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Enset Could Be A Solution to Food Insecurity

Since the effects of the drought and famine during the 1970’s and 80’s in Ethiopia, researchers and policy makers have been seeking long-term sustainable solutions to the country’s food insecurity problem. The main focus of development and research has been on cereal-based crops, cultivated in the northern, central and eastern regions of Ethiopia. On the contrary, there has been considerably little research on Ethiopia’s other major agricultural complex, the Enset agricultural system of the highlands of southern Ethiopia. I read a 1997 publication entitled "The Tree Against Hunger," by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in collaboration with the Awassa Agricultural Research Center, on the Enset plant, in which the results of research over the past seven years was discussed, as well as food security and sustainability, the origin and history of the plant, the ecology and environment as well as the future prospects for the plant.

The Enset plant looks like a large, thick, single-stemmed banana plant, but it is labeled under the botanical classification Ensete Scitamineae, is the only known wild species in Ethiopia, mainly concentrated in the southern highlands, but it also grows in the central and northern highlands, around Lake Tana, Simien Mountains and as far north as Adigrat.

An approximate figure of ten million people from different ethnic groups consume the crop. The Gurage, Sidama, Gamo, Hadiya, and Wolayta ethnic groups have adopted the Enset-based agricultural system, and use the crop to feed their families as well as their livestock, other ethnic groups in the regions of Tigray, Gondar, Amhara and Wollo use Enset leaves as bread wrapping material while baking. The farmers of these regions are informed and encouraged to use the edible benefits of the crop, and are in the process of adopting it. Every part of the Enset plant is used, farmers from the southern highlands say that "Enset is our food, our clothes, our beds, our houses, our cattle-feed and our plates." A principle contribution of the Enset plant to sustainability is the minimal soil erosion involved in the Enset cultivation. Observations in the areas of Enset plantations show that the native soil has been altered for the better, due to the long-term application of manure. These modified soils are likely to be more fertile and have better physical characteristics, such as water holding capacity. The ability to provide a long-term sustainable food supply, with minimum off-farm input, is probably the most noteworthy characteristic of the Enset plant. According to the studies of agronomists and bio-geographers, Ethiopia is the center of origin for Enset agriculture. Theories were presented as to when the domestication of the plant began, some state as far back as ten thousand years ago. One of the first scholars to consider Enset origins, believed that the indigenous hunter/gatherers of southern Ethiopia were the first to cultivate Enset, and later introduced it to the Cushitic-speaking people of the northern highlands, only to be replaced by cereal-based crops due to the migration of the Semitic people.

During Emperor Haile Selassies’ reign, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture launched major initiatives to increase food production. The emperor gave strict instructions to focus on cereal crops and income-generating crops, such as coffee, while the Enset plant was ignored. During the Derg regime, the research projects had insufficient funds and were not successful. The current Ethiopian government has recognized the importance it has to the people of the south. In 1997, the government declared Enset a "national crop," worthy of significant increases in research and development funding.

The major food products obtained from the Enset plant are kocho, bulla and amicho. Kocho is a bulk of fermented starch made from a mixture of the decorticated leafsheaths and grated corm. It can be stored for long periods of time without spoiling. The combination of kocho and kitfo is now virtually required at restaurants. The best quality Enset food, bulla, is obtained mainly from fully matured Enset plants. Bulla can be prepared as a pancake, porridge and dumpling. Amicho is the boiled Enset corm. The corm is boiled and consumed in a manner similar to that of other root and tuber crops. Certain clones are selected for their amicho production. The corm and leafsheaths of the Enset plant which is consumed by humans, contain a combined content, 0.037 kilograms of protein per kilogram of dry matter and it has high contents of carbohydrates, which are essential components in the human diet.

The most directly and significantly affected people are the stakeholders. However, the Ethiopian society as a whole benefits due to the preservation of natural resources through wise management of the Enset agricultural systems. The past two decades have significantly popularized the consumption of Enset products in the urban populace of Addis Ababa. Two factors have contributed to the popularization of Enset products, first the cereal grain markets have experienced price increases while the price of Enset products have remained the same. Second there has been a significant breakdown in the cultural perception that Enset products are peasant food. The former Illubabor region where the population depend on cereal crops as their main diet, experienced a famine in 1993. The famine altered the population’s consumption of cereal crops to Enset crops. This case suggests that the fear of hunger and starvation can be a powerful incentive to try and grow a new crop, even a multiyear one such as Enset.