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Little attention has been given to assessing the
medicinal plant species in home gardens. Many studies in the past have focused
on the socio-economic aspects of home gardens, their structure and composition,
organization as well as their nutritional importance with little attention to
the medicinal use. This Study seeks to assess the medicinal flora species that
are found in home gardens in Benue State. Medicinal plants have played an
important role throughout the world in treating and preventing human diseases.
Studying medicinal plants helps to understand plant toxicity and protect human
and animals from natural poisons. It is imperative to identify and document
medicinal plants found in home gardens in Benue State in order to encourage
conservation and management of the plant species that have the potency of
curing ailments. This research seeks also to identify the ailments/diseases for
which home garden medicinal plants are used for treatment. About 74 plant
species were identified in Home gardens in Benue State. Home gardens in
Vandeikya and Katsina-ala (zone A) had more diverse species with species
diversity index of 0.9691 with a total of 67 plant species. Jaccard’s
Similarity coefficient revealed that home gardens in zone B (Gwer west and Gwer
East) had the highest percentage Similarity of 91.3%. Descriptive statistics
revealed that 22 plant species are the most frequently used medicinal plants.
Home gardens in Benue State have diverse species of plants which have numerous
uses ranging from their use as food, shade and medicine.
Keywords: Home-garden,
Medicinal plants, Species diversity, Ailments, Similarity
INTRODUCTION
Home-gardens involve the management of
multipurpose trees, shrubs, annual and perennial crops, herbs and medicinal
plants, birds and animals on the same land unit in a spatial or temporal sequence
[1]. It is a traditional land use practice carried out around a homestead
consisting of several species of plants that are grown and maintained by the
family members with the primary objective of fulfilling the family’s
consumption needs [2]. They are production systems of diverse crop plants,
which are easily accessible and adjacent to household [3].
Home gardens represent land use systems
involving deliberate management of multipurpose trees and shrubs in intimate
association with annual and perennial agricultural crops and invariably
livestock within the compounds of individual houses [4]. For decades home
gardens have shown to be significant to rural inhabitants by providing a wide
range of useful products such as fruits, vegetables, medicine and building
materials [5]. Several studies have emphasized that home gardens are diverse
agro-forestry systems and regard them as important ex situ conservation sites. Worldwide, home gardens are a
community’s most adaptable and accessible land resources and important
components in reducing vulnerability and ensuring food security [6]. Forest
resources such as edible fruits and medicinal plants are harvested from home
gardens. Worldwide, growing ethno botanically useful plant species in home
gardens has a long tradition in various cultural groups. Growing a number of
plant species together in home gardens do not only deal with making resources
available for food and medicine but also reveal invisible social mechanisms and
related resilience strategies by avoiding risk and reducing vulnerability as
may be noticed generally in single crop cultivation [6]. Home gardens consist
of a mixture of cultivated fruit trees, medicinal plants, spices, firewood and
sometimes also forage crops. Home gardens have the potential to contribute
towards increasing food production, reducing malnutrition
and ailments in tropical
The emergence of new diseases and
re-emergence of old diseases has been a great challenge in the use of orthodox
medicine. At the moment, the remedies remain elusive. However, it has been
proved that higher plants have the potential to provide solutions to these
problems.
Pharmaceutical drugs are seen increasingly as
expensive and dangerous, yet herbal remedies are seen as less expensive and
less toxic. Almost every pharmaceutical drug has side effects. People in
tropical countries like Nigeria are increasingly willing to self-treat their
medical needs by using medicinal plants and herbal preparations particularly
for the treatment of illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, hepatitis, typhoid,
yellow fever, cancer and stroke. Successful management of such ailments is
elusive with pharmaceutical drugs. A lot of pathogens have proved resistant to
conventional antibiotics [7]. People who suffer such maladies are turning to
medicinal plants as alternative for treatments [8]. Many of these herbs are
found in home gardens. It is imperative to identify and document the medicinal
plants found in and around home gardens in Benue State in order to encourage
conservation and management of these wonderful plant species that have the
potential of curing ailments. Currently pharmaceutical companies have
demonstrated interest in investigating higher plants as sources of drugs. In
Brazil, some plants were screened against Staphylococcus
aureus and Enteroccocus fecalis.
