Vol. 13(11), pp. 111-122, 15 July, 2018 DOI: 10.5897/SRE2017.6552 Article Number: 3BCAB8257888 ISSN: 1992-2248 Copyright ©2018 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article Scientific Research and Essays http://www.academicjournals.org/SRE Full Length Research Paper Indigenous knowledge on highland bamboo (Yushania alpina) management and utilization practices in Kokosa Woreda, South East Ethiopia Seyoum Gebrekidan1, Lemma Tiki2* and Yigardu Mulatu3 1FARM Africa, Bale Eco-Region, Bale, Ethiopia. 2College of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Ambo University, P. O. Box 19, Ambo, Ethiopia. 3Ethiopian Environment and Forestry Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Received 22 November, 2017; Accepted 28 February, 2018 Bamboo is one of the world’s most important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) which have been advocated for poverty alleviation in many regions. However, in Ethiopia it is utilized below its potential due to lack of scientific knowledge and awareness on its management and utilization. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the indigenous knowledge of highland bamboo management and utilization practices of local communities in Kokosa woreda. Five kebeles were purposively selected and 196 sample households (HHs) were selected randomly. Primary data was collected through face-to-face interview, direct observation, key informant interview and focus group discussion. The collected qualitative data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, mean and percentage values and standard error. The result of the study indicated that, local people have experience of developing bamboo stands using their indigenous knowledge on propagation techniques. Among the propagation techniques, bamboo offsetting (82%) was preferred most, where 89% of the source of bamboo offset was obtained from individual farmers. The local communities have experienced bamboo stand management practices of which fencing the bamboo stands (44%) was most applied followed by compost application (33%). Mean bamboo area coverage is 0.32 ha per household. The average number of bamboo landraces was 4. Bamboo landrace identification criteria used in the area are bamboo diameter (21.31%), length of internodes between nodes (21.20%), bamboo stem color (21.20%) and splitting nature (18.68%). Bamboo is used for a variety of traditional applications including house construction (100%), fencing (100%), fodder (99.48%), household furniture and utensils (92.34%), fuel wood (98.97%) and as cash source (100%). Traditionally, farmers somehow know how to take care for bamboo roots and rhizomes, which is a good habit to sustain bamboo resource utilization. Such habit has to be integrated with modern knowledge as skilled capability of the harvesters for scientific management is required. Key words: Bamboo, harvesting, landrace, management, offset, propagation, utilization. INTRODUCTION Bamboo is the vernacular term for perennial, giant woody 1988). It is estimated that about 21 million hectares of the evergreen plants in the grass family Poaceae (syn. earth surface is covered by bamboo forests. They are Gramineae); subfamily Bambusoideae (Yeasmin et al., widely distributed in the tropical to temperate zones, from 2015). The subfamily Bambusoideae has about 75 sea level to alpine elevation (Vanita et al., 2015). genera with over 1250 species (Soderstrom and Ellis, Bamboo is one of the world’s most important non- 112 Sci. Res. Essays timber forest products (NTFPs) and managed bamboo MATERIALS AND METHODS harvesting and marketing has been advocated for poverty alleviation in many regions (Singh, 2008). Cultivation of Description of study area bamboo can provide a cost-effective return in the short Location term (Shanmughavel and Peddappaiah, 2000), and can provide significant proportion of the national income since Kokosa Woreda is one of the Woredas found in West Arsi Zone it is a multipurpose grass useful for day-to-day life of South East Ethiopia. It is located between 39°10’0’’– 39°40’0’’E and people (Ray and Ali, 2017). Over 1500 distinct uses of 6°20’ 0’’ – 6°50’ 0’’ N (Figure 1). bamboo are recorded and this number is growing rapidly with new development initiatives taking place around the Topography and land use world (Ranjan, 2001). The International Network of Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) estimate that over 2.2 The area is part of the South East Ethiopia high lands. The agro- billion people benefit from bamboo (Xuhe, 2003). ecology of the woreda is 98% Dega (high land) and 2% Woina dega Ethiopia has the highest bamboo resource in Africa on (middle high land) with an altitude range 2300 to 2800 m a.s.l. area basis (Kelbesa et al., 2000), which