DIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS (NTFPS) IN AMIGNA DISTRICT, EAST ARSI ZONE OF OROMIA REGIONAL STATE

This study was focused on the diversity and conservation status of non- timber forest products (NTFPs) in Sera forest with the objective of identifying and documenting diversity of plant species used as NTFPs and their conservation status. The study applied a combination of plant ecological and ethno botanical methods. A preferential systematic sampling method was used to collect vegetation data from 50 plots of 20 m x 20 m for all woody species and 2x2 m subplots inside the large plot for recording of sapling and seedling plant species of use value. Shannon-Wiener indices was used to calculate species diversity, richness and evenness. Ethnobotanical data were gathered through semi-structured interviews which involved 230 (206 randomly sampled general and 24 purposively selected key informants); group discussion, guided field walk and market survey were employed during data collection. A total of 102 plant species belonging to 49 families used as a source of NTFPs were documented from the study area. Overall, Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H) of the species was found to be 1.979 with the species evenness of 0.952.Eight major use categories of the NTFPs were identified. Namely: Medicinal plants (18 species), food plants (23species),Animal fodder (13species),household tools(8species), Honey bee flora (5species),twinning plants(6species),smoke and flavor(6 species), and tooth brush (7 species). Out of these medicines or food were the most dominant usesrequiring large volume of NTFPs in the area. The findings also showed that illegal non timber extraction, over grazing, over harvesting NTFPs, farm expansion and human induced fire hazards were the major threats of the forest resources in the study area. Therefore, conservation attention towards the sustainable uses of plant resources of the area is important.