The diversity of food and medicinal plants in the homegardens of Sabata Town, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

An ethnobotanical study of homegardens, focusing on food and medicinal plants, was undertaken in the peri-urban town of Sabata in Southwest Shewa Zone, Oromia National Regional State of Ethiopia. An initial inspection of 240 randomly identified houses in six study sites was made to check for presence of homegardens. Owners of 51 of the 186 houses with homegardens participated in free listing of the useful plants while preferentially selected 24 well-managed homegardens were taken up for detailed studies. Plant taxa used as food and medicine by owners were collected, taxonomically determined and analyzed. Ethnobotanical data were collected using semi-structured interviews employing preference ranking and paired comparison exercises. The data were then analyzed by employing descriptive statistics, Shannon-Wiener diversity Index, Sørensen’s Similarity Coefficient and Clustering technique. About 78% of the houses inspected had homegardens, and food and medicinal plants accounted for 58 (43%) of the total 135 plant species recorded. The food plants constituted 37 species in 29 genera and 22 families with an average Shannon diversity Index of 2.04, while the medicinals were counted as 24 species in 22 genera and 17 families with an average Shannon Index of 1.83. Allium sativum, Ensete ventricosumand Punica granatum belong to nutraceutical plants or functional foods since they are listed both as food and medicinal. Comparison of Sabata homegardens with those of Walayita, Arbaminch and Bonga gave Sørensen’s Similarity Coefficient of 37, 34 and 30%, respectively. The results provide strong reason for advocating maintenance of homegardens in Sabata and beyond. Further enhancement of the practice is in order in view of the contributions of the system to food provision and security, and ensuring nutritional quality, healthcare, biodiversity conservation, environmental quality and poverty reduction.

Keywords/phrases: Agrobiodiversity, Food plants, Food security, Functional foods/nutraceuticals, Homegardens, Medicinal plants

Ethiop. J. Biol. Sci., 8(1): 31-51, 2009