accounts for About 65% of Kokosa woreda is hilly and mountainous landscape whereas the remaining 30% is plain land. Survey reports on land about 67% of the bamboo resource in the continent use types of the woreda show that 28% is arable land, 45.3% (Embaye, 2003). According to LUSO consult (1997), the pasture land, 21.1% forest land, 5.5% wetland (KWARDO, 2016). bamboo species found in Ethiopia are the highland bamboo (Yashinia alpina) and the lowland bamboo (Oxytenanthera abyssinica). In Ethiopia, bamboos were Climate not considered as a significant NTFP and underutilized Its minimum and maximum average annual temperature are 12 and (Andargachew, 2008). They have a paramount 18°C respectively. The average rain fall ranges from 1300 to 2000 importance and multifaceted use for the local community mm per annum with a bimodal rainfall season for the area that in different parts of the country (Kelbesa et al., 2000). usually extends from December to May and which extends from According to Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture Bamboo June to October (KWARDO, 2016). Cultivation Manual Guideline, reduction of production capacity and yields as well as quality deterioration results Soil and vegetation from poor utilization system and unmanaged exploitation of the resource (MoA, 2013), which results into many The dominant soil types in the woreda are Vertisol and culms/hectare but culms’ diameter and height are verticambisol. The forest in Kokosa woreda is dry afromontane type becoming thin and short (INBAR, 2009). Additionally, with high value commercial tree species like Juniperus procera, some of the small micro-enterprises are suffering from Podocarpus falcatus, Hagenia abyssinica and highly threatened prunus Africana, Maytenus spp. and highland bamboo (KWARDO, shortage of getting good quality and quantity of bamboo 2016). culms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; whereas a large numbers of bamboo culms are deteriorating in the bamboo forest (MoA, 2013). Demography Therefore, the bamboo resource in Ethiopia is utilized far below its potential due to lack of knowledge on its According to Central Statistical Agency, the study area has a total population of 180,886 projected for 2016 of which 175,929 live in management and utilization (Embaye, 2000) such as lack rural areas and 4,957 in urban area (Central Statistical Agency of technology for its utilization and lack of information on (CSA), 2016). Population density is 41 person/km2 with average the propagation methods. The resource has also been family size of 6 (CSA, 2007). neglected for many years and even was not included in any forest development endeavors carried out in the Approach country (Andargachew, 2008; Kelbessa et al., 2000). However, in Kokosa woreda since studies conducted Prior to the research work, preliminary survey and field are not available there is lack of information about observations was performed. The prepared questionnaires was pre- indigenous knowledge on the management of bamboo tested on 15 households and modified accordingly for validation resource and utilization practices. Therefore, this study and to extract the relevant data. was conducted with the objectives of generating information about farmers’ indigenous knowledge on Sampling technique highland bamboo management and utilization practice in Kokosa woreda, Southeast Ethiopia. Based on the preliminary survey, five kebeles (the smallest level of *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Gebrekidan et al. 113 Figure 1. Map of the study area (April, 2017, Ethio-GIS, EMA). administration boundary) were selected purposively based on the estimated level/coverage to be investigated, usually p = 0.5 is bamboo production potential in the area, that is, the kebeles which chosen; q = 1-p; d = precision desired, which need to be less than are highly producing bamboo were selected. Based on the 10% and then for this research d = 7% = 0.07. conducted preliminary survey, five kebeles (namely Deyu, Kawo Finally, the sample was proportionally distributed to each kebele. Tulu, Jida, Gerba Hurufa and Diki Hora) which are highly producing bamboo were considered. After selection of each kebele, simple random sampling system was employed to select sample Data collection households (HHs) to be involved in the study. According to Dickson and Nyariki (2009), agricultural based Primary data was collected by using formal and informal survey socio-economic research usually has 95% confidence level and an methods. Secondary sources of information employed in this study error margin of less than 10% statistical significance. Finally, included published materials such as reports, plans, official records, sample size was calculated using a standard formula,