Traditional and Medicinal Uses of Essential Oil Producing Tree Sclerocarya birrea in South-Central Zimbabwe

Abstract

A field investigation was conducted in south-central Zimbabwe to assess the traditional and medicinal uses of essential oil producing Sclerocarya birrea; and its contribution to food supply, dietary diversity and income generation among communal farmers. In order to record and document the contribution of S. birrea to household food supplies to communal farmers in south-central Zimbabwe, one hundred and sixteen participants from 4 villages were interviewed between December 2011 and January 2012. Data collected included traditional and medicinal uses of S. birrea; fruit harvesting, processing and income generation activities from S. birrea and its products. The main product harvested by the participants was the fruit. The ripe fruits were eaten raw (100 %), seed kernels were eaten raw (100 %) or roasted (33.6 %), fruit juice fermented to produce children's beverage (22.4 %) or traditional beer (35.3 %), making jam (14.7 %), oil processing (8.6 %) and added to maize, millet and sorghum porridge (4.3 %). S. birrea was used medicinally for cold and flu, diarrhea, sore eyes and toothache. The leaves and fruits were browsed by livestock. S. birrea is also an important non-timber forest product (NTFP) for generating income among rural communities in south-central Zimbabwe with oil, wooden crafts and utensils generating the most cash income. This study showed that S. birrea plays an important role in the socio-cultural life of rural communities in south-central Zimbabwe. These results confirm findings from other studies conducted in rural communities in developing countries that wild plant resources are important for household livelihoods.

Key words:

• Medicinal use
• rural communities
• Sclerocarya birrea
• south-central Zimbabwe
• traditional knowledge