Ethnobotanical Profile of Indigenous Tree Species Protected within Dryland Agricultural Farming System

Abstract

Conservation of biodiversity on dryland agricultural farms, forests, and protected areas is likely to backup future livelihood options. The main objective of this research was to investigate the ethnobotanical importance of indigenous trees protected within agricultural farming system of Mutale local municipality. Tree layer of indigenous species were recorded and classified into families, parts used and their utilization purposes. Twenty two agricultural fields were visited and nineteen species were recorded. The 19 species were classified into sixteen families with Fabaceae, Combretaceae, Capparaceae being the dominating families. Sclerecarya birrea belonging to Anacardiaceae family was the plant species which was well represented in the agricultural farming fields, occurring in 21 farms, followed by Adansonia digitata (19 farms) which belongs to Malvaceae family, and Boscia albitrunca (16 farms), Maerua angolensis (15 farms) which both belong to the Capparaceae family. Shade use category amongst tree species protected within agricultural fields was the dominant category followed by medicine, food, demarcation fence, fodder, and firewood. Protection of these indigenous trees within agricultural fields will go a long way towards conservation of declared protected and endangered species