Quantitative ethnobotany of plants used for vernacular building construction in Ghana

by Maxwell Kwame Boakye

Vernacular construction uses locally available materials, including plant-based materials. The sustainability of plant use raises concerns. Social evaluation using an ethnobotanical approach gives a clear overview of the sustainability of wild plant harvesting as it incorporates the views of resource users. In Ghana, plant-based materials are commonly used for vernacular housing construction, especially in rural areas. However, the cultural significance of plant species used for vernacular building construction remains unexplored. This study aimed to take an inventory of plant species and use their ethnobotanical indices to evaluate the sustainability of utilization in vernacular building construction. Ethnobotanical data on plant species used for vernacular building construction was collected from 258 respondents in the Adaklu district of the Volta region. Quantitative ethnobotanical analysis revealed that of the 26 plant species identified to be used for vernacular building construction, Bambusa vulgaris, Borassus aethiopum, Elaeis guineensis, Senna siamea, and Azadirachta indica were the most culturally significant and valuable. Bambusa vulgaris had the highest cultural importance, value, and relative importance index. Elaeis guineensis had the highest relative frequency of citations. The findings reveal a high potential for valorizing the culturally important and valuable plant species in the local construction industry. Promoting culturally significant and valuable plant species commercialization presents an opportunity for poverty alleviation at the local level, as most of the species are abundant in the natural environment and are among the commonly planted species for the afforestation program in Ghana.