Potential Utilization of Tetrapleura tetraptera (Aidan) Fruits as an Alternative Health Therapy by Rural Household in Ondo State, Nigeria

Aidan plant (Tetrapleura tetraptera)is an indigenous fruit tree in Tropical Africa which has various medicinal values attached to it.In view of this the study assessed the potential utilization of Tetrapleura tetraptera fruits as an alternative health therapy by rural household in Ondo State, Nigeriaby revealing that 66.2% of the respondents were male and 33.8% were female with a mean age of 49years which means that the respondents were matured enough to know if Aidan fruits have medicinal values or not. Majority of the respondents were literates which made them had access to basic information regarding Aidan fruits and their benefits. It was revealed that the respondents (83.8%) demonstrated high awareness of Aidan fruits and most of them had 20-39 year of awareness on Aidan fruits of which about 42.5% of the respondents were aware of Aidan fruits through parents and their friends (41.2%).The use of Aidan was also revealed by the farmers where 72.5% of them were using it for treatment as a result of the favourable factors it possesses which are easy accessibility, very cheap, medicinal, not easily perishable, easy to prepare and very effective. The findings also shows that the respondents had utilized Aidan fruits to treat certain health cases ranging from convulsion, hypertension, diabetes, leprosy, skin infection, schistosomiasis and asthma. The result of the hypothesis revealed that there is no significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and utilization of Aidan plant