Agriculture is not just a means of producing food; it is also an art form. When dedicated farmers tend to their farms, the resulting produce is just as beautiful as a decorated design of traditional clothing. This is especially true for the Enset Plant, which has been cultivated for over 10,000 years in Ethiopia. It’s the only edible species of its kind in Africa and possibly the world.
Today, this crop serves closet of life yielding multiple purposes, providing food and nutrition security, cash crops, and environmental conservation for over 30 million people in the South, Southwest, Central, and Oromia regions, expanding towards the Northern parts and that of East Africa as a whole.
Homeland of over 120 million people, Ethiopia, is luckily enriched with abundant natural resources that gear its development towards inclusive prosperity. What is needed is seeing things with opened eye and giving due consideration if the target is to dump poverty and ensure development.
It is a trend often times being said that Ethiopia is full of resources. But those resources have not been utilized fully for growth and development. Still we have remained with not unleashing the potential in different aspects for example agriculture including crops, plants, animals, mineral and others.
Until recently Enset was a crop for which less attention rendered comparing to its diverse purpose as a means of food source with different nutritional value. Other indigenous plants, animals or crops have been lost due to various natural phenomenons which posed disasters, but enset resists drought and sustains itself for long and consumed both by human and animals.
So far, enset was not known that it is such significant crop which is eaten by both human and animals. Even there was an attitude in which regards the crop as useless with no advantage and because due attention was not given by concerned bodies; but nowadays, it is being studied and tremendous results are being released on its sustainable agro ecosystems resilience, agronomy and variety improvement, enset processing technology, value addition and marketing of indigenous food products and other aspects.
Traditionally, people have wondered how a single plant like Enset can feed thousands. Some have even used lyrics to celebrate Enset as a wonderful, all-purpose plant given by Almighty God to humanity and when the pertinent officials know about its value, they will never refrain to reward the farmers.
Enset products, along with its different Ethiopian cultural food counterparts, for example, in the Kembata area (Atakana, Bilambilo, Mucho) and the Sidama area (Bursame, Chukame, Omolcho), and other areas, are very unique in their kind and nutritional content. They are used as a main dish. All Enset cultural food counterparts in the Kembata, Gurage, Hadiya, Silte, Wolayita, Sidama, Sheka, Gedeo, and Oromia areas are not only mentioned as a food, but also as a rich source of carbohydrate starch, fat, and unique amino acid proteins that satisfy for a long time once eaten.
Enset is much more accessible to the stallholder in the area than other crops due to its various food alternatives. Currently, teff is extraordinarily priced at over 10,000 Birr per quintal, while a single enset costs up to 1,500 birr and provides an abundance of products such as kocho, bu’la, ha’micho, leaf for sell and animal feed, fiber and composting. This affordability enables the farmers to access enset products and also profit from selling them. Additionally, from existing data sources, enset makes a substantial contribution to the national agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as illustrated in the table below.
Generally, enset is needlessly neglected that should never be neglected, with too much high economic and nutritional value in east Africa. Therefore, immediate concern by all stakeholders should be given to rescue Enset from an epidemic (Enset bacterial wilt) that has been tearing farmers. It is also mandatory to enhance the productivity of enset since it is a crop that competently answers the quest of the nation’s food security.
If all stakeholders give due attention to the crop scale upping the product and productivity of enset will be possible. Attention can be rendered in terms of for example, encouraging value additions of enset products like making processing enset flour for the bakery to prepare cake, cookies and best bread serving as a delicious diet for diabetic patients with low glycaemic index or gluten-free bread as comfortable as bread baked from that of the ‘teff’ flour.
It is recently proved that, enset can play the role of being a super food both for Ethiopians and foreigners.
Table: Trends in enset contribution to national agricultural GDP
| Year | Nominal Agricultural GDP (Billion Birr) | Value of enset produced (Billion Birr) | Share to the nominal Agricultural GDP (%) |
| 2012/2013 | 251.80 | 110.75 | 43.98 |
| 2013/2014 | 267.80 | 33.69 | 12.58 |
| 2014/2015 | 274.00 | 227.42 | 83.00 |
| 2015/2016 | 573.10 | 241.21 | 42.09 |
| 2017/2018 | 600.90 | 295.73 | 49.21 |
| 2018/2019 | 624.00 | 335.49 | 53.76 |
Source: Estimation adopted from data of Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia
During my trip to the Guraghe zone (eastern and western parts); I was invited to attend an innovation platform organized by EIAR and Wolkite Research Center. There, I learned about the enset plant and farming system, which are endangered by Enset Bacterial wilt infections, where a farmer lost up to 150 matured enset plants- which is a great economic loss after nurturing the crop by a farmer about six to seven years (pictures in below).
The occurrence of the disease on enset has been well established since 1938 in Ethiopia, according to professionals. Despite many efforts to maintain the natural balance under control, the disease pressure has reached its climax since 2000. As a result, this strategic crop and its natural farming system are observed to be in a diminishing state. It is necessary to give urgent attention to the farming system and productivity, as it is threatened by the rival bug.
The government is currently striving for several development actions, in which enset is considered as a strategic commodity that opens windows of opportunity to invest in the enset-based farming system. It appears too late and much effort is needed to exploit the untapped and forgotten resource.
BY ANTENEH YILMA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 3 JULY 2024
