Perception of rural households on the medicinal importance of turmeric in Idofian community, Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the perception of rural households on the medicinal importance of turmeric in Idofian community, Kwara State. The specific objectives were to: (1) determine the socio-economic characteristics of the rural households in idofian community; (ii) examine the knowledge of the use of turmeric in the study area; (iii) examine the level of awareness of the rural households in the study area on the medicinal importance of turmeric; and (iv) determine the constraints to the use of turmeric as medicinal plant in the study area. A random sampling technique was used to select 110 respondents. A Well structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule was employed to elicit information from the respondents. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics such as frequency distribution, percentages and Pearson’s product moment correlation. The result of the findings showed that 70% of the respondents agreed to the use of turmeric for wound healing. Also, 67.2% agreed to the use of turmeric in improving appetite. The results revealed that significant percentage (61.9%) of the respondents made use of turmeric as a cure for fever. The awareness on the use of turmeric in other cases such as Jaundice, Liver protection, Kidney protection , Diabetes management , reduction of intestinal gas, reduction of ulcerative colitis, reducing headaches, turmeric as an antibiotics, reduction of cholesterol, curing diarrhoea and inhibiting cancerous growth had a low percentage (below 40%) in agreement and a high percentage (above 70% ) in disagreement. Though there were certain constraints to the use of turmeric in the study area as 29.1%, 26.4%, and 18.2% of the respondents agreed that they didn’t make use of the plant because of its colour, smell, taste and most (60%) of them agreed to not using turmeric due to lack of awareness on its medicinal importance. Therefore, it could be deduced that there is a need for more awareness campaign on the medicinal importance of turmeric among rural households.

Keywords: Medicinal plants, Antioxidant, Spices, Awareness, Economic importance