These microbes are known to cause surgical and post-surgical ailments as well
as medical complications in humans. The plants were found to have antimicrobial
effect against the microbes [7]. Medicinal plants remains an integral part of
human life through the compounds extracted from plants and specific plant parts
are worthy of further investigations for their use as potent sources of
medicine.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Study area: Benue
State
Benue State is located in the middle belt
region of Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641. The State has an
average population density of 99 persons per km2. It is inhabited
predominantly by the Tiv and Idoma people, who speak the Tiv language and
Idoma, respectively. There are other ethnic groups, including the Igede, Etulo,
Akweya and Nyifon [9]. The capital of Benue is Makurdi. It is a rich
agricultural region. Benue State is named after the Benue River and was formed
from the former Benue-Plateau State in 1976. Benue State is the 9th most
populous State in Nigeria.
Its geographic coordinates are longitude
7°47' and 10°0' E. Latitude 6°25' and 8°8' N; and shares boundaries with five
other states namely: Nasarawa State to the north, Taraba State to the east,
Cross-River State to the south, Enugu State to the south-west and Kogi State to
the west. The state also shares a common boundary with the Republic of Cameroon
on the south-east. Benue occupies a landmass of 34,059 km2. The
State experiences two distinct seasons; the wet season and dry season.
Temperatures fluctuate between 21-37°C (Figure
1).
METHODOLOGY
Two local government areas from each of the
three (3) geopolitical zones of the State were randomly selected for the study.
The local government areas are Vandeikya and Katsina-Ala (Zone A), Gwer west
and Gwer-East (Zone B), Ogbadibo, Oju (Zone C). Four (4) Council wards from
each Local Government Area were purposively selected for ease of accessibility.
In each Council ward, Five (5) compounds with home gardens were visited, making
a total of twenty (20) home gardens from each Local Government Area. This means
forty (40) compounds with home gardens were visited in each geopolitical zone.
Altogether a total of one hundred and twenty (120) home gardens were visited
covering the three (3) geopolitical zones. Data were collected by walking
through the home gardens and making careful identifications of the plants,
listing the plant species and the medicinal uses of such plants. Interviews
with home garden owners were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire
based on methodologies. Home garden owners were asked the following questions
in order to obtain a list of medicinal plants found in their home gardens:
i. What species of plants in your home
gardens are used for medicinal purposes?
ii. What type of sickness or disease are
they used for treatment?
iii. What part of the plant is used for
medicine?
iv. Which plant species in your home garden
is mostly used for medicine?
Five (5) traditional medicine practitioners
were also interviewed in each council ward. The traditional medicine
practitioners were selected based on how they are considered by their
communities as very knowledgeable about medicinal plants. During the interview,
the traditional medicine practitioners were allowed to discuss what species of
plants in their home-gardens are medicinal, what kind of diseases the plants
are used for treatment, what part of the plant is used (stem, roots and
leaves).
During the visit to each home garden, the
house heads were interviewed to know which among the home garden flora, are
medicinal, the type of sickness that home garden medicinal plants cure and what
part of the plant is used for treatment. To know which home garden medicinal
plants are most frequently used in treating ailments?
After data collection, data were subjected to
simple descriptive statistics like frequency and percentage to determine the
frequency of use of the medicinal plants. The most frequently used medicinal
plants in home gardens in Benue State were then determined.
DATA ANALYSIS
Frequency, percentage and tabular
presentations were used to estimate the relative abundance of each species.
Simpson Diversity index was used to test the diversity of flora species in home
gardens in Benue State. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient (JSC) was used for
comparing home garden’s plant species in two randomly selected local government
areas in each geopolitical zone of the State.
