Veterinary Research Communications, 25 (2001) 71^76 # 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands
Short Communication Ethnoveterinary Medicine in the Northern Provinces of Cameroon A.N. N¢1*, J.N. Mbanya1, C. Ndi2, A. Kameni2, M. Vabi3, D. Pingpoh2, S. Yonkeu4 and C. Moussa5 1 IRAD Mankon Station, PO Box 125, Bamenda; 2IRAD Bambui Centre, PO Box 51, Bamenda; 3WWF Yaounde; 4IRAD Wakwa Centre, PO Box 80, Ngaoundere; 5IRAD Garoua Station, PO Box 415, Garoua, Cameroon *Correspondence N¢, A.N., Mbanya, J.N., Ndi, C., Kameni, A., Vabi, M., Pingpoh, D., Yonkeu, S. and Moussa, C., 2001. Ethnoveterinary medicine in the Northern Provinces of Cameroon. Veterinary Research Communications, 25(1), 71^76 Keywords: chemotherapy, medicinal plants, pastoralists, survey, traditional medicine Abbreviations: FMD, food and mouth disease
INTRODUCTION In many developing countries, including Cameroon, knowledge of medicinal plants has been handed down orally from generation to generation. However, there is a danger that this knowledge could disappear as a result of the loss of cultural heritage under the guise of civilization. The importance of traditional systems of medicine was emphasized by the 30th World Health Assembly in 1977. The Assembly adopted a resolution urging interested governments to give adequate importance to the utilization of their traditional systems of medicine, with appropriate regulations suited to their national health systems (Akerele, 1983). In the ¢eld of veterinary medicine, attention has turned from orthodox to ethnoveterinary medicine for two reasons: ¢rst, as the gulf widens between the poor and developed countries, the former can no longer a¡ord the drugs produced by the latter and, secondly, the quality of some of the drugs available in developing countries is questionable (Monteiro et al., 1998). This study yielded information that di¡ers signi¢cantly from the perceptions of local government veterinary sta¡ or traditional animal specialists. McCorkle and Mathias-Mundy (1992) gave an overall view of African ethnoveterinary medicine in various parts of the continent. In the North West, North and Extreme North Provinces of Cameroon, the Fulani make up the bulk of the 71
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pastoralists and have a long history of the use of traditional medicines (Toyang et al., 1995). All the indigenous knowledge regarding livestock in Cameroon is found among the Fulani. They have knowledge of the epidemiology and the gross pathology of the diseases and ailments that a¡ect their livestock, especially cattle. The aim of this survey was to devise an inventory of common plants of ethnoveterinary importance among the pastoralists in these three provinces, preparatory to e¤cacy trials. MATERIALS AND METHODS A questionnaire was designed to de¢ne the quality of disease diagnosis, types of diseases, their treatment and the orthodox or alternative therapeutic agents used. In all, 197 cattle farmers were interviewed in the North, North West and Extreme North Provinces of Cameroon. The number of farmers interviewed in each province was determined by their accessibility and willingness to cooperate with the research team. In each selected Fulani village, individual farmers were interviewed by members of the research team through an interpreter. These interviews provided information on the local people's disease nomenclature and the traditional treatments for the various diseases. Questioning a number of farmers gave a good idea of the consistency of the information and whether it was in general circulation or restricted to specialists. Note was also taken of whether the same ethnoveterinary plants had the same local name and uses in all areas of the survey. Plant samples were collected for later identi¢cation, classi¢cation and e¤cacy trials. RESULTS Traditional animal health practices are commonly used among the Fulani but, while some of those interviewed were eager to discuss these practices with the research team, others were very reticent. The farmers claimed that some medicinal plants are e¡ective against rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, foot and mouth disease, eye problems, trypanosomosis, cowdriosis, brucellosis, fasciolosis, infertility, dermatophilosis, helminthoses and calfhood diarrhoea. Other farmers said they are able to control ticks and tickborne diseases, and to increase milk production and encourage let-down using plants. Still others handled problems of snake bites, bloat and reproductive problems, like dystocia, with medicinal plants. Table I contains an inventory of plants of ethnoveterinary importance and their various uses in the treatment of animal diseases that the farmers claimed are e¡ective. Most of the local Fulfulde names of the plants were the same, except for slight regional di¡erences.
