ISSN 2346-7444; Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 1-10; April 2014 Online International Journal of Medicinal Plant Research ©2014 Online Research Journals Full Length Research Available Online at http://www.onlineresearchjournals.org/OIJMPR Harvesting of Medicinal Plants in Uganda: Practices, Conservation and Implications for Sustainability of Supplies *Paul Bukuluki, Ronald Luwangula and Eddy Joshua Walakira School of Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda Received 27 February, 2014 Accepted 13 April, 2014 This article makes an analysis of the harvesting practices of medicinal plants in Uganda. It identifies good and bad harvesting methods for sustainable supply of medicinal plants. It further examines the relationship between the medicinal conservation and storage practices and their effect on the frequency of harvesting medicinal plants. The paper relied largely on qualitative data supplemented by quantitative data. The article concludes reaffirming the poor methods of harvesting stemming from lack of relevant knowledge, skills and appropriate technology or equipment to use for harvesting medicines from plant sources, leading to some medicinal plants increasingly becoming scarce. These methods pose a serious danger to the environment in general and continuity of use of the medicinal plants to treat different ailments. Key words: Conservation, harvesting, medicinal plants, practices, sustainability. INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants form the backbone of the traditional medicine system [1,2]. Unfortunately, these medicinal plants and the supported traditional medicinal system are at risk of dwindling not only due to current trends in population growth and land use [2] but also compromising harvesting and conservation practices. This is particularly distressful considering an estimated 75-95 percent of the worlds‟ rural population relying on herbal traditional medicine for their primary health care [2-5]. For developing countries, regardless of being in rural or urban areas, an estimated 70-80 percent of population use traditional medicines to support health care [3,4,6,7]. As Ramero-Daza [7] states: “traditional medicine is the main and often the only source of medical care for a great proportion of the population of the developing world. Systems of traditional medicine are usually rooted in long-standing cultural traditions, take a holistic approach to health, and are community based”. *Corresponding Author‟s E-mail: pbukuluki(at)gmail.com. In Uganda [5,8] like in other African countries such as Tanzania [9] herbal medicines form part of the primary regimen in the management of HIV and AIDS related problems (side effects, opportunistic infections), parallel to anti retroviral drugs. It is also used in the management of maternal healthcare needs as well as non- communicable, chronic illnesses and diseases, such as type II diabetes and high blood pressure 1 . Medicinal plants notably form a substantial component part of not only traditional/herbal medicine but modern medicine alike [1,4,10,11] though in different proportions. Like Oreagba et al. [4] contend that many drugs used in conventional medicine have their origin from plants, Bajpai et al. [1] observe that to some extent, “all systems of medicine depend on plant materials or their derivatives for treatment of human ailments”, noting further that “about 12.5% of the total 422,000 plant species documented worldwide are reported to have medicinal values” citing Schippmann et al. 2002. Behrens [11] submits that medicinal plants are depended upon by pharmaceutical companies for raw materials, scientific discoveries transposed into synthetic 1 http://www.blackherbals.com/nacotha1.htm