Traditional Uses of Miombo Woodland Tree Species in Sikonge District, Tanzania.

Abstract

Traditional use of Miombo woodland plants was investigated in Ugunda Forest Reserve in Sikonge District, Tanzania. Collaborative Field Work and Focus Group Discussions were used to generate information on uses of Miombo woodlands. Findings showed that local communities derived various goods and services from Miombo woodlands. Out of 106 plants recorded, 74species were found to provide multiple uses to the local communities. These species provided 18 forest products/services. The major categories of uses were food plants (62.2%), handcraft plants (56.8%), domestic plants (47.3%). Further, results revealed that the Miombo woodlands provided 72.2% of Non- Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) compared with 27.8% of Timber Forest Products (TFPs). This study has demonstrated that impact of utilization decrease with increase of distance from the settlement suggesting high dependence of forest resources by local communities surrounding Ugunda Forest Reserve. However, conversion of Miombo woodlands to short-duration crop lands and harvesting woods for curing tobacco and charcoal making are the major threats to the woodland resources. Efforts are needed to promote best practices of forest management that will ensure sustainable supply of forest products and services. Promoting practices that enhance judicious use of NTFPs, which is known to be less destructive to forest ecosystem, would particularly result into long term benefits on both NTFPs and TFPs.