Access of Village Housewife to Information Technology in Utilizing Family Medicinal Plants - A Case Study of Leuwigoong, Garut Regency, West Java)

Abstract

This article examines howhousewives in a rural village of West Java use information technology to get information on medicinal plants. Medicinal plants are one of the resources that have existed since ancient times, used by our ancestors to overcome health problems by using various kinds of plants. Infamily life, the housewives have a position to be responsible with health problems of the family, preventively and curatively. One way is by utilizing family medicinal plants. Today, however, information about medicinal herbs is very rare. This paper argues that the knowledge should be developed and disseminated in the community, especially for the housewives. By using a descriptive research and a quantitative survey this study found out that the housewives have mainly accessed radio and television channels to get information on medicinal herbal plants, and not from the internet, because the latter is considered as expensive.