Abstract
Wild Edible Plant (WEP) knowledge is very important for the survival of many African communities and may constitute a genetic resource pool for the development of novel food products. Only very limited and general information on WEPs of the Tshopo District, DRCongo, is available in international literature. Ethnobotanical research was carried out in 3 ethnic groups, Turumbu, Mbole and Bali, in 3 different territories of the Tshopo District. In 3 villages per ethnic group, WEPs were inventoried and their properties discussed in focus groups. Via ‘walks-in-the-woods’ with key informants all WEPs were collected to constitute a reference herbarium. Preferences in taste, commercial, nutritional and cultural value, were discussed during participatory ranking exercises. A total of 166 WEPs (165 species and 2 varieties) in 71 families, together with their uses, preparation methods, availability and commercialization possibilities were documented. Comparisons between the 3 ethnic groups showed that the use and knowledge of WEPs is clearly culturally defined with high diversity between ethnic groups. Therefore, we should make a difference between species with regional importance and ethnospecific species when it comes to priority setting for further study and participatory domestication. Based upon the preference ranking exercises, Anonidium mannii, Landolphia owariensis and Megaphrynium macrostachyum are some of the species with regional importance. Participatory domestication aims at ameliorating nutrition security and diversifying and increasing local farmers’ income whilst protecting the tropical rainforest from overexploitation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addis G, Urga K, Dikasso D (2005) Ethnobotanical study of Edible Wild Plants in Some selected Districts of Ethiopia. Hum Ecol 33:83–118
Agea JG, Obua J, Kaboggoza JRS, Waiswa D (2007) Diversity of indigenous fruit trees in the traditional cotton-millet farming system: the case of Adwari subcounty, Lira District, Uganda. Afr J Ecol 45:39–43
Alexiades MN (1996) Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research: a field manual. The New York Botanical Garden, New York
Arenas P, Scarpa GF (2007) Edible wild plants of the chorote Indians, Gran Chaco, Argentina. Bot J Linn Soc 153:73–85
Asaha S, Tonye MM, Ndam N, Blackmore P (2000) State of knowledge study on Gnetum africanum Welw. and Gnetum buchholzianum Engl. A report for the Central African Regional Program for the Environment. Cameroon, Limbe Botanic Garden Library (11–15)
Ayantunde AA, Briejer M, Hiernaux P, Udo HMJ, Tabo R (2008) Botanical knowledge and its differentiation by age, gender and ethnicity in Southwestern Niger. Hum Ecol 36:881–889
Bafwasende Territory (2008) Rapport annuel de l’Intérieur exercice 2007 Territoire de Bafwasende. Bafwasende
Bamps P (2000) Flore d’Afrique Centrale (Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Burundi). Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise
Bokdam J, Droogers AF (1975) Contribution à l’étude ethnobotanique des Wagenia de Kisangani, Zaïre. Wageningen, Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 75(19):1–74
Bola ML, Szafranski F (1991) Plantes spontanées à feuilles-légumes de Kisangani et environs (Zaïre). Belg J Bot 124:222–234
Bongelie Y (1975) Les Bambole à Kisangani. In: Verhaegen B, de Saint Moulin L, Baruti Lokomba, de Mahieu W, Yeikelo Bongeli, Droogers A, Bibeau G, Corin E (eds) Kisangani 1876–1976. Histoire d’une ville. Tome 1: la population. Presses universitaires du Zaïre, CRIDE, Kinshasa/Kisangani, pp 121–150
Bonnet MA, Vallès J (2002) Use of non-crop food vascular plants in Montseny biosphere reserve (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula). Int J Food Sci Nutr 53:225–248
Bwama M, Termote C, Dhed’a D, Van Damme P (2007) Etude préliminaire sur la contribution socio-économique de Gnetum africanum (fumbwa) dans les ménages de la région de Kisangani, Annales de l’institut facultaire des sciences agronomiques, IFA Yangambi. Rép Dém Congo 1:117–132
Byg A, Balslev H (2001) Diversity and use of palms in Zahamena, eastern Madagascar. Biodivers Conserv 10:951–970
