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Participatory Evaluation of the Importance of Native Plant Resources Used by Local People in Sahelo-Sudanian Zone of

Burkina Faso: Case Study in the Sanmatenga Province

Bassirou BELEM 1; Carsten Smith OLSEN 3; Sita GUINKO 2; Ida THEILADE 3; Ronald BELLEFONTAINE 4; Anne Mette LYKKE5; Joseph I. BOUSSIM 2; Adama DIALLO1

1 Centre national de semences forestières 01 BP 2682 Ouagadougou 01 Burkina Faso. E-mail : belembassirou1958@yahoo.fr

2 Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie végétales. UFR en sciences de la vie et de la terre Université de Ouagadougou 03 BP 702 Ouagadougou 03 Burkina Faso

3 Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

4CIRAD Systèmes biologiques BIOS UPR 39, France.

5. University of Aarhus, Denmark

October 2008Accra, Ghana

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INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES

METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

REFERENCES

CONTENT

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Firew

ood

Food

Eco

logi

cal

Construction

Art & craft

Fodder

Soi

l fer

tilza

tion

Cul

tura

l val

ue

Medicine

SERVICE

GOODS

Cash (income)

Rural people in the Sahelian countries depend on access to trees for a multitude of purposes. Trees provide important products and sevice such as

Introduction 2

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• But during the last decade, deforestation and desertification are taking place and the consequences include :

Forest cover lossBiodiversitty loss

And loss of option of uses

• There is therefore a pressing need to enhance the management of forest and agroforestry system to sustain farmer livelihoods (Boffa,200)

• This process need that the most important trees selected

Problem 1Introduction 3

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• In the central plateau of Burkina Faso, the population density is high,

• Village lands are under pression (human and animal)

• Agroforestry tree species need selection and conservation

• No study were conducted in the village of Dem and Wedsé

Problem 2Introduction 4

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Until the recent years target trees selection for nursery, reforestation, agroforestry has been recommended by forest technicians and NGO agents USING TOP DOWN APPROACH

Problem 3Introduction 5

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Happely, nowadays farmers knowledge is being recongnized as valid to incorporated in forest sustainable management process (Musnad 1996)

Opportunity

Introduction 6

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• Considering the large number of agroforestry species, the development of a rational method for setting priorities among species is an important step to match better rural people needs of trees (Jaenicke et al. 1995, Musnad 1996, Franzel et al. 1996).

Introduction 7

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WHAT WE WANT TO GET OR KNOW?

The objectives of the study are: (a) to identify and analyze the different uses

of the selected species by Category of Plant Uses;

(b) to determinate which trees, shrubs, and lianas are priority species for the local people of the two villages.

• Finally, discussion of the advantages and draw backs of methodology will be done.

Introduction 8

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Mossi (cultivators) and Peulh (herders) are the main ethnic groups in each village.

The study area

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Quantitative ethnobotany and the use-value methods are applied to study the importance of plants, for local people and to

compare the local importance of different species (Prance et al. 1987, Phillips and Gentry 1993).

The ethnobotanical use-value of a species estimates its overall usefulness by quantification using a score.

METHOD 1

Ethnoscience, Transdisciplinaire approach (Rist & Dahdouh-Guebas, 2006)

Ethnobotany ((Prance et al., 1987 Phillips & Gentry (1993; Martin, 1995; Cotton, 1996; Lykke et al., 2004).

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Informants: 36 to 78 years(Men and women)Including gardeners, traditional midwife and traditional healer.

Data collection

Data were collected using:•semi structure interview•informal talks, •free listing of plants,•Observation as well as forest and tree walks

METHOD 2

Species selection. Scientific InventoryParticipatory selection (in collaboration with farmers (men and women)

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CATEGORIES OF PLANT USES

We used six categories of plant uses

Construction, Food, Medicine, Technical, Commerce and Energy.

PLANT IMPORTANCE ASSESSMENT

The groups of scores used are used to assess each plant•0: Not used; •0.5: usable but not good, plants occasionally used; •1: usable, includes plants currently used for a specific purpose; •1.5: usable and the best

METHOD 3

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Phillips and Gentry (1993a, b) formula is used to calculate the use-value of each species.

Is

UVUV

isS

Is used for the calculation of the use-value of the species.Where UVs is the overall use-value of species s. UVis is the use-value of species s as determined by informant i. Is is the

total number of informant interviewed for species s. The overall use-value of each species is the sum of use-values of the six categories of plant use. In this way, it is possible to rank the species within each Category of Plant Uses in ascending or descending way.

