Indigenous uses of ethnomedicinal plants among forest-dependent communities of Northern Bengal, India

Raj, Antony Joseph; Biswakarma, Saroj; Pala, Nazir A.; Shukla, Geeta; Vineeta,; Kumar, Munesh; Chakravarty, Sumit; Bussmann, Rainer W.

doi:10.1186/s13002-018-0208-9

Cited by 246 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Data were collected through personal interviews using a pretested structured questionnaire and focus group discussions (Dey et al, 2017b(Dey et al, , 2017aRaj et al, 2018;Suleiman et al, 2017). Moreover, key informants were also…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products in Rural Communities’ Livelihoods around Chilimo Forest, West Shewa, Ethiopia

2019

JNSR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent decades there has been growing interest in the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for rural people livelihood improvement and poverty alleviation. However, as to the knowledge of the present researcher, limited studies have been done to analyze the role of non-timber forest products for rural livelihood diversification. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify main NTFPs used by local communities around Chilimo Forest. Furthermore, the study aimed to determine socioeconomic factors influencing collection of NTFPs in the study area. Multistage sampling techniques were used for the study. Data for the study was generated through household survey comprising of 313 respondents selected through simple random technique and substantiated by in-depth interviews of key informants, focus group discussion and field observation. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were used to analyze and summarize data. The results revealed that, crop production, animal husbandry, non timber forest product and non-farm activities were the major livelihood strategies in the study area. On average, income from NTFPs accounted for 29.34% of total household income. The commonly collected NTFPs were firewood, charcoal, grasses, herbal medicine and honey. The study found that, households derived a significant portion of their income from the collection of NTFPs; however income derived from the collection of NTFPs significantly influenced with gender, family size and wealth status while age, education, marital status and distance from forest were found to have no significance association with income sourced from NTFPs. This study also revealed that, enrichment planting of the most utilized tree species, participatory forest management and setting of harvesting levels and cycles in Chilimo forest reduce impacts on plant species that are in high demand by local communities. The findings suggest that NTFPs play an important role in supporting livelihoods, and therefore provide an important safety net for households throughout the year particularly during periods of hardship. Therefore the current research would be useful in preparing an ecologically viable policy for the subsistence of forest dwellers and better management of the forest resources in Chilimo forest.Where; n = is the sample size to be estimated, N = is population size, e =is the level of precision (0.05) and N=population size. Using the above formula, the computed sample size was 313 respondents. An existing household list per village was used to select households' heads to be interviewed randomly (Mbuvi et al., 2010). Accordingly, a total of 313 households were randomly selected from the list of households in the study area. Data collectionData were collected through personal interviews using a pretested structured questionnaire and focus group discussions (Dey et al., 2017b(Dey et al., , 2017aRaj et al., 2018;Suleiman et al., 2017). Moreover, key informants were also

show abstract

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products in Rural Communities’ Livelihoods around Chilimo Forest, West Shewa, Ethiopia

2019

JNSR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Home gardens of Cooch Behar are smaller with an average size of 0.61 ha than that of other parts of India or elsewhere but are generally high in native diversity including ethnomedicinal plants [ 1 , 7 – 11 ]. In India, particularly in West Bengal, people living in remote and rural areas are still dependent on traditional medicines for the treatment of various ailments due to lack of modern medical facilities and poor socioeconomic conditions [ 21 – 27 ]. Further, the elders of the region are skeptical on the retention of traditional knowledge and advocate documentation of these old age traditions and domestication of such valuable plant species for renewed interests among new generations and cultural transmissions of this valuable knowledge system [ 14 – 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the pioneering studies on ethnobotanical study in home gardens reported only 17 species [ 22 ]. The number increased to 78 species after a decade [ 27 , 31 ]. This indicates increasing use and importance given by the local community residing in the area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The national government is also now promoting and integrating the use of traditional medicines in the national healthcare through establishing a separate Ministry of Ayush. In spite of all this, the urban population accepts a new wild plant product only after a proper testimony of the specialists [ 27 ]. Though home gardens are a very common feature of this region, very limited efforts have been made for the documentation of one of its key characteristics, i.e., ethnomedicinal plants [ 8 – 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Floristic composition and utilization of ethnomedicinal plant species in home gardens of the Eastern Himalaya

