The importance of choosing appropriate methods for assessing wild food plant knowledge and use: A case study among the Baka in Cameroon

Abstract

In tropical rainforests, access to and availability of natural resources are vital for the dietary diversity and food security of forest-dwelling societies. In the Congo Basin, these are challenged by the increasing exploitation of forests for bushmeat, commercial hardwood, mining, and large-scale agriculture. In this context, a balanced approach is needed between the pressures from forest exploitation, non-timber forest product trade and the livelihood and dietary behavior of rural communities. While there is a general positive association between tree cover and dietary diversity, the complex biocultural interactions between tropical forest food resources and the communities they sustain are still understudied. This research focuses on the knowledge and use of wild food plants by the forest-dwelling Baka people in southeast Cameroon. By using two different sets of methods, namely ex-situ interviews and in-situ surveys, we collected ethnographic and ethnobotanical data in two Baka settlements and explored the diversity of wild edible plants known, the frequency of their consumption, and potential conflicts between local diet and commercial trade in forest resources. Within a single Baka population, we showed that the in-situ walk-in-the-woods method resulted in more detailed information on wild food plant knowledge and use frequency than the ex-situ methods of freelisting and dietary recalls. Our in-situ method yielded 91 wild edible species, much more than the ex-situ freelisting interviews (38 spp.) and dietary recalls (12 spp.). Our results suggest that studies that are based only on ex-situ interviews may underestimate the importance of wild food plants for local communities. We discuss the limitations and strengths of these different methods for investigating the diversity of wild food plant knowledge and uses. Our analysis shows that future studies on wild food plants would profit from a mixed approach that combines in-situ and ex-situ methods.

Traditional knowledge of plants used in hunting and fishing practices among Baka hunter-gatherers of eastern Cameroon

“…Hunting and fishing practices recorded in the studied villages are in line with those previously reported by other researchers [ 12 , 36 – 39 ]. Some of the species recorded as used in fishing and hunting practices have been described to have similar uses in the previous ethnobotanical literature in central Africa [ 2 , 8 ]. The use of Marantaceae ( Megaphrynium macrostachyum and Ataenidia conferta (Benth.)…”

“…Baka hunter-gatherers heavily depend on wild forest resources (plants, animals) to meet their subsistence and cash income needs. Some studies in several sites have shown that they have a well-developed traditional knowledge of using plants for a variety of purposes including not only for direct material uses as food, medicines, craft and building materials hunting, and fishing but also for religious practices [ 1 – 8 ]. Hunting and fishing by the Baka hunter-gatherers are very important activities from ecological, social and cultural points of view, and bushmeat is among their most preferred food [ 9 ].…”

Looking beyond history: tracing the dispersal of the Malaysian complex of crops to Africa

“…Ten species of yam are staple crops, cultivated for their starchy tubers. Additionally, wild yam tubers are consumed as famine foods in many places globally (Coursey, 1975) and were also transplanted by hunter‐gatherers (Gallois et al, 2021). The English term “yam”, the Portuguese inhame , the Spanish ñame and French igname likely derive from the Mande word niam or the Temne enyame , which both mean food (Ayensu and Coursey, 1972).…”

“…African yams were domesticated in the “Yam Zone”, from the Ivory Coast to Cameroon, perhaps as early as 7000 years ago (Dumont et al, 2006; Scarcelli et al, 2019), although there is currently no archaeobotanical evidence to support this interpretation. However, multiple lines of inferential evidence suggest that yam cultivation is ancient in this part of the world: the presence of both wild, semicultivated and domesticated species and the strong social and spiritual links between people and yams exemplified by the celebrations at the beginning of the yam harvest in the New Yam Festival (Coursey and Coursey, 1971; Gallois et al, 2021).…”