Socioeconomic factors influencing knowledge and consumption of food plants by a human group in a mountainous environment in the semiarid region of Bahia, Northeast Brazil

Abstract Background The relationship of people with natural resources is guided by different sociocultural, ecological and evolutionary factors. Regarding food plants, it is not different. Studies around the world have evaluated the effects of socioeconomic factors, such as age, gender, income, profession, education level, time of residence, ethnic diversity, religion, festive rituals, access to urban areas and migrations. In this sense, the objective of the present study was to characterize the diversity of knowledge and use of food plants by people from Serra dos Morgados and evaluate if the socioeconomic factors influence knowledge and consumption of food plants in the community. Methodology This research was conducted in the village of Serra dos Morgados, municipality of Jaguarari, Bahia, with the purpose of evaluating the factors that influence in the knowledge and use of food plants. Socioeconomic data such as age, gender, time of residence, and monthly income were collected. The free list technique was applied during the collection of ethnobotanical data in order to analyze the preference of the plants based on the salience index (SI). To analyze the factors that influence knowledge and use forms, we used GLM Lasso. Results A total of 33 people were interviewed, 8 men and 25 women; their age ranged from 30 to 82 years. People cited 98 species of plants, 41 species being identified of spontaneous occurrence. The plant with the highest salience index (SI) was “cheirosa” (Psidium ganevii) (SI = 0.5679), followed by “massaranduba” (Micropholis sp.) (SI = 0.4323); “araça” (Campomanesia guazumifolia) (SI = 0.3320); and “cambuí” (Siphoneugena sp.) (SI = 0.3144). Conclusions The main factors that influence knowledge and use forms in the locality were family income and the collection site, with homegardens cited as the preferred area for collection of food plants. This study provided an overview related to potentially important species for a community located in a region where there are few ethnobiological studies. The results presented here can be used in future studies, providing clues for investigations. Also, there is a contribution to the conservation of biocultural aspects related to the use of food plants in a community living in mountainous regions.