SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF EDIBLE WILD FRUIT BEARING WOODY SPECIES UNDER DIFFERENT LAND USE TYPES & MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN DANGUR DISTRICT, NORTH WESTERN ETHIOPIA

The traditional and indigenous knowledge on sustainable management and utilization of wild edible fruit bearing woody species is not well documented in Ethiopia. There are many plants species which are most popular and widely used for various socio-economic purposes including as supplementary food items and medicinal plants by local community. Wild edible fruit bearing woody species are highly inhabited on agricultural landscape and natural forests in which their diversity is threatened due to deforestation and forest degradation. Moreover, the traditional knowledge of using these wild edible fruit bearing woody species is being eroded through acculturation and loss of plant biodiversity in most of indigenous people. Hence, conducting research is crucial to generate useful information for ensuring food security and to maximize the socio-economic benefits through biodiversity conservation. This study was conducted to analyze socio-economic benefits of wild edible fruit bearing woody species and management under different use type in Dangur. A systematic sampling method was employed to locate the sample plots following the transect line in order to study the species diversity and socio-economic benefits, where the first transect line and plot were selected randomly inside the land use types. For wood land use type a plot size of 20 m × 20 m were used to encompass all edible wild fruit tree species inside the plots. For parkland agroforestry a plot size of 50 m × 100 m making a total of 144 plots were used for data collection. For socioeconomic study, 90 households were interviewed through structured questionnaire from three sample villages. Most prevalent species used as traditional medicine comprised plant families of Balanitaceae, Rhamnaceae and Apocynaceae under both woodland and parkland agroforestry types. The most frequently recorded species include Syzygium guineense, Ziziphus mauritiana. Ficus sur, Ficus sycomorus, Carissa spinarum, Balanites aegyptiaca and Gardenia ternifolia. From the recorded edible wild fruit woody species, fruits of 90% were trees that were most frequently used for different plant parts for various economical uses. Farmers retained edible wild fruit bearing woody species in their parkland agroforestry for the purpose of fuel wood, food, improving soil fertility, fodder, timber, shade and construction. The local communities employ management practices such as thinning, pruning and protection. The relative presence of high number of edible wild fruit bearing tree species in the study area is a good indicator of biodiversity conservation for food and nutrition and medicinal plants which needs good effort of in-situ conservation and applying of appropriate management practices.