METHODE 4

0= UVs: species not used; 0UVs 3: species less important, not priority species; 3 UVs 6: species important, priority species; 6UVs 9: species very important,

DATA ANALYSISDescriptive statistic (excell and Minitab) Man Whitney test for non parametric data (Mintab)

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6

178

59

6 49

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Construction Food Medicine Technical Commerce Energy

Category of Plant Uses

Nu

mb

er o

f u

ses

RESULTS 1

Plant uses

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Acacia nilotica

Acacia senegalAcacia seyal

Adansonia digitata

Anogeissus leiocarpusBalanites aegyptiaca

Bauhinia rufescens

Boscia senegalensisBom

bax costatum

Cassia sieberiana

Combretum

micranthum

Diospyros mespiliform

is

Faidherbia albida

Ficus gnaphalocarpa

Ficus kerstingiiFicus platyphylla

Guiera senegalensis

Khaya senegalensisLannea m

icrocarpa

Mytragina inerm

is

Parkia biglobosaPiliostigm

a reticulatum

Pterocarpus erinaceus

Sclerocarya birreaStereosperm

um kunthianum

Tamarindus indica

Vitelaria paradoxaXym

enia americana

Ziziphus mauritiana

Species

Nb o

f use

s Dem

Wedse

Results 2Species and number of

use

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Combretum micranthum 45 differents usesBark against children malariaLeaves against diarrhoeaLeaves for babies fortification Leaves used as tea Roots to stimulate children walkingStem (big ones) to make tools handlesStem toStems used in basketryWood for fuel (firewood)Wood to make charcoal And so on

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Vitellaria paradoxa 25 usesEdible (by men) fruits Kernel is for butter preparationBark to heal woundsWood to make pack down toolsWood for posts and poles for hangar constructionPoles for house constructionWood for charcoal makingWood for fuel (firewood)Wood for pestles makingWood to make seats

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Parkia biglobosa Locus bean (22 diffrents uses) Edible Fruit (pulp)Seeds to make spiceBark against teeth painsBark to heal anus woundsBark to heal woundsAsh of wood to make black dyeFruits soldWood for tool handles makingWood to make drums

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Extraction pattern

• Roots

• Bark

• Stem

• Leaves

Frequence of uses

Bark52%

Leaves25%

Tapinanthus3%

Flow ers and fruits4%

Roots12%

Stem3%

Gum1%

Results

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10 top species DEM

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10 top species WedseUVS Rank

Vitellaria paradoxa 6,3 1

Khaya senegalensis 4,4 2

Lannea microcarpa 4,11 3

Parkia biglobosa 4,10 4

Acacia nilotica 9 5

Sclerocarya birrea 3,6 6

Diospyros mespiliformis 3,45 7

Combretum micranthum 3,4 8

Faidherbia albida 3,35 9

Balanites aegyptiaca 3,2 10

The species Use value by village

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WHEN ALL CATEGORIES ARE CONSIDEREDNo difference of preference between the 2 villages (p = 0,426).

WITHIN EACH CATEGORYNo difference beteween village in:

food category (p = 0,367) Commerce (p = 0,9).

Difference in the medecine category(p = 0,0001), Technical (p = 0,001), Construction (p = 0,014)

Energy(p = 0,02).

MANN-WHITNEY TEST

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R = 0.514

012345678

0 10 20 30 40Number of uses per species

Use

-valu

e pe

r spe

cies

R = 0.683

012345678

0 5 10 15 20 25 30Number of uses per species

Use-

value

per

spe

cies

Correlation between use value and number of uses in each villae

DEM WEDSE

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DISCUSSION 1

The pattern of extraction

The medicine category contains the largest number of uses (178) and represents 68% of the uses mentioned suggesting that the selected trees are used against a wide range of human and animal diseases. Medicinal plants promotion and domestication need to be addressedFARMERS KNOWLEDGE AND USE DESCRIPTION

REVEAL IT

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SPECIES CONSERVATION

Species extraction is unsustainableFARMERS PRACTICES REVEAL IT

RecommendationImprove forest code making usefull species protection be a reality (Limiting bark extraction)

Most of the species are not planted (vitellaria paradoxa, Boscia senegalenis, species extraction is unsustainable

FARMERS PRACTICES REVEAL IT

RecommendationFocuss on farmer targeted trees and shrub in valuation policy legislation and policy – legislation process

DISCUSSION 2

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The use-value methodology is not an economic valuation methodology but when income generation becomes

Doesn’t distinguish, present, past and potential useCPU can be

Limits of the use value method

DISCUSSION 3

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Many factors contribute to the determination of the use-value these are:

1. informants knowledge (experimentation) and preference learning,

2. abundance/ richness of the species in the region, 3. scarcity or abundance of the products extracted from

the species, 4. possibility to use substitute of the products, 5. existence of local, regional or international markets for

the products extracted from the species; 6. cultural values and believe attached on the species; 7. forest legislation which regulate the use of the species. Finally, use-value results depend on time space,

meaning that results from use-value methodology must be appreciated with caution and taking into account time factor.

Limits of the use value method

DISCUSSION 4

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CHALLENGES

How fast can we shift from top down tree selection to bottom up (e.g. how to integrate the main findings to improve local forest and agricultural policies?)

How to effectively conserve the most important selected tree species in the short, medium and long term?

DISCUSSION 5

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Lannea microcarpa Anacardiaceae

END

THANK YOU