Title : Medicinal Plants and Indigenous Knowledge for Well-Being of Local People in Some Areas of Southern Ethiopia.
Abstract:
The traditional management, conservation and sustainable use of plant biodiversity in and around home gardens and the indigenous botanical knowledge in Loma and Gena Bosa districts (weredas) of Dawuro Zone, Southern Ethiopia has played an important role in conservation, sustainably utilization of plant biodiversity and in adaptation to the changes in climatic conditions of the environment as well as in primary health care. The information was gathered through semi-structured interview conducted with112 medicinal plant practitioners, 32 spices vendors and 100 home garden owners whose ages ranged between 18 to 121 years. Samples of 100 home gardens (HGs) were considered and data on plant species of home garden were collected from 300 plots of 5mx10m each in right, left and hind sites of home. The data were analyzed using SPSS computer software. The procedure for preference ranking and Shannon diversity index were also applied. A total of 178 medicinal plants distributed in 64 families were documented in this study. The most frequently used plant part was leaf while the growth form with the highest number (43.82%) of representatives among the plants encountered in this study were herbs. About 57.9% medicinal plants were collected from wild while 24.1% were cultivated and 18.5% were both cultivated and collected from wild. A total of 62 human and 27 veterinary diseases were documented in the study. However, only 58% of the traditional healers exercised their indigenous knowledge on treating both human and livestock diseases, while 41.96% practiced treatment of only human diseases. Very small dosage of preparations from some medicinal plants were given even as a drop for children and not allowed for pregnant women - with side effects of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea at therapeutic dosage. There is the practice of relating plant parts, colour, shape, habitat and distance with disease to be treated. Some medicinal and other multipurpose plants weree under pressure due to agricultural expansion, firewood collection and selective harvesting for timber and construction materials. The medicinal plant resources and the associated knowledge of herbal medicine need to be used in a sustainable way and developed for more effective use in the future.
Key words: Ethnobotany, Indigenous knowledge, Medicinal Plants, Traditional healers
