Wild Edible Plant Markets in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo

Termote, Céline; Everaert, Gert; Meyi, Marcel Bwama; Djailo, Benoît Dhed'a; Damme, Patrick Van

doi:10.1007/s10745-012-9462-y

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…When we compared our results with studies on Congolese medicinal plant use (Biloso and Lejoly 2006; Fundiko 1997; Katemo et al 2012; Makumbelo et al 2008; Mpiana et al 2007; Tabuna 1999; Termote et al 2012; www.prota4u), we found that 80% of the species we encountered in Matonge are also used as medicinal plants in Congo, while the remaining 20% are typical West African species. However, several of the most commonly sold non-food medicinal plants in Kisangani (Katemo et al 2012) and Kinshasa (Makumbelo et al 2008), two major cities in the DRC, were not found in Matonge, such as Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…The popularity of aphrodisiac plants is also known from West African (Quiroz et al 2014; Van Andel et al 2012) and Central African markets (Biloso and Lejoly 2006; Termote et al 2012a; Towns et al 2014) and the Afro-Caribbean (Van Andel et al 2012b), where these bitter tonics are regarded as a part of one’s manliness and cultural identity rather than just as treatments for impotence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scientific names were checked with the Plant List (www.theplantlist.org). When vernacular plants names were mentioned during interviews but the particular species was not available in the shops, or when specimens lacked sufficient morphological features for identification, we verified their vernacular names with literature (e.g., Daeleman and Pauwels 1983; Schmelzer and Gurib-Fakim 2008, 2013; Tabuna, 1999; Termote et al 2012) and online databases, such as the PROTA Database (www.prota4u.org) and the Prelude Medicinal plant database (www.africamuseum.be/collections/external/prelude). To compare the floristic diversity of medicinal plants in shops managed by Africans with shops managed by non-Africans, we first used a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to see whether our data were normally distributed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Trade in African Medicinal Plants in Matonge-Ixelles, Brussels (Belgium)

Andel

Fundiko

2016

Econ Bot

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(English)Maintaining cultural identity and preference to treat cultural bound ailments with herbal medicine are motivations for migrants to continue using medicinal plants from their home country after moving to Europe and the USA. As it is generally easier to import exotic food than herbal medicine, migrants often shift to using species that double as food and medicine. This paper focuses on the trade in African medicinal plants in a Congolese neighborhood in Brussels (Belgium). What African medicinal plants are sold in Matonge, where do they come from, and to which extent are they food medicines? Does vendor ethnicity influence the diversity of the herbal medicine sold? We hypothesized that most medicinal plants, traders, and clients in Matonge were of Congolese origin, most plants used medicinally were mainly food crops and that culture-bound illnesses played a prominent role in medicinal plant use. We carried out a market survey in 2014 that involved an inventory of medicinal plants in 19 shops and interviews with 10 clients of African descent, voucher collection and data gathering on vernacular names and uses. We encountered 83 medicinal plant species, of which 71% was primarily used for food. The shredded leaves of Gnetum africanum Welw., Manihot esculenta Crantz, and Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam were among the most frequently sold vegetables with medicinal uses. Cola nuts, shea butter, Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f., and Mondia whitei (Hook.f.). Skeels were the main non-food medicines sold. Women’s health, aphrodisiacs, and rituals were the most important medicinal applications, but culture-bound ailments did not entirely dominate the plant uses. While most clients in Matonge were Congolese, most vendors and plant species were not. The Pakistanis dominated the food trade, and typical Congolese plants were sometimes replaced by West African species, creating confusion in vernacular names. African-managed shops had significantly more species of medicinal plants in stock than shops managed by Pakistanis. Almost all non-food herbal medicine was sold by Africans. Apart from informal shops, non-food herbal medicine was also sold from private homes and by ambulant vendors, probably to reduce costs and escape taxes and control by the authorities. We expect that in the future, increasing rent, strict regulations, and decreasing investments by the Congolese community will force the medicinal plant trade in Matonge to go even more underground.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12231-016-9365-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Trade in African Medicinal Plants in Matonge-Ixelles, Brussels (Belgium)