Camou-Guerrero A, Reyes-García V, Martínez-Ramos M, Casas A (2008) Knowledge and use value of plants species in a Rarámuri community: a gender perspective for conservation. Hum Ecol 36:259–272
Chweya JA, Eyzaguirre PB (1999) The biodiversity of traditional leafy vegetables. IPGRI, Rome
Cook FEM (1996) Economic botany data collection standard. Prepared for the international working group on taxonomic databases for plant sciences (TDWG). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Cotton CM (1996) Ethnobotany. Principles and applications. Wiley, Chichester
Counsell S (2006) Forest governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An NGO perspective. Recommendations for a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the EU. FERN, Moreton in Marsh
Dansi A, Adjatin A, Adoukonou-Sagbadja H, Faladé V, Ydomonhan H, Odou D, Dossou B (2008) Traditional leafy vegetables and their use in the Benin Republic. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55:1239–1256
De Pelsmacker P, Van Kenhove P (2006) Marktonderzoek: Methoden en toepassingen. Pearson Education Benelux, Amsterdam
de Saint Moulin L, Kalombo J-LT (2005) Atlas de l’organisation administrative de la République Démocratique du Congo. Centre d’Etudes Pour l’Action Sociale (CEPAS), Kinshasa
Document de Stratégie pour la Réduction de la Pauvreté (DSRP) (2005) Ministère du Plan, République Démocratique du Congo, Kinshasa
Gemedo-Dalle T, Maass BL, Isselstein J (2005) Plant Biodiversity and Ethnobotany of Borana Pastoralists in Southern Oromia, Ethiopia. Econ Bot 59:43–65
Grivetti LE, Ogle BM (2000) Value of traditional foods in meeting macro- and micronutrient needs. The wild plant connection. Nutr Res Rev 13:31–46
Hanazaki N, Tmashiro JY, Leitão-Filho HF, Begossi A (2000) Diversity of plant uses in two Caiçara communities from the Atlantic forest coast, Brazil. Biodivers Conserv 9:597–615
Herzog F, Farah Z, Amadò R (1994) Composition and consumption of gathered wild fruits in the V-Baoulé, Côté d’Ivoire. Ecol Food Nutr 32:181–196
Heywood V (1999) Use and potential of wild plants in farm households. FAO Farm Systems Management Series 15, Rome
Hoare AL (2007) The use of non-timber forest products in the Congo basin: constraints and opportunities. The Rainforest Foundation, London
Ichikawa M (1993) Diversity and selectivity in the food of the Mbuti hunter-gatherers in Zaire. In: Hladik CM, Hladik A, Linares OF, Pagezy H, Semple A, Hadley M (eds) Tropical forests, people and food. The Parthenon Publishing Group, Paris, pp 487–496
Isangi Territory (2008) Rapport annuel de l’Intérieur exercice 2007 Territoire d’Isangi. Isangi
Kalala Nkudi (1979) Le Lilwakoy des Mbole du Lomami: Essai d’analyse de son symbolisme. Bruxelles, Les Cahiers du CEDAF 4
Kawukpa UU, Angoyo MM (1994) Plantes utiles chez les Batiabetuwa de l’île Mbie, Kisangani, Zaïre. Afr Study Monogr 15:49–68
Kehlenbeck K, Maass BL (2004) Crop diversity and classification of homegardens in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Agrofor Syst 63:53–62
Keller GB, Mndiga H, Maass B (2006) Diversity and genetic erosion of traditional vegetables in Tanzania from the farmer’s point of view. Plant Genet Resour 3:400–413
Kendrick C (1989) Equatorial Africa (Cameroun, People’s Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi). In: Campbell DG, Hammond D (eds) Floristic inventory of tropical countries: the status of plant systematics collection and vegetation, plus recommendations for the future. New York Botanical Garden, New York, pp 204–216
Kienia’h Bikitwa JV (1999) Contribution de l’agriculture paysanne au developpement communautaire des menages agricoles: Cas de la collectivité-Secteur de Turumbu. Mémoire, IFA-Yangambi, Kisangani
Kristensen M, Balslev H (2003) Perceptions, use and availability of woody plants among the Gourounsi in Burkina Faso. Biodiver Conserv 12:1715–1739
Leakey RRB (1999) Potential for novel food products form agroforestry trees: a review. Food Chem 66:1–14
Leakey RRB, Schreckenberg K, Tchoundjeu Z (2003) The participatory domestication of West African Indigenous fruits. Int Forest Rev 5:338–347
Lester RN, Seck A (2004) Solanum aethiopicum L. In: Grubben GJH, Denton OA (eds) Plant resources of tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. Blackhuys Publishers, Leiden, pp 472–477
