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0 | Ethno-botanical knowledge
(dbh ≥10 cm) in the garden and plantation forest are considered useful, which
reflects the fact that these forests are relatively intensively managed and mainly
useful species are left to grow there. No tree was found in the rice fields and shrub
lands, as they are usually cut at the seedling stage.
Table 25. Mean number of species and number of useful species recorded in each
land type
Land type
-------------- Tree -------------- ----------- Non-tree -----------
Mean
number
of
species
Mean
number
of useful
species
Percent
useful
Mean
number
of
species
Mean
number
of useful
species
Percent
useful
All plots (n = 11) 98* 94* 96 292* 175* 60
Garden (n = 2) 2 2 100 37 27 73
Plantation forest (n = 2) 2 2 100 33 21 62
Primary forest (n = 1) 29 27 93 33 11 33
Rice field (n = 1) 0 0 0 31 24 77
Secondary forest (n = 3) 25 22 87 41 15 37
Shrub land (n = 2) 0 0 0 27 17 61
*Total number of species from all plots
At the time of the fieldwork the rice field was dry, a young fallow during a
short period before the rainy season returned with the new planting. It had the
highest percentage of useful non-tree species (77%, 24 species) of all land types,
while primary forest had the lowest (33%, 11 species).
For all non-trees, the percentage of useful species is higher in cultivated areas
(rice field, garden and plantation forest) than in other places, including the natural
forest. This reflects the distance and accessibility of the different areas for the
local people. Since villagers visit the cultivated areas more often than they go to
the natural forest, they are more familiar with the plants near the settlement. In
comparison with the PDM exercise for the source of products, cultivated plants
have more value than wild plants (Figure 12, Chapter 6).
The use categories with the largest total number of recorded useful species are
firewood, fodder and food. Firewood is gathered mainly from the natural forest,
while fodder is found mainly in gardens and rice fields (after harvest). Food comes
mainly from the garden. Therefore even if forests are important in most of the
categories of uses, land types near the village, such as gardens, plantations and
rice fields, are the most important for the main categories (Table 26).