USE AND MANAGEMENT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS BY THE PEOPLE OF JABITEHNAN WOREDA, WEST GOJJAM, AMHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Around 80 % of the people of Ethiopia are estimated to be relying on medicinal plants for the treatment of human and cattle ailments. The purpose of this study was to collect, identify and document ethnomedicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge of communities of the study area. Ethnomedicinal data were collected by using semi-structured interview, focus group discussion and direct field observation with 54 randomly selected non-healers (Female 27 and Male 27) and 46 traditional healers (Female 6 and Male 40)). To analyze data, descriptive statistics such as percentage and frequency were employed. Moreover, informant consensus factor, fidelity level and preference ranking, independent sample t-test, ANOVA and Jaccard’s similarity index were computed. Results show that a total of 82 medicinal plant species distributed among 46 families and 76 genera were collected and documented from the study area as traditional medicine for the treatment of 63 diseases of humans and livestock; of the 82 medicinal plant species, 63 plant species (76.83%) were employed as remedies for human, 10 plant species (12.20%) for livestock, and 9 plant species (10.98%) for both human and livestock remedies. Family wise Asteraceae consisted of the largest number of species. Herbs were dominant growth forms followed by shrubs and trees. Leaves were found to be the most frequently used plant parts followed by roots and seeds. The popular method of preparation was crushing 27(30.00%) and remedies were mostly prepared in fresh form from single plant or multiple plants with or without some additives. Oral administration was the most widely used route of application of remedies, 106 (65.86%). Analysis of Similarity index between the three surveyed kebeles showed that communities of the area have more or less closer indigenous knowledge. Knowledge about medicinal plants was found to be affected by gender, age and educational level. The main threatening factors of medicinal plants were agricultural expansion, use for firewood and charcoal and overharvesting. In order to conserve substantial amount of traditional medicinal plants and knowledge, awareness on conservation of medicinal plants should be given to the locals.