Liengola IB (2001) Contribution à l’étude des plantes alimentaires spontanées chez les Turumbu et Lokele du district de la Tshopo, Province Orientale. RD Congo System Geogr Plants 71:687–698
Lykke AM, Mertz O, Ganaba S (2002) Food consumption in rural Burkina Faso. Ecol Food Nutr 41:119–153
Lykke AM, Kristensen MK, Ganaba S (2004) Valuation of local use and dynamics of 56 woody species in the Sahel. Biodivers Conserv 13:1961–1990
Macía MJ (2004) Multiplicity in palm uses by the Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador. Bot J Linn Soc 144:149–159
Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Chapman and Hall, London
Malaisse F, Parent G (1985) Edible wild vegetable products in the Zambezian woodland area: a nutritional and ecological approach. Ecol Food Nutr 18:43–82
Maundu PM (1996) Utilization and conservation status of wild food plants in Kenya. In: Van der Maesen LJG, van der Burg XM, van Medenbach de Rooy JM (eds) The biodiversity of African Plants. Proceedings of the XIV AETFAT congress, 22–27 August 1994, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 678–683
Maundu PM (1997) The status of traditional vegetable utilization in Kenya. In: Guarino L (ed) Traditional African Vegetables. Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops. 16. Proceedings of the IPGRI International Workshop on Genetic Resources of Traditional Vegetables in Africa: Conservation and Use. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome http://www.bioversityinternational.org/publications/Web_version/500/begin.htm (Accessed March 16, 2009)
Maxia A, Lancioni MC, Balia AN, Alborghetti R, Pieroni A, Loi MC (2008) Medical ethnobotany of the Tabarkins, a Northern Italian (Ligurian) minority in south-western Sardinia. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55:911–924
Ministère du plan, République Démocratique du Congo (2005) Monographie de la province Orientale. Ministère du plan. Unité de Pilotage du Processus DSRP, Kinshasa
Mosango M, Isosi W (1998) Edible plant species used by the human population around Kisangani (Democratic Republic of Congo). Fragmenta Floristica Geobot 43:109–115
Mosango M, Szafranski F (1985) Plantes sauvages à fruits comestibles dans les environs de Kisangani (Zaïre). J Agric Tradit Bot Appl 32:177–190
Ndam N, Nkefor P, Blackmore P (2001) Domestication of Gnetum africanum and G. buchholzianum (Gnetaceae), Over-exploited wild forest vegetables of the Central African Region. Systematics and Geography of Plants 71:2. Plant Systematics and Phytogeography for the Understanding of African Biodiversity, pp 739–745
Nyakabwa M, Bola M, Vasolene K (1990) Plantes sauvages alimentaires chez les Kumu de Masako à Kisangani (Zaïre). Afr Study Monogr 11:75–86
Ogoye-Ndegwa C, Aagaard-Hansen J (2003) Traditional gathering of wild vegetables among the Luo of Western Kenya—a nutritional anthropology project. Ecol Food Nutr 42:69–89
Opala Territory (2008) Rapport annuel de l’Intérieur exercice 2007 Territoire d’Opala. Opala
Pardo de Santayana M, Tardío J, Morales R (2005) The gathering and consumption of wild edible plants in the Campoo (Cantabria, Spain). Int J Food Sci Nutr 56:529–542
Philips O, Gentry AH (1993) The useful plants of Tambopata, Peru: I. Statistical Hypotheses Tests with a new quantitative technique. Econ Bot 47:15–32
Pieroni A (2008) Local plant resources in the ethnobotany of Theth, a village in the Northern Albanian Alps. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55:1197–1214
Pieroni A, Nebel S, Santoro RF, Heinrich M (2005) Food for two seasons: culinary uses of non-cultivated local vegetables and mushrooms in a south Italian village. Int J Food Sci Nutr 56:245–272
PNUD/UNOPS (1998) Monographie de la Province Orientale. PNUD/UNOPS Programme National de Relance du Secteur Agricole et Rural (PNSAR) 1997–2001, Kinshasa
Reyes-Garcí V, Huanca T, Vadez V, Leonard W, Wilkie D (2006) Cultural, practical, and economic value of wild plants: a quantitative study in the Bolivian Amazon. Econ Bot 60:162–174
Sabbe S, Verbeke W, Van Damme P (2008) Familiarity and purchasing intention of Belgian consumers for fresh and processed tropical fruit products. Br Food J 110:805–818
