Abstract:
Quantitative ethnobotanical analysis of indigenous use
and management practices of wild edible plants (WEPs)
by transhumant and settled farmers was conducted to
compare WEPs and associated indigenous knowledge
(IK). Household interviews, key informant discussions, focus group discussions, field explorations and multistage
direct matrix rankings were carried out to identify WEPs
in six study sites of two districts in semiarid East Shewa,
Ethiopia. Participant observations were made to identify local strategies of management of WEPs. The results
showed that from 40 WEPs, 35 (87.5%) of them were also
used for forage/fodder, and 37 (92.5%) for fuel wood. Forest is a common habitat for collection of these plants. Jaccard’s Similarity Coefficient of the three use categories
were 44.2%, 46.9% and 45.6% respectively. No gender
differentiation was observed regarding their knowledge
of habitats of WEPs collection. 42.2% of transhumant
informants attested that intergenerational transfer of IK
is the responsibility of the entire community while in the
case of settled farmers this is left to fathers and mothers
(23.3%). There were significant variations in transferring
IK (P<0.05) between the two communities. Transhumants
conserve WEPs in pasture land and protect vegetation
while settled farmers employ traditional dryland agroforestry, living fences and farm boarders. Study communities have significant variation in their preference for WEPs
(P<0.05). The people showed greater preferences for five
WEPs. The prioritized WEPs and associated IK and practices should be considered in planning conservation and
sustainable use of WEPs by integrating the variations and
complementing with appropriate modern practices.
