopia. Methods An ethnobotanical study of wild edible plant species was conducted from March 2021 to May 2022. A total of 120 (72 males and 48 females) informants were selected using the snowball method. Data collection methods, including semistructured interviews, direct observation and field walks were used. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, including independent sample t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). We calculated use values (UVs) to analyse the relative cultural importance of each plant species. Results A total of 41 wild edible plant species belonging to 33 genera in 21 families were documented to be used as food sources both during times of food shortage and as dietary supplements. Family Malvaceae was best-represented with 6 species, followed by Fabaceae and Rhamnaceae (4 species each). The dominant growth form (habit) was shrubs (30 species), followed by trees (11 species). The most widely used plant parts were fruits (covering 39 species, 95%). The largest number (23 species) was collected from forest habitats only, followed by both village and forest habitats (8 species). The majority of wild edible plants (28 species or 68%) were consumed only during famine or in the time of food shortage followed by supplementing staple foods (9 species or 22%). Wild edible plants in Mieso are used for multiple other uses, including for fodder, fuel, medicine, construction, cosmetics and bee keeping. Twenty-three species were mentioned for fodder use, followed by fuel purpose (21 species) and medicinal value (13 species). The species that had the highest use values were Flacourtia indica (Burm.f.) Merr. (1.4), Carissa spinarum L. (1.1), Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf. (0.6), Grewia villosa Willd. (0.5), Cordia monoica Roxb. (0.3) and Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. (L.) (0.2). Most WEPs were collected from March to May (Badheysa) (33 species). The highest mentioned wild edible plant sold in the market was F. indica (Burm.f.) Merr. mentioned by 20 informants, followed by Z. spina-christi (L.) Desf. (14). Conclusion The people in Mieso use wild plants as supplementary food to cultivated crops, during famine, and many could be utilized for day-to-day human consumption. Some plants in the district provide cash income for local people. However, deforestation (54%), drought (22%) and agricultural expansion (12%) were the highest threats to wild plants in Mieso District. Hence, on-site and off-site conservation would help protect wild plant resources in Mieso, eastern Ethiopia.

Study on Wild Edible Plant Used by Shinasha Ethnic Community at Metekel Zone, Northwest Ethiopia

“…As a result, the fruit was considered an important element of the wild food plant part by the people in the study area. This was consistent with the findings of research by [21,[25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

“…The results (Table 5) indicated that expansion of agricultural land, fuel wood collection, timber production, cutting for construction, un-controlled fire setting and overgrazing management problems of plant resources respectively. Similarly, these threats to WEP resources have been reported in ethnobotanical studies conduct-ed in Ethiopia by [20,21,26,[29][30][31]. This is because rapid human population and high demand for forest and forest products uses in the study area from time to time.…”

“…Besides, this season is the flowering time for most WEPs, and their fruiting is also harvested during this season. Likewise, studies performed elsewhere in Ethiopia by [30]. During the dry season, rural people rely heavily on a stored diet.…”

Study on Wild Edible Plant Used by Shinasha Ethnic Community at Metekel Zone, Northwest Ethiopia

“…The third and fourth largest natural habitats were wild and home garden habitat that each comprised 23.9% and 19.56% respectively (Fig 2). This nding is in line with studies performed in Ethiopia [25,29,2,31] showed that most WEPs were gathered from forest habitats. Due they are not deforest by anthropogenic factors…”

“…As a result, the fruit was considered an important element of the wild food plant part by the people in the study area. This was consistent with the ndings of research by [36,22,6,10,33,38,15,31]. Due to the nature of the fruits that are not needed additional processing and it might be good to consume in raw forms and the other reason might be raw fruits are good source of nutrients that does not loss its nutrients but if it is boiled or cooked some essential nutrients might be lost.…”