Abstract:
Wild foods comprise of all edible products that are found growing naturally in
forests, woodlands or farms. They include both fauna and flora species that are
consumed either as wholly or partly. This study was designed to investigate the role
of wild foods to household income and food security at Mufindi district in Iringa
region. Data were collected using both structured and non-structured interviews.
Purposive sampling procedures were used to obtain six representative villages. At
village level, 30 respondents each from different households were picked at random
for the study; this led to a sample size of 180 respondents. The collected data were
analyzed using SPSS software, where outputs from descriptive statistics cross
tabulation and frequencies were used in verifying the magnitude of wild food
consumption. In this study, wild food products were grouped into wild fruits, wild
vegetables, edible stems and tubers, edible seeds, mushrooms, honey, edible insects
and bush meat. The contribution of these products to the revenue was found to differ
from one division to another; research finding revealed that earnings from wild food
marketing in different divisions ranged from Tsh. 1 957 to 6 315 Such income is less
to the minimum government wage of Tsh. 65 000 by more than 90%. Based on time
spent in gathering, transporting, and marketing of these products, one can view that
wild food marketing is not a worthy business unless some interventions are to be
made. It is recommended that both government and private institutions should join
hands in promoting better wild food management and marketing.
