Assessment of WEPs and Their Implications in Ankober District,North Shewa Zone Amhara region,Ethiopia

Abstract

WEPs are valuable resources in rural livelihoods for supplementing the staple food, ensuring food security, dietary diversification and sustained income. The present study was conducted to identify and document WEPs and assess their role in food security in Ankober woreda, North Shewa Zone Amhara region, Ethiopia. Seven keble were purposively selected for the data collection from the study area and 117informants were selected randomly from 2469 households by using simple random sampling and purposive methods. The size of the sample population for each kebele was decided using the sample size determination of Cochran's (1963) formula. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, Focus group discussions, guided field observations, and market surveys. The data was analyzed using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to determine the informant consensus factor, Direct matrix ranking, Pair-wise ranking, fidelity level and Jacquard similarity coefficient. Ethnomedicinal knowledge held by different informant categories was compared using One-way ANOVA and t-test in SPSS version 20. A total of 50 WEP Species distributed in 42 genera and 32 different families were identified. Moraceae and Fabaceae families were relatively the most frequent in terms of the number of WEPs species represented by five and four species each followed by, Solanaceae, Rosaceae and Anacardiaceae which contributed two species each. The most frequently consumed parts of WEPs were found to be fruits (74% ), and most of them, 41 (82%) species, were eaten as fresh. Shrubs were the highest growth forms (44%), trees (30%), herbs (24%) and liana (2%). The result of the preference ranking indicated that Opuntia ficus-indica is the most preferred wild fruit, followed by Ximenia americana. The informant consensus analysis showed that Cordia africana and Ximenia americana are the most threatened species. The study showed that agricultural expansion and fire wood collection were identified as a major threat to WEPs. Hence, the conservation of WEPs species as well as protecting indigenous knowledge were the basic critical issues. Domesticating these WEPs is necessary for food security, raising public awareness in the community, and promoting sustainable utilization and conservation of WEPs resources