Potential wild edible fruits of Nagaland, North-east India and its significance in the livelihood and nutritional security of rural, indigenous people

Abstract

There are about 800 different species of wild edible crops in India, out of which about 300 species are used mostly by the tribal and rural population of the North-eastern region alone. This region is the natural reservoir of a number of wild edible fruits. These naturally occurring fruit are not only nutritionally and medicinally rich but also thrive well under adverse climatic conditions and are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. In spite of their potential, these fruits are unattended both at scientific and farmers level. Due to lack of proper documentation, the information about the ethno-botanical uses of these fruits have been lost at an alarming rate. Therefore, an attempt has been made during 2015–16 at to enumerate the ethno-medicinal uses and socio-economic importance of wild edible fruits of Mokokchung district of Nagaland, India. In the present study, altogether 55 wild edible fruit species belonging to 29 families have been enumerated. These fruits are used traditionally for the treatment of gastro-intestinal disorders, respiratory ailments, urogenital problems, dermatological problems, fever, cuts and wounds, diabetes, jaundice, cardiovascular problems, nutritional disorders, antidote, bone diseases, cancer, toothache, opthalmia, ENT, food poison, malaria and allergy. In addition, these fruits have also been use in the socio-economic life of the rural people as constructional timber, firewood, fodder, charcoal, fish poisoning, dyes, oil etc. Although, these fruits play an important role in the social and cultural life of rural people, but most of them are going to be extinct due to a number of factors. Therefore, there is urgent need to conserve these species for livelihood security of rural people.