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DISCUSSION The interviewed farmers have a rich history of successful agropastoralism re£ected in their extensive knowledge of the prevention, control and treatment of cattle diseases through ethnoveterinary practices. The present survey results show that, despite the availability of government veterinary services, the Fulanis have little dependence on outside sources for assistance in treating livestock disease, as observed earlier by Walzer and colleagues (1991). The farmers believed that all that is needed to prevent disease in their animals is the performance of rites and the observation of taboos. In case of speci¢c diseases, special measures are undertaken; ticks are removed by hand, dew is avoided, or the animals are given medicinal plants to eat or concoctions to drink, according to the various complaints. The use of traditional practices to prevent the common epizootic diseases by the Fulanis is well known, as was earlier noted elsewhere in Africa by Bizimana (1994). For example, material for prevention of foot and mouth disease (FMD) is taken from infected lesions on the feet and udder and given orally to healthy animals in a salt mixture to provoke a light infection, with the resultant development of immunity to FMD. This practice of `envenomation' was earlier documented by Larrat (1939) and Lee£ang (1993) in Nigeria. Generally, the responses showed a high degree of consistent ethnoveterinary knowledge among the Fulanis. The farmers generally held the same plants to be e¡ective against particular diseases, while many also knew the value of plants such as Nicotiana species and Khaya anthoteca, especially the anthelmintic, acaricidal and insecticidal plants. However, the e¤cacy of these traditional treatments is still open to question, so it is important to carry out further research to con¢rm the farmers' claims. So far the anthelmintic e¤cacies of Teminalia glaucescens, Solanum aculeastrum, Khaya anthoteca and Vernonia amygdalina have been found to be 48.4%, 34.4%, 55.8% and 52.4%, respectively (N¢ et al., 1999), while the insecticidal e¤cacy of Nicotiana tabacum (59.8%) and Tephrosia vogelli (71.6%) is being validated and a trial is in progress on the acaricidal potency of Euphorbia kamerunica and Psorospermum guianensis (A.N. N¢, 1999, personal communication). While the farmers claimed a high level of e¤cacy from their ethnoveterinary practices (Mkangare Minja, 1989), it is important to standardize their procedures with respect to the methodology of plant collection, drug preparation, dilution, dosage, e¤cacy and route of administration, so as to meet the concerns of Ibrahim and colleagues (1984), which were also expressed by A.N. N¢ (personal communication, 1999), and to compare the ethnoveterinary products against orthodox veterinary products. The results reported in this paper are preliminary ¢ndings and there is an urgent need for the e¤cacies of these natural products to be determined as they are usually environmentally sound, with relatively few hazards, and o¡er an alternative that could reduce problems of pollution and residues in food (Hammond et al., 1997).
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TABLE I An inventory of plants of ethnoveterinary importance among cattle farmers in Northern Cameroon Number of farmers reporting usage
Part used
Fulfulde name
Botanical name
Gwandar daji Yadiiri Nyaryarngel Ngoyabehi Suwaaka Peluwaahi
Annona senegalensis Pennisetum glaucum Asparagus o¤cinalis Psidium guajava Vernonia amygdalina Entada africana
101 138 149 161 188a 99
Bark Stem Roots Leaves Leaves Leaves
Barkeh
Piliostagma thonningii
102
Zabuwa
Aloe bartesi
Root/stem Leaves Leaves
Colombi Marke Gondahi
Pygeum africana Cassia kirkii Anogeissus leiocarpus Carica papaya
97 103 98 104 100
Leaves Bark Bark Leaves Roots
