Socio-economic Assessment of Ethno-botanical Practices in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Both semi-structured questionnaire and a checklist were used to gather necessaryinformation about medicinal plants used and ethno-botanical practices from respondentsin five major communities: Odogbolu, Ijagun, Imaweje, Abapawa and Mobalufonrandomly selected in the study area. In each of these communities twenty (20)respondents were randomly selected to give a sample size of one hundred (100).Checklists were used to gather information on ethno-practices from Traditional MedicalPractitioners as well. Data generated were analyzed and presented using descriptivestatistics (frequency tables, percentages and mean) and Correlation Analysis. The resultreveals that the mean age of the respondents was 41.08 years, female gender (56%)dominates the usage of medicinal plants in treating livestock in the study area, 68% aremarried and 66% practice Christianity. All the respondents had formal education tocertain degree with 12years of attendance in school in the majority (32%). The modalhousehold size among the respondent was 8 persons (22%). The reasons adduced forusing medicinal plants in treating livestock by respondents include- convenience (36%),cheapness (28%), efficiency (22%), ready availability (12%) and civilization (2%).Medicinal plants were sourced from the wild (56%) and cultivation (44%) using leafcutting (70%), debarking (12%), seed or fruit (10%), stem cutting (4%), root cutting andall parts (2%) each as harvesting methods. The result of the correlation analysis showsthat there is a significant relationship between the ages of respondents and theirhousehold size. There is a positive relationship (0.040-0.294) such that as household sizeincreases and age increases there is more usage of medicinal plants. There is however, anegative but significant relationship (-0.356-0.012) between age of respondents and levelof education. The correlation between age of respondent and duration of use (0.032-0.307) has a direct positive relationship; there is significant and positive relationshipbetween the duration of use and source of medicinal plants (0.077-0.255).The studyconcludes that medicinal plant is readily used in the study area and recommends thedomestication of useful medicinal plants in the study area and inventory of all plantswith ethno veterinary potentials in the study area.