AN INVENTORY OF SOME WILD EDIBLE PLANTS (WEPs) IN KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

An ethnobotanical Survey of wild edible plants in some selected Local Governments Area of katsina State namely: Katsina, Funtua and Kusadawas conducted. The objective was to identify and document wild edible plants and the knowledge associated with these plants in the study area. Ethnobotanical informations on wild edible plants were collected .Guided semi-strucruwred questionnaire was used. Consensus method and group discussion was used to verify informations obtained from the respondesnts. Descriptive statistics was used to analyzed the data. In the present. In the present study, 44 wild edible plants species spread across 26 families 35 genera based in local claims as food were documented. The family Fabaceae is the most cited family represented by 6 species (13.33%), followed by Moraceae represented by 5 species (11.11%), and then Malvaceae and Arecaceae represented by 3 species each (6.66%), Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Capparaceae, and Euphorbia each represented by two species (2.22%) and then  Asteraceae, Araceae, Annonaceae, Buseraceae, Cleomaceae, Chrysobanaceae, Capparaceae, Discreaceae, Ebenaceae, Lamiaceae, Loganiaceae, Myrrtaceae, Nymphae eae, Olaceae, Poaceae, portulacaceae, Sapotaceae Vitaceae and Zygophyllaceae are each represented by 1 species (2.22%). The study showed the existence of wild edible plants in the study area which alleviate food security during famine time occasionally faced in the study area. The respondesnts stated that wild edible plants are under threat due to altered climate and greater human pressure. This necessitates quick and collaborative measures to maintain the equilibrium between the natural abundance of edible plants in the wild  and their by the local  community. It was concluded that the study highlights the importance of these plants in ensuring food security, nutrition, and livelihoods for the people of Katsina. The documentation of traditional knowledge and uses of these plants can contribute to their conservation and sustainable utilization. It was also recommended that Conservation measures should be implemented to protect and sustainably manage wild edible plant populations, Local communities should be encouraged to adopt sustainable harvesting practices to ensure the long-term availability of these plant resources, Further research should be conducted to analyze the nutritional value of these wild edible plants.