Browsing by Author "Salum, Mandalo Abeid"

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    The contribution of medicinal and wild food plants to the well-being of rural communities in Lindi rural district. Tanzania
    (Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2006) Salum, Mandalo Abeid
    A study was undertaken to assess the contribution of medicinal and wild food plants to the well-being of rural communities in Lindi Rural District, Tanzania. Structured and semi structured questionnaires and Participatory Rural Appraisal were used for socio-economic data collection. Systematic sampling design was used for the inventory of medicinal plants. wild food plants and other non-timber forest products. Statistical Package for Social Science Programme (SPSS), pair wise and preference ranking, content and structural methods were used in data analysis. It was found that medicinal and wild food plants contributed about 4% to household food security and 5.5% to household income. The percentage contribution of medicinal and wild food plants to the household food security and income seems to be small probably due to their low monetary value in Lindi. However, the study revealed that 79.7% of people in the study area relied on medicinal plants and SI.7% used wild plant foods. It was concluded that medicinal and wild food plants play a big role to the rural communities in Lindi Rural District but overharvesting of these plants especially the roots could endanger their sustainability in the forests. It is recommended that to ensure their sustainable supply, medicinal and wild food plants be domesticated and restrictions be formulated and enforced to minimize overharvesting of medicinal and wild food plants to enable sustainability of these plants in the forests. It is also recommended that medicinal plants be integrated with the modem health care systems as well as wild plant foods be integrated in the national food security programme. Also efforts should be made to add value to medicinal and wild food plants by developing and disseminating simple appropriate technologies for processing of these products. It was further recommended that more research be carried out on processing, marketing and domestication of these plants.