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Enset: Future Prospects

Who will benefit most from greater knowledge of and improvements in the enset systems?

The most directly and significantly affected stakeholders to benefit from accelerated research and development activities related to enset systems are the subsistence farm family and the local communities. Several characteristics of the enset plant and systems described above, e.g., a large stored food supply available when other foods are in short supply, are particularly valuable for subsistence, low-resource farmers living in a highly variable environment. However, Ethiopian society as a whole also benefits because of the preservation of natural resources through wise management of the enset systems.

What is the potential of enset products playing a larger role in the diet of the urban populace?

During the last two decades, two things have happened to make enset food products significantly more popular among the urban populace of Addis Ababa and surrounding communities. First, the grain markets have experienced a considerable increase in the price of cereals, while the price of kocho has remained relatively constant. Urbanites shopping in the markets of Addis Ababa, especially those from enset-growing regions, are choosing to purchase enset products both for taste and to make their limited incomes go further. Although considerably more research needs to be done on the marketing and pricing of enset products, a cursory survey of sellers at the main market, Mercato, revealed over 120 women sellers of kocho and bulla.

Second, there has been a breakdown in the cultural perception of enset food products as "peasant food." As previously mentioned, kocho has become extremely popular at restaurants and is almost "required" to be eaten together with the Ethiopian delicacy of kitfo (raw, ground beef mixed with butter and spices). Informal interviews and observations at a sample of Addis Ababa restaurants indicate those establishments that specialize in kitfo often run out of high quality kocho due to poorly developed enset marketing and transport systems. All of this suggests there could be considerable opportunity for supplying and increasing the demand for enset in urban markets.

What is the potential of enset cultivation being introduced or re-established in regions outside its main area of use?

Figure 1. General Area of Enset Cultivation [zoom]

In a study of agriculture in the former Illubabor region of southwestern Ethiopia, the Sombo peoples, who traditionally were cereal farmers dependent upon t’eff and maize, experienced two starvation periods (Ishihara, 1993). The second was in 1984-85 when the peasants migrated from their villages in search of food, a considerable number of them dying on the way. Some traveled as far as Wolliso, where they learned how to cultivate enset. Returning to Sombo, they introduced enset agriculture, and kocho soon became an important part of their diet. In 1992, when cereal crops were severely damaged by excessive rainfall, they lost 50 to 90 percent of their cereal harvest and most of their coffee beans to disease. However, they were able to avoid famine because of their increased dependence upon enset. This case suggests that fear of hunger and starvation can be a powerful incentive to try to grow a new crop, even a multiyear one such as enset.

The northern town of Lalibela (Figure 1.1), famous for its eleventh century rock-hewn churches, is also the site where thousands of people died as a result of the mid-1980s famine. Some farmers in Lalibela grow a few enset plants near their houses (Plate 9) in order to use the leaves to wrap bread for baking. Like other northern Ethiopian farmers, those farmers contacted had no knowledge of enset as food. Surprised to learn that enset could be eaten, they expressed interest in learning to cultivate and process enset for food as a means of increasing food security.

However, before enset farming can be introduced to new areas, a systematic survey throughout Ethiopia of the distribution of wild and cultivated enset, as well as a study of the history of enset use, should be undertaken. Trial farms would need to be established where the mechanisms for introducing planting materials, cultivation and processing techniques, and cooking methods are provided. An adequate number of livestock would also have to be available for the production of manure and milk products. Furthermore, remaining social stigmas about eating a fermented product or a "peasant food" would have to be overcome.

What extension and development work could be implemented in the near future to assist enset farmers?

Based on the research carried out so far, there are many potential future interventions. These can be grouped into the following unranked categories: A) extension information to farmers concerning enset diseases; B) improvement and mechanization of enset processing; C) improved livestock breeds, pastures, and health and nutrition; D) increased and improved production of protein-rich food crops; and E) marketing assistance for enset products and improving transportation and retailing networks.

A. Extension information to farmers concerning enset diseases: Chief among the important topics is an extension campaign to educate both women and men farmers about the nature and spread of bacterial wilt disease. Disease control requires an integrated approach by the farmer and the farm community. Disease, particularly bacterial wilt, is not controlled by outside inputs, but rather by a commitment on the part of the farmer to follow proper sanitary procedures, e.g., the use of clean cutting and processing tools. This commitment only comes with knowledge and its acceptance. This extension activity has tremendous need and potential benefit--a benefit that will have a spill-over effect into the understanding and prevention of human and animal diseases.

B. Improvement and mechanization of enset processing: The traditional methods of processing may reduce the quality and quantity of enset food and fiber. Research has been conducted in several institutions (the Institute of Agricultural Research at Nazaret and at Awassa, the Ministry of Agriculture, and Awassa College of Agriculture) to develop improved processing devices. Efforts have been made to modify: 1) the decorticater that separates the leaf-sheath pulp from the fiber; 2) the pulverizer that grates the corm into fine pieces; 3) the kneader that squeezes out unwanted water from fermented kocho; and 4) the shredder that chops the fiber present in the fermented kocho. Thus far such devises are primarily experimental and have had little testing; farmer acceptance has not occurred because of cost and inaccessibility (Metshen and Abate, 1994). Adoption of these improved tools should be pursued for their value in reducing labor and increasing uniformity of products. There is also potential for its dissemination as part of a cottage industry development package.

