ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PLANTS IN OFFA WOREDA WOLAITA ZONE, SNNPRS

Abstract

An Ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal plant species used by traditional people in Offa Woreda, Wolaita zone, SNNPR was carried out from September, 2008 E.C to August, 2008 E.C. In the study areas traditional medicine addresses the problems of scarcity of drugs and health related problems. The aim of this study was to collect, identify and document the practice of traditional medicinal plant species. A total of 146 households (119 males and 27 females) between the ages 22 to 75 were systematically selected from the complete list of three Kebeles. Similarly, 9 key informants (7 males and 2 females) and 30 traditional healers (10 males and 20 females) were purposively selected based on recommendations from Kebele chairman and local elder people. Ethnobotanical data were collected using, semi-structured interview, group discussion, field observation and market survey. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages), preference ranking and paired comparison, direct matrix ranking method and correlation by using SPSS software version 20. A total of 51 medicinal plant species belonging to 43 genera and 35 families were documented in this study. Out of these, 27(52.9%) were collected from wild, 21(41.2%) were cultivated and 3(5.9%) were collected from both wild and home garden. 36 medicinal plant species were used to treat human ailments. Six medicinal plant species were used to treat livestock and nine were used for both human and livestock. The most frequently used plant parts were leaves 18 (35.3%), followed by 11(21.6%) roots. The age of participants and consumption rate of traditional medicine have a positive correlation(r = 0.999). However, educational level of informants (r = -0.878) and consumptions rate of traditional medicine were negatively correlated. The widely used method of preparation was crushing and mixing with different plant parts. Deforestation, agricultural activities, firewood and charcoal are major threats to medicinal plants in the study area. It is recommended that isolating the main factors for the loss of medicinal plant and taking action is the way of conservation. Instead of using firewood and charcoal, using alternative energy such as biogas is advisable