Abstract:
Depletion of medicinal plant species as a result of over over-extraction in their natural habitats will
have detrimental effects on the livelihood of the locals that herbal medicine is part and parcel of
their health systems. Though domestication is the best strategy to conserve medicinal tree and
shrub species, most medicinal trees and shrubs have remained undomesticated due to low
survival rates and inadequate information on the best strategies to improve survival rates. This
study was designated to determine the domestication level and survival rates of selected medicinal
tree and shrub species in the semi-arid regions of Chepareria division. A cross-sectional research
design was employed in this study. Chepareria division was purposely selected. 384 households
were selected using systematic random sampling technique. A pre-designed data collection sheet
was used to collect the information on medicinal plant species and photographs were taken where
necessary during data collection. The study indicated that there were 25 medicinal tree and/or
shrubs in Chepareria division. It was also found that 91.7% households had domesticated trees on
their farms with Croton megalocarpus (71.3%) being the highly domesticated tree while Myrsine
afriana was the least (0.9%) prevalent medicinal tree in the area. Further analysis using ChiSquare (χ
2
) test of fitness indicated that there were significant differences in the number of
households that have domesticated different medicinal trees and/or shrub species in division (P <.0001). The indicated that the various medicinal trees and/or shrubs had different
survival rates in the area. The mean survival rates of Aloe graminicola (62.6%), Croton
macrostachyus (69.8%) Vernonia amygdalina (69.3%) and Croton megalocarpus (72.7%) are
significantly higher while the survival rates of Tamarindus indica (12.0%), Myrsine afriana (6.6%),
Dalbergia vaccinifolia (9. 4%) and Commiphoraboi viniana (7.2%) are significantly lower.
Chapareria to increase the domestication and survival rate of trees/shrubs.
