Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common non-communicable and chronic metabolic disorder regarded as a global epidemic with high morbidity and mortality. Although, conventional medicines are available for the management of DM, Indigenous knowledge, including the use of botanicals, has contributed to the management of this life-threatening disease in Africa. This is due to the perceived effectiveness and minimal side effects associated with plants and plant-derived compounds as an affordable remedy against DM. This review focuses on the contribution of Indigenous African plants to the management of DM. Relevant literatures were reviewed from online scientific databases, such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, using keywords singly and in combination. The review revealed that Indigenous health practitioners use several medicinal plants in the management of DM, with a range of 14–255 botanicals recorded. Approximately 80 compounds with antidiabetic potency have been isolated from different parts of African medicinal plants, with the majority belonging to flavonoids and terpenoids. Particularly, compounds such as apigenin, combretin B, convallatoxin, kaempferol, and quercetin remain the most promising antidiabetic compounds isolated from African medicinal plants. Limited clinical trials have been conducted on these compounds despite these milestones. There is, therefore, the need for further investigations to explain their antidiabetic effects, particularly under clinical conditions. Plants from which these compounds were isolated were selected based on ethnopharmacological knowledge. With these developments, medicinal plants and Indigenous knowledge remain an integral part of the global strategy to combat DM.

The world is faced with an alarming food insecurity challenge. Although various strategies associated with conventional farming are currently available to enhance food security, many people still suffer from food insecurity especially in rural communities. This review explored the role of indigenous farming practices in combating food insecurity. We explored empirical data involving indigenous land management in agriculture, soil fertilisation, planting methods, and control of pests and diseases in southern Africa. Various databases were consulted using search engines, covering data from 2010 till 2023. The literature search yielded 15 eligible studies that covered countries in southern Africa except Mozambique and Eswatini. The four land management practices identified were fallowing, shifting cultivation, zero tillage, and minimum tillage. Four materials, namely farmyard/manure, grass/crop residue, ash, and mound from termites were used by indigenous farmers in southern Africa to increase soil fertility. Five crop production cultural practices including relay planting, intercropping, crop rotation, early planting and agroforestry were identified from the eligible studies. A total of 62 plant species were documented for protecting crops from pests and diseases by local farmers. The top three mentioned plant species were Allium cepa , Nicotiana tabacum , and Tagetes minuta , each of them having a frequency of five (5). This review re-emphasizes the longstanding interactions between local farmers and the environment rooted in the need for sustainably managing natural resources for crop production geared towards food security.