Sabbe S, Verbeke W, Van Damme P (2009) Perceived motives, barriers and role of labeling information on tropical fruit consumption: exploratory findings. J Food Prod Mark 15:119–138
Saerens C (1947) La sorcellerie chez les Babali. Bulletin des Juridictions Indigènes et du Droit Coutumier Congolais 15:71–81, 97–101
Shackleton C, Shackleton S (2004) The importance of Non-timber Forest Products in rural livelihood security and as safety nets: a review of evidence from South-Africa. S Afr J Sci 100:658–664
Takeda J (1990) The dietary repertory of the Ngandu people of the tropical rain forest: an ecological and anthropological study of the subsistence activities and food procurement technology of a slash-and-burn agriculturist in the Zaire river basin. Afr Study Monogr Suppl 11:1–75
Tchoundjeu Z, Asaah EK, Anegbeh P, Degrande A, Mbile P, Facheux C, Tsoen A, Atangana AR, Ngo-Mpeck ML, Simons AJ (2006) Putting participatory domestication into practice in West and Central Africa. Forests Trees Livelihoods 16:53–69
Termote C, Van Damme P, Dhed’a Djailo B (2010) Eating from the wild: Turumbu indigenous knowledge on non-cultivated edible plants, District Tshopo, DRcongo. Ecol Food Nutr 49(3):173–207
Thomas E, Vandebroek I, Van Damme P (2007) What Works in the field? A comparison of different interviewing methods in ethnobotany with a special reference to the use of photographs. Econ Bot 61:376–384
UNESCO (2003) Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO, Paris Available from: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php (accessed in April 2010)
UNESCO (2008) MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?code=ZAI+01&mode=all (accessed May 18, 2009)
Van Damme P (1998) Wild plants as food security in Namibia and Senegal. In: Bruins HJ, Lithwick H (eds) The Arid Frontier: interactive management of environment and development. Kluwer, Amsterdam, pp 229–247
Van Damme P, Termote C (2008) African botanical heritage for new crop development. Afr Focus 21:45–64
Van Der Kerken G (1944) L’ethnie Mongo. Histoire, groupements, sous-groupements, origines; visions, représentations et explications du monde; sociologie, économie, ergologie, langues et arts des peuples Mongo, Politique indigène, contacts avec peuples voisins. Bruxelles, Institut Royal Colonial Belge, Section des Sciences Morales et Politiques; XIII
Van Geluwe H (1960) Les Bali et peuplades apparantées (Ndaka-Mbo-Beke-Lika-Budu-Nyari). Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge Tervuren (Belgique). Série in-8° Sciences de l’homme, Monographies Ethnographiques, vol 5
Weinberger K, Swai I (2006) Consumption of traditional vegetables in Central and Northeastern Tanzania. Ecol Food Nutr 45:87–103
White F (1983) The Vegetation of Africa. A descriptive memory to accompany the UNESCO—AETFAT/UNSO Vegetation map of Africa. UNESCO
Wijnen K, Janssens W, De Pelsmacker P, Van Kenhove P (2002) Marktonderzoek met SPSS. Statistische verwerking en interpretatie. Garant-uitgevers, Antwerpen—Apeldoorn
Zambrana NYP, Byg A, Svenning J-C, Moraes M, Grandez C, Balslev H (2007) Diversity of palm uses in the western Amazon. Biodivers Conserv 16:2771–2787
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Turumbu, Mbole and Bali communities for sharing their knowledge and hosting us during fieldwork, and the collaborators at the University of Kisangani and IFA-Yangambi for their assistance during field research. The staff of the herbarium in Meise (Brussels) also deserves a word of thanks. The WEPs Research Project in Tshopo District, executed by University of Ghent in collaboration with University of Kisangani, was financed by the VlIR-UOS (Flemish Inter-University Council, University Development Cooperation; ZEIN2004_3000; MPRDC2007_25). The first author obtained a grant from the Belgian Leopold III fund for Nature Exploration and Conservation to finish data-collection within the Mbole and Bali communities.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Termote, C., Van Damme, P. & Dhed’a Djailo, B. Eating from the wild: Turumbu, Mbole and Bali traditional knowledge on non-cultivated edible plants, District Tshopo, DRCongo. Genet Resour Crop Evol 58, 585–618 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-010-9602-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-010-9602-4