Network for the Valorization of Plant Materials (VPMA)

Indigenous plants (Uganda)
(98-8559)

Principal investigator: 
Dr. Bernard Kiremire: Makerere University, Kampala (Uganda)
E-mail: [email protected]

The Indigenous plants (Uganda) Project: Uganda is endowed with diverse genotypes of local indigenous food plants and a total of 62 families, 138 genera and 200 species of edible non-cultivated plants have been identified. Traditionally, these vegetables were gathered from cultivated lands near homesteads and sometimes together with fruits from uncultivated bushes and forests in the vicinity of homesteads. Most of these vegetables have the potential for commercial production and can easily be cultivated in small plots around homesteads for home consumption. Some of the indigenous vegetables are documented to have higher protein, phosphorus, iron, vitamins and carotene than the exotic vegetables. However, because of the introduction of exotic, high yielding food plants during the early colonial days, progressively fewer wild plant species have been gathered or brought into cultivation in rural areas. The overall goal of this project is to improve the nutrition of the rural communities in South Western Uganda and increase their household incomes through the production, consumption and marketing of presently uncultivated indigenous fruits and vegetables. In order to promote the conservation and consumption of traditional food plants, it is necessary to assess and document their nutritional, medicinal and other values. The research will be carried out through both interviews and laboratory methods, in collaboration with rural communities.