MEDICINAL PLANTS: USES AND PRESERVATION TO ENSURE THEIR SUSTAINABILITY IN THE NADOWLI DISTRICT OF THE UPPER WEST REGION, GHANA

Abstract

Both practitioners and non practitioners are aware of the benefits derived from medicinal plant species as a source of medicine that takes care of the become a matter of concern partly because of the time spent in traveling to harvest the needed plant species, the expense of purchase as well as the extinction of some of particular plant species of great importance. The ultimate purpose of this study was to identify the measures taken by herbalists in the study area to use and preserve the available medicinal plants to ensure their sustainability, identify the commonly used medicinal plants in the study area and the parts of the plants used in the treatment of various disease conditions in the study area. In the collection of data, the researcher employed interview through a structured questionnaire as a tool for effective data collection. Also, the purposive sampling technique was used in the selection of the respondents for the study carried out in April, 2010. The analyses of the study revealed that, some amount of efforts has been demonstrated by the traditional medicine practitioners to put in place measures to preserve and conserve the medicinal plants species to ensure their sustainability. The study however concluded that, for the traditional medicine practitioners to be able to pay much attention to the conservation and preservation of the medicinal herbal plants for sustainability, a concerted effort should be directed at solving problems encounted by practitioners through the involvement of the District Assembly, the NGOs and CBOs in the District and the practitioners themselves. The researcher recommends that, the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and NGOs should come to the aid of these practitioners by way of training them on new and improved methods of propagating the plant species. Such as, Leune, Gonsugla, Pelaa, Gango, Kakalaa, Vuuronton, Dazugo, Kolitaaga, Ambagnee, Ponpoluore, Punpugo, Ngmaabeenu, Kpantala, Ngmaadele etc. Again, the District Assembly and other benevolent organizations should support herbalist with financial assistance to help them create reserves to conserve the existing medicinal plant species in the District.