Where,
a=number of species not found in the study
area A
b=number of species not found in the study
area B
c=number of species common in both Areas
Simpson diversity Index,
Where,
n=number of individuals of each species
N=Total number of individuals of all species
PRESENTATION OF
RESULTS
Table 1 shows the personal attributes of
home garden owners. Most of the respondents were males with the percentage of
71.67% while 28.33% were females. Majority of the respondents were within the
age range of 50 years and above (50.83%) followed by the age range of between
40-50 years while young people were within the age range of 18-28 years with a
percentage of 0.83%. Most of the home garden owners were married (81.70%),
widowed (17.50%) while single (0.83%). A greater percentage of the respondents
(33.33%) had household size of more than 12 followed by a family size of 7-9
with a percentage of 30.83%. The least family size 1-2 had a percentage of
5.83%. 42.50% of the respondents did not have formal education. 0.83% had
degree or HND. 49.17% of the respondents had an annual income of more than ₦ 150,
000.00. The respondents with the least level of income had a percentage of
8.33%.
Table 2 shows the distribution of sighted
home garden plants species by tribe in Benue state. Ceiba petandra was the most frequently occurring plant found in
home gardens in Benue State with a percentage of 5.72%. It is also the most
abundant plant found in home gardens in the Tiv speaking areas with 65
individuals. In Idoma (Ogbadibo), Ceiba
petandra had 7 individuals and in Igede (11 idividuals). Carica papaya is the second most
frequently occurring plant found in Home gardens in Benue State with a
percentage of 5.31%. It is the second most abundant plant found in Tiv with 54
individuals, in Idoma (11 individuals) and Igede (12 individuals). The third
most frequently occurring plant is Newbouldia
laevis with a frequency of 5.03%. Newbouldia
laevis had 47 individuals in home gardens in Tiv and in home gardens in
Idoma, it has 14 individuals and in home gardens in Igede, it has 12
individuals. However some plant species were found in only in Tiv areas and
were not found in the home gardens that were visited in the other areas (Idoma
and Igede). Plant species like Caesalpinia
bondue, Borassus aethiopum, Commiphora kerstingii, Phoenix dactylifera, Swartzia madagascariensis, Theobroma cacao, Lophira lanceolata, Eurphorbia
hirta, Telfairia pedata, Strychnos spinosa, Nicotina tabaccum had a percentage of 0.07%. However, some plants
like Pterocarpus santalinoides was
found only in home gardens in Igede (Oju) and was never found elsewhere. Chrysophyllum albidum was found only in
home gardens in Idoma (Ogbadibo), was neither found in Tiv (Vandeikya,
Katsina-Ala, Gwer East and Gwer west) nor Igede. Irvingia gabonensis was more abundant in Idoma (Ogbadibo) with 17
individuals and a percentage of 2.21% (Table
3).
Table
4 shows that the composition of home gardens across
the three Geo-political zones varies. Zone A with 67 Plant species was the most
diverse plant with Simpson index of 0.9691 followed by Zone C with 46 Plant species
and index of 0.9664 and then Zone B (0.9647) with 46 species.
Table 5 shows that very
high similarity among plant species in home gardens in Zone B Local government
areas of Benue. A jaccard coefficient of 0.91 means plant species in home
gardens in Zone B were 91.3% similar. Home gardens in Local government areas of
Zone C had a Jaccard similarity coefficient of 0.64. That means the plant
species in Zone C were 64.0% similar. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient 0.52
means the home gardens in Zone A local government areas were 52.2% similar (Table 6).
Table 7
shows that Ceiba petandra is the most
frequently used medicinal plant (23.33%) followed by Moringa oleifera (15.83%) and Cymbopogon
citratus (10.00%) found in home gardens in Benue State. Eurphorbia hirta and Citrus aurantifolia had the least
frequency of use (0.42%).