Andel

Fundiko

2016

Econ Bot

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“…Locally important forest products contribute significantly to livelihoods not only for rural people, but also in urban and peri-urban environments where intermediaries and traders of NWFPs often come from poorer and more marginalized sectors of society [77][78][79]. In many cases, traders carry out useful marketing functions such as risk taking and transport, which can be costly.…”

Section: Marketing and Value Chains Integrating Forest Foodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Contribution of Forests and Trees to Sustainable Diets

et al. 2013

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Abstract:With the growing demands from a population expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is unclear how our current global food system will meet future food needs. Ensuring that all people have access to adequate and nutritious food produced in an environmentally and socio-culturally sustainable manner is one of the greatest challenges of our time. -Sustainable diets‖ have been proposed as a multidimensional framework to address the need for nutritious and adequate food in the context of the many challenges facing the world today: reducing poverty and hunger, improving environmental health, enhancing human well-being and health, and strengthening local food networks, sustainable livelihoods and cultural heritage. This paper examines the contribution of forests and trees to sustainable diets, covering among others, nutritional, cultural, environmental and provisioning aspects. The literature reviewed highlight major opportunities to strengthen the contribution of forest and tree foods to sustainable diets. However, several constraints need to be removed. They relate to: cultural aspects, sustainable use of non-wood forest products, organization of forest food provisioning, limited knowledge of forest food composition, challenges in adapting management of forests and trees to account for forest foods, and in integrating forest biodiversity into complex landscapes managed for multiple benefits. Finally, the paper identifies research OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2013, 5 4798 gaps and makes recommendations to enhance the contribution of forest foods to sustainable diets through increased awareness and better integration of information and knowledge on nutritious forest foods into national nutrition strategies and programs.

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“…Foods other than wild yams are also important sources of macro-and micronutrients and energy for millions of people in the Congo Basin. Enquiries conducted in different regions in Cameroon [26,75,[87][88][89][90], Côte d'Ivoire [91] and in the Democratic Republic of Congo [92,93] revealed the high proportion of WEP fruits and seeds. The importance of fruits or seeds is linked to their high nutritive value and also to the production and long-term storage of derived products (oils for example).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnobotanical survey of wild edible plants used by Baka Pygmies in southeastern Cameroon.

Fils

Nana

Betti

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Forest inhabitants worldwide, and Indigenous Peoples especially, have depended for generations on plants and animals harvested in these ecosystems. A number of Baka Pygmy populations in south-eastern Cameroon became sedentarised in the 1950s, but still rely on hunting and gathering to meet their basic needs. The use of wild edible plants (WEP) by these communities remains largely undocumented. In this study we document the diversity of WEP used by Baka people in dense rainforests in the Mintom region. The area still contains relatively undisturbed forests areas, just south of the Dja Biosphere Reserve, one of the most important protected areas in the Congo Basin.Methods We conducted two ethnobotanical surveys in 2019 in four villages on the Mintom road. In the first survey, we interviewed a total of 73 individuals to determine WEP usage. In our second survey we specifically quantified WEP harvested and consumed daily in a number of households over a two-week period during the major raining season, when use of forest products is highest. Specimens of all recorded plants were collected and identified at the National Herbarium of Cameroon.Results We documented 88 plant species and 119 unique species/plant organ/recipes in 1,519 different citations. A total of 61 genera and 43 families were recorded. Excluding 14 unidentified wild yam species, 17 WEP species had not been reported in previous ethnobotanical surveys of the Baka. Our results showed that cultivated starchy plant foods make up a significant proportion of their daily nutritional intake.Conclusions A high diversity of WEP are consumed by the studied Baka communities. The study area is likely to be significant in terms of WEP diversity since 18 out of the 30 ‘key’ NTFP in Cameroon were quoted. Documentation of the use of WEP by Indigenous communities is vital to ensure the continuity of traditional knowledge and future food security.

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Wild Edible Plant Markets in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo

Cited by 27 publications

References 21 publications

The Trade in African Medicinal Plants in Matonge-Ixelles, Brussels (Belgium)

The Trade in African Medicinal Plants in Matonge-Ixelles, Brussels (Belgium)

The Contribution of Forests and Trees to Sustainable Diets

Ethnobotanical survey of wild edible plants used by Baka Pygmies in southeastern Cameroon.

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