Ethnobotanical Knowledge and the Value Chain in the Mountainous Community of Quba

For the Lezgin community living in Azerbaijan's Quba district, the gathering of wild plants not only represents a system of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge but also serves as a primary or supplementary source of livelihood for some households. However, the joint documentation of ethnobotanical knowledge and measures of economic value has not been sufficiently studied. The aim of this study is to document plant-gathering knowledge, the social division of labor in this activity, raw material sales models, and the contribution of the generated income to family livelihoods within the Lezgin community of Quba, based on the FAO/CIFOR value chain framework. The research was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews in the villages of Küsnət, Küpçal, Qımılqışlaq, and Qəçrəş in the Quba district. Sixteen people participated in the interviews, including 7 women, 4 men, and 5 schoolchildren. As a result, 23 plant species belonging to 13 families were recorded. Surveys have revealed that the labor involved in plant gathering varies according to the zone. Thus, we noted that plants growing at high altitudes are gathered primarily by men, those in the middle and lower zones by women, and that children assist in both zones. The sale of the products is carried out primarily by men and children at the roadside, and by women at local markets. Although it was not possible to collect quantitative data on income due to the confidentiality of financial information, it was determined that the sale of seasonal wild plants serves as a primary source of livelihood for some households.