DISCUSSION
Personal attributes
of respondents by sex and age
Table 1 shows that majority of the home
garden owners were men (71.67%), women were 28.33%. This implies that the
household heads of the compounds visited were mostly men. This is similar to
the findings of Melese and Fitamo [10]. Hence men are the heads of the
households; they take major decisions in the family and therefore determine
what should be planted around their home. This indicates that the choice of
plant species (especially trees) grown or conserved in home gardens in Benue
State is determined mostly by men. The choice of such plant species is
associated with their use as food consumed in everyday life and the use of
certain plant species to treat ailments. The choice of such plant species is
related to the importance attributed to the plants. This agrees with the
findings of others which states that women play significant role in the
maintenance of home gardens but the establishment is solely that of men.
However the choice of food crops grown in home gardens is usually determined by
women. In terms of tree species, it does not apply. Only households with widows
(17.50%) have such privilege. In terms of traditional medicine practice, Table 2 shows that 70.83% of the 120
traditional medicine practitioners who were interviewed were men. While 29.17%
were women. The result shows that men were more involved in the practice of
plant medicine than women.
Majority of the respondents (50.83%) were in
age group of 50 years and above, 39.17% in the age group 40-50 years and a few
of them were in the age group of 29-39 years (9.17%). 0.83% was in the age
group 18-28 years. This underscores that home garden owners were mostly the
elderly people. This agrees with the findings of Agbogidi and Adolor [11] that
majority of those involved in home gardening activities are elderly household
members who often remain faithful to the conservation and maintenance of useful
plants they have inherited from prior generations and Regassa [12] who reported
that old aged people are mostly involved in the management of home garden. The
result is also similar to the findings of Melese and Fitamo [10]. This result
is also contrary to the report of some others which stated that majority of the
home garden owners were young and agile.
Marital status of
respondents
From Table
1, majority of the respondents were married (81.70%). Few were widowed
(17.50%) and single (0.83%). This explains that home gardens in Benue State are
mostly maintained by married people. This is similar to the report which stated
that a greater percentage of the respondents were married. This shows that the
respondents were matured adults with marital responsibilities; hence their
involvement in the management of home gardens to make ends meet in the family.
Household size of
respondents
Out of the 120 households visited, the least
family size was in the range of 1-2 with 5.83% while the biggest family size
was in the range of 12 and above with 33.33% followed by the family size within
the range of 7-9 with 30.83%. The family size with the range of 4-6 had a
percentage of 19.17%, family size within the range of 10-12 had 10.83%. This
implies that different family sizes are dependent on home gardens for the
sustenance of their families. This could be the benefits derived in form of
food, income and medicine from the multipurpose trees. This is similar to the
findings of Amanda et al. [13] that home garden plants (edible and medicinal
plants) contribute largely to the family subsistence.
Educational status of respondents
Out of 120 respondents, 42.50% of the respondents
had no formal education, 16.67% had primary education and 24.17% had secondary
education, 15.83% had NCE and Diploma, while 0.83% had Degree. This implies
that formal education is still low in rural areas in Benue State. Knowledge of
the home garden owners affects the development of economically viable and
ecologically sustainable home garden with regards to plant conservation [14].
Floristic
composition and distribution of home garden plants in Benue state
A Total of 74 plant species belonging to 40
families were identified (Table 3).
Not all the plants were grown by the home garden owners. Some plants
established naturally in the home gardens but some are maintained by the home
garden owners because of the use value. The family Fabaceae had the highest
number of eight (8) species. This is similar to the report by Regassa [12].
