Local criteria for the selection of wild food plants for consumption and sale in Alagoas, Brazil.

Understanding the reasons for the consumption of certain plant resources instead of others has important implications for biological conservation. This study aimed to answer the following question: What are the factors that determine the consumption and trade of certain wild fruit species among extractivists from two rural communities in northeastern Brazil? This study developed a participatory approach to identify the fruit species known and/or used by extractivists. The selected species were presented to the extractivists using semistructured interviews. A Likert scale (from 1 to 5) was used by interviewees to assign scores to 17 wild fruits in terms of local consumption, commercial potential, taste, nutritional potential, absence of adverse effects, postharvest durability, additional uses, temporal availability (fruit), spatial availability (fruit), spatial availability (plant), ease of collection, and ease of cultivation. Multiple regression analyses were performed to show the variables that best explained (1) the number of users, (2) the consumption intensity among users, (3) the number of traders, and (4) the commercial potential. The results showed that the spatial availability of the individual was the most outstanding variable to explain both the number of users and traders. However, for extractivists that trespass the availability barrier, taste is the most important driver of the consumption intensity and the commercial potential of plants. In contexts in which edible wild plants do not form the base of the local diet, taste may be more relevant in relation to other variables such nutritional potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]