Pala

Sarkar

Shukla

et al. 2019

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Home gardens are popular micro land-use system and are socioeconomically linked with people for their livelihood. In the foothill region of Eastern Himalaya, very less documentations are available on species richness of the home gardens, particularly on the ethnomedicinal plants. We assumed that the home garden owners of the study site are domesticating ethnomedicinal plants which are not easily accessible to them in the wild due to distant forest. This study was planned to explore and document the diversity and population status of ethnomedicinal plants in the home gardens along with its ethnomedicinal use. Methods The present study was conducted in the home gardens of Cooch Behar district of West Bengal from May 2017 to May 2018. A multidisciplinary approach like collection of plant specimen, interview with structured questionnaire for documenting the utilization pattern, and quadrat methods for population study was applied. We selected 150 study sites randomly in the village cluster. The owners of the gardens were the respondents for the household survey. The study documented diversity, population size, and medicinal uses of ethnomedicinal plant species identified by the garden owners growing or being grown in their gardens. Results A total of 260 plant species were reported, of which, 53 were utilized for different ethnomedicinal applications. These 53 species were represented by 35 families and 45 genera. Most of these ethnomedicinal species were woody perennials (37.73%). Cocus nucifera dominated the list with highest number of use followed by Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. The use value of the species varied from 0.006 to 0.53, while the fidelity value (%) ranged from 2.29 to 93.75%. The leaves of the plants were mostly used for ethnomedicinal applications (19 species) followed by fruits (12 species) and bark (9 species), and the least was the root (7 species). We documented 20 different ailments/diseases cured by using these plants. In some cases, more than one species are used to cure a disease or ailment. As many as 10 species were used to cure only stomach-related problems. Some more diseases like cough and cold and jaundice were treated using six and four species, respectively. Conclusion This documented list of 260 plant species including 53 ethnomedicinal ones from the home gardens of the study area indicates that these gardens are key in maintaining diversity and source of healthcare system in agricultural dominant landscape. Documenting such ecological status and traditional applications becomes a prerequisite for developing conservation and management strategies of home gardens to be included in the mainstream conservation processes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13002-019-0293-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

“…Segundo RAJ et al (2018), o uso de plantas medicinais com intuito de tratar várias doenças é algo explícito que faz parte da cultura humana. O conhecimento etnomedicinal é um recurso antigo valioso para o cuidado da saúde das pessoas, sendo, portanto, um saber milenar para futura sociedade no uso sustentável e sua conservação.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Avaliação do Uso de Plantas Medicinais na Academia da Saúde do Município de Rio de Contas/BA

Ramos

Damascena

2018

IDonline

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Na contemporaneidade a utilização de plantas medicinais como escolha terapêutica está se baseando em uma demanda de público cada vez mais abrangente. O uso de plantas medicinais com intuito de tratar várias doenças é algo explícito que faz parte da cultura humana. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar a utilização de plantas medicinais pelos usuários da Academia da Saúde localizada no município de Rio de Contas/Ba. A pesquisa foi do tipo quantitativa, envolvendo trabalho de campo, apresentando como instrumento de coleta de dados um questionário individualizado. O estudo analisou também questões culturais e econômicas da população, sendo importante o incentivo dessa temática etnobotânica e etnofarmacológica para o aumento de informações sobre as plantas medicinais. Foram entrevistadas 50 pessoas as quais citaram as espécies mais utilizadas, forma de preparo, parte da planta e indicação de uso. As espécies mais citadas apresentaram maior indicação como calmante, doenças crônicas, problemas digestivos, respiratórios e neurológicos. Entretanto, os resultados mostraram a necessidade de um profissional qualificado que forneça informações sobre a utilização.

show abstract

Indigenous uses of ethnomedicinal plants among forest-dependent communities of Northern Bengal, India

Cited by 246 publications

References 47 publications

Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products in Rural Communities’ Livelihoods around Chilimo Forest, West Shewa, Ethiopia

Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products in Rural Communities’ Livelihoods around Chilimo Forest, West Shewa, Ethiopia

Floristic composition and utilization of ethnomedicinal plant species in home gardens of the Eastern Himalaya

Avaliação do Uso de Plantas Medicinais na Academia da Saúde do Município de Rio de Contas/BA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About