Folk taxonomy and use of mushrooms in communities around Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
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Date
2012
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Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Maasai and Kurya form two main communities around the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania which
are mainly pastoralists. Changing climate to excessive drought, have recently forced them to start practicing
subsistence farming which is severely affected by wild animals. This study explored status of the folk taxonomy and
uses of mushrooms in the two communities as a pave way for possibilities of introducing mushroom cultivation, an
alternative crop which is hardly affected by wild animals.
Methods: Folk taxonomy and use mushrooms by the Kurya and Maasai communities were investigated.
Information was collected by face to face interviews with 150 individuals in 6 selected villages. Using descriptive
statistics by Statistic Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0, the demographic characteristics of
informants were evaluated and cross relationships with the recorded data were analysed.
Results: Kurya are mycophilic with 94% of the informants recognizing utilization of the wild mushroom either as
foodstuff or as tonics while the Maasai are mycophobic with 99% being unaware of the edibility of mushroom
although 28% recognized mushrooms as tonic. For both communities, the knowledge of mushroom utilization and
folk taxonomy increased with age of the informants, while it decreases with formal education level of the
informants which imply that the basis of knowledge is mainly traditional. Comparing the two communities, the
Maasai use mushrooms only for medicinal purposes and never sought them for food while the Kurya were well
knowledgeable on the edibility and folk classification especially the Termitomyces species. Characters used in folkal
taxonomy included color and size of the basidiomata, shape and size of the pseudorrhiza, habitats and edibility
information. A new use of ascospores whereby they anaesthaesia bees during honey harvesting was discovered,
and mushroom cultivation was widely welcomed (94.7%) as an alternative crop which is rarely affected by wild
animals.
Conclusion: In order to salvage a noted tremendous decrease of knowledge in mushroom utilization and folk
taxonomy from vanishing, there is a need to document it throughout, and incorporate it in lower levels of our
education system. Mushroom cultivation may possibly be the best alternative crop for the two communities thus
should be advocated for improving livelihood and reduce human wildlife conflicts. The new recorded use of
ascospores to anaesthaesia the bees during honey harvesting should be exploited and scaled up for sustainable
integrated bee keeping and mushroom farming.
Description
Keywords
Ethnomycology, Kurya, Maasai, Tonic, Serengeti national park
Citation
Tibuhwa D.D (2012). Folk taxonomy and use of mushrooms in the communities around Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 8:36. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-8-36.