Use for or against Helminthosis, tuberculosis Brucellosis Black quarter Diarrhoea, blood tonic Helminthosis Helminthosis Ephemeral fever Babesiosis and foot and mouth disease Ringworm Helminthosis Helminthosis Expulsion of retained placenta Anaplasmosis Bloat Helminthosis Retained placenta
TABLE I (cont)
Fulfulde name
Botanical name
Number of farmers reporting usage
Kanya Bawshihi
Diospyros mespiliformis Terminalia glaucescens
96 189a
Tultulki Taaba
Maytemus senegalensis Nicotiana tabacum
168 190a
Kolakolahi Gitte-nai
Ricinus communis Solanum aculeastrum
172 191a
Kerenahi Chediya Biriiji Yomji Kararawol Kahi Sawoiki
Euphorbia kamerunica Ficus thonningii Arachis hypogea Tephrosia vogelli Mucuna pruriens Khaya anthotheca Psorospermum guanensis
189a 179 156 197a 169 198a 196a
a
Part used Bark Roots Bark Roots Leaves Leaves Roots/leaves Fruits Latex Bark Grains Leaves Roots Bark Latex
Use for or against Helminthosis Helminthosis Mismothering Black quarter Tick infestations Foot and mouth disease and cowdriosis Bloat and constipation Helminthosis Dermatophilosis Acaricide Anaestrus Mastitis Black quarter, tick infestation and mange Dermatitis, lumpy skin Black quarter, helminthosis Tick infestation
Already tested and found to be e¡ective
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The research team is grateful to Dr Seing Boukar and Mr J.F. Poulain, Chief and Scienti¢c coordinators, respectively, of `Projet Garoua II' for their funding and their concern and support throughout the period of survey. The assistance of Heifer Project International (HPI) is gratefully acknowledged. We also recognize the professional contributions of our colleagues of IRAD, Garoua and Maroua, to the success of this study. REFERENCES Akerele, O., 1983. Which way for traditional medicine? Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 3, 4 Bizimana, Nsekuye, 1994. Traditional Veterinary Medicine Practice in Africa, (Report No. 243, Technical Cooperation of Germany (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany), 11^32 Hammond, J.A., Fielding, D. and Bishop, S.C., 1997. Prospect for plant anthelmintics in tropical veterinary medicine. Veterinary Research Communications, 21, 213^228 Ibrahim, M.A., Nwude, N., Ogunsusi, R.A. and Aliu, Y.O., 1984. Screening of West African plants for anthelmintic activity. Bulletin of the International Livestock Centre for Africa, 17, 19^23 Larrat, R., 1939. Me©dicine et hygie©ne Indige©nes. Pre©vention technique. Bulletin de Service Zootechniques et des Epizooties de l'A.O.F., 2, 45^58 Lee£ang, P., 1993. Some observations on ethnoveterinary medicine in Northern Nigeria. Indigenous Knowledge Development and Monitor, 1, 17^19 McCorkle, M.C. and Mathias-Mundy, E., 1992. Ethnoveterinary medicine in Africa. Journal of the International African Institute, London, 62, 59^93 Mkangare Minja, M.J., 1989. Collection of Tanzanian medicinal plants for biological activity studies. Proceedings of the VII Tanzanian Veterinary Association. Scienti¢c Conference, Tanzanian Veterinary Association, 7, 67^78 Monteiro, A.M., Wanyangu, S.W., Kariuki, D.P., Bain, R., Jackson, F. and McKellar, Q.A., 1998. Pharmaceutical quality of anthelmintics sold in Kenya. The Veterinary Record, 142, 396^398 N¢, A.N., Ndi, C., Bayemi, H.P., Njiwe, R., Tchoumboue, J., Njakoi, H., Mopoi, N., Njakoi, M. and SaliDjango, 1999. The anthelmintic e¤cacy of some indigenous plants in North West Province of Cameroon. Revue d'Elevage et de Me¨dicine Ve¨te¨rinaire des Pays Tropicaux, 52, 103^106 Toyang, J.N., Mopoi, N., Ndi, C., Sali-Django and Wirmun, C.K., 1995. Ethnoveterinary medicine practices in the North West Province, Cameroon. Indigenous Knowledge Development and Monitor, 3, 20^22 Walzer, E., Mopoi, N., Chip Stem and Toyang, J., 1991. An ethnoveterinary study of Fulani and indigenous livestock farmers in the N.W. Province, Cameroon. Tuft's University School of Veterinary Medicine Bulletin, 15^22 (Accepted: 28 January 2000)