Followed by Anacardiaceae, Malvaceae and Arecaceae had 4 species each. The
families Eurphorbiaceae and Rutaceae had 3 species pieces each. Ten (10)
Families had 2 species each. This is similar to the findings of Melese and
Fitamo [10]. Twenty-eight (28) families had 1 species each. Table 2 shows the
distribution of home garden plant species according to the three major tribes
in Benue State. The home gardens in Benue State consist of both cultivated and
non-cultivated plants. Some plants were found growing naturally in home
gardens. They are maintained by home garden owners because of the several uses
such plants provide for them. Some plant species like Chasmanthera dependens, Maytenus
senegalensis, Spermacoce octodon
were found being cultivated in some home gardens in Benue State. While certain
plants were found growing in one home garden and were never found growing in
another even among home gardens within the same community. They are unique
plants which vary across the six local government areas that were covered in
the study. From the result of the study, these unique plant species include Phoenix dactylifera (found only in
Vandeikya), Chrysophyllum albidum
(Only in Ogbadibo), Pterocarpus
santalinoides (only in Oju), Theobroma
cacao (only in Vandeikya), Chasmanthera
dependens (Vandeikya), Swartzia
madagascaris (Vandeikya). This agrees with the report that unique plants in
home gardens varies with ethnicity, culture, religion and spirituality. Tree
species such as Ceiba petandra
(5.72%), Carica papaya (5.31%), Newbouldia laevis (5.03%), Mangifera indica (4.97%), Moringa oleifera (4.90%), Jatropha curcas (4.55%) and Gmelina arborea (4.41%) were the most
frequently occurring and most abundant tree species found in home gardens in
Benue State. Home gardens in Benue State have diverse plant species. However
plant species such as Caesalpinia bondue,
Borassus aethiopum, Theobroma cacao and Phoenix dactylifera were not abundant with a percentage of 0.07%
each. Some plant species found in Tiv speaking areas were not found in either
Idoma or Igede areas that were visited during the study. Plant species such as Emilia coccinea, Caesalpinia bondue, Borassus
aethiopum, Theobroma cacao, Phoenix dactylifera, Swartzia madagascriensis, Commiphora kerstingii, Lophira lanceolata, Eurphorbia hirta and Chasmanthera
dependens were not found in both Idoma and Igede areas that were covered in
the study (Table 2). Plants species
like Chrysophyllum albidum (0.14%)
was found only in Idoma area but it was not found in Tiv and Igede areas. Pterocarpus santaliniodes (0.48%) was
found only in Igede but it was not found in Tiv and Idoma areas.
Medicinal plants
found in home gardens in Benue state
Various Home garden plant species were
identified for medicinal purposes (Table
6). A lot of medicinal plants were found in home gardens in Benue State.
Several types of ailments were found to be treated with the home garden
medicinal plants. The ailments treated ranges from common ailments like cough,
stomach pain to severe ailments like stroke, hepatitis B. Twenty two (22) plant
species were found to be the most frequently used medicinal plants in home
gardens in Benue State (Table 7).
Out of the 22 plants, Ceiba petandra
had the highest percentage (23.33%) followed by Moringa oleifera (15.83%) and Cymbopogon
citratus (10.00%). These top three
plants were selected for phytochemical screening based on their percentage of
use. Ceiba petandra is used to treat
different ailments like hypertension, mystic diarrhea, partial madness and
fracture. Its leaves are used as vegetables. Moringa oleifera is used to treat ulcer, diabetes, typhoid, body
weakness and fever. Cymbopogon citratus
is used to treat cough, dizziness, hook worms, gonorrhea and stomach upset. Eurphorbia hirta and Citrus aurantifolia had the smallest
percentage (0.42%) each.
CONCLUSION
Home gardens in Benue State have diverse
species of plants which have numerous uses ranging from their use as food, shade
and medicine. Some of these plant species are naturally established in the home
gardens and are being maintained, conserved or protected by home garden owners
because of the diverse uses the plants offer. While others are deliberately
planted by home garden owners because of how scarce the particular plant
species is, especially those of medicinal importance. The most frequently used
medicinal plant species include in Home gardens in Benue State include; Ceiba petandra, Moringa oleifera and Cymbopogon
citratus. Most of the home garden owners in Benue State are elderly people
who have remained faithful to the conservation and maintenance of useful plants
they have inherited from forefathers.
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