C. Improving livestock breeds, animal health/nutrition, and pastures, as well as using enset leaves for enhanced feeds: All too often researchers and extensionists ignore the importance of livestock in maintaining the productivity (and with respect to enset, the sustainability) of agricultural systems. McCorkle (1992) notes that within mixed production systems, researchers have treated cultivation and stock raising in virtual isolation and/or ignorance of one another. Attention to animal nutrition and health, improved pasture and forages, as well as improved breeds and animal culling, would all have positive effects on enset cultivation systems. Farmers themselves ask development personnel and the current researchers for improved veterinary services, especially in regard to animal health. Since so much of the enset system depends on cattle, assistance in improving livestock breeds, training farmers how to cull herds, and providing information, capital, and planting materials for improved pastures and forages are critical. Further, the role of enset leaves as a component of silage and feed concentrates has not been explored, but could have great potential to enhance feed for a variety of livestock.

D. Increased and improved production of protein-rich food crops: Haricot bean, lentil, chickpea, and other seed legumes (pulses) supply protein-rich foods and are already important components of the enset system. One of the main limitations of enset food products is the low protein. There is already much research data and extension information on the production and utilization of these pulses. On-farm trials are being conducted in the enset region on some of these pulses. The productivity and nutritional quality of the enset system could be improved through a concerted extension effort to increase the production, yield, and utilization of these pulses.

E. Marketing assistance and improving transportation and retailing networks: Little is known as to what could facilitate the marketing of enset food and non-food products at local and urban markets. There are many components of this challenge that need exploration and intervention, including: product supply and demand, transportation infrastructure, supply of capital, market facilities, storage, and packaging.

What research agenda is necessary to improve the understanding of enset-based systems?

Since enset and enset-based systems have received little study relative to many other crops and systems, the research door is wide open. Much information considered to be baseline for other crops has not been collected with respect to enset. For example, almost no research has been conducted on the effects on growth and yield of different clones; plant density, spacing, and duration at a given spacing; transplanting methods; manure and/or fertilizer amendments; propagation techniques; and environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, water, and sunlight).

While these baseline agronomic topics need to be addressed, several larger issues related to food security and natural resource preservation in Ethiopia must also receive attention. They include: a) the effects on human nutrition as population density and poverty reduce the amount of animal food products and cattle manure, and b) the sustainability of enset systems (in terms of productivity and prevention of soil degradation) as animal manure and other natural resources become more scarce. Furthermore, the human population carrying capacity of the various enset systems under current practices needs study and estimation. Interventions for both the maintenance of the indigenous systems and the intensification of those systems to develop new forms of production and processing require additional research.

Research trials are being carried out under station conditions at Areka Research Station and Awassa Research Center in southwestern Ethiopia (Plate 7). They relate to intercropping, fertilizer input levels, and measurement of yields. On-farm studies, with farmers as trial cooperators, should be implemented, as has been done with cereals, legumes, and tubers (Franzel and Van Horten, 1992). These on-farm, farmer-cooperator trials are particularly important because of the complexity and diversity of enset management at the household level, which, as previously mentioned, are not yet fully understood by research scientists.

What are some of the socioeconomic and gender issues in need of further study?

Socioeconomic variables and agronomic management practices are intimately related. One current puzzle is why wealthier households have greater clonal variation, as well as a greater number of clones in general. Is it because of their larger land holding size, greater social networks for obtaining more varieties, greater labor to plant and care for larger enset holdings, larger incomes to purchase other varieties, better all-around management practices, or the prerogative of wealth? Research needs to be carried out on the reasons, as well as on the consequences for household and surplus production.

Many of the previous sections noted that more research is needed on a variety of topics. These include the following:

Transplanting methods and harvest management seem to be a function of ethnic group, household needs, and available resources (such as land, labor, capital, and other food crops in the system). But which are the critical dimensions?

What is the importance of harvesting mature versus immature plants? For example, North Omo male farmers prefer to harvest mature plants, while women of the same group prefer to harvest smaller plants for better taste and ease of fermentation. The reasons for this distinction, whether it is observed in other groups, and the consequences for enset yields need careful analysis.

Since a major constraint on production is bacterial wilt, socioeconomic and gender variables relating to disease transmission agents (e.g., contamination by cutting and processing tools, livestock, etc.) need to be examined.

The demographic composition of the household, the amount of resources of the total household, as well as the resources of individual members disaggregated by gender need careful study. Access to and control over resources are important to determine, as well as the overall carrying capacity of a given area in terms of population density.

The division of labor by gender and the remuneration received for selling surplus enset products need to be investigated. If men receive the profits from women's processing labor, women's incentives are reduced. The effects of the market on both men and women in terms of planting and processing decisions need to be studied.

Some farmers plant more "female" than "male" plants. This pattern needs to be investigated as to whether or not there are gender-specific reasons for these choices, or if women manage to prevail in their own preferences.

What is the future of enset as a sustainable agricultural system?

The present situation in the southern highlands of Ethiopia provides a window into the workings of the issue of sustainability in agricultural systems. Farm households in some areas (e.g., Sidama, Gedeo, and Wolayta) are attempting to deal with the stress of limited land for cultivation and grazing, as well as with rapidly growing populations. As Rahmato (1996) warns for the Wolayta region:

The "triumph" of enset cultivation can now be seen in the demographic mountain it has managed to throw up, and the systematic crisis it has, unwittingly, brought upon itself. Agricultural intensification, the primary response of peasants to resource scarcity and population pressure, has failed to arrest the intensification of competition for resources and the acceleration of demographic expansion. Moreover, while in the past population growth may have stimulated change and adaptability in the enset system, the immense demographic pressure on the land today is unlikely to induce technical progress, and may in fact drive the system toward regression.

Research and development are needed to address sustainability issues and the place of enset as a major contributor to the food security of Ethiopia, or to search for alternative agricultural systems. This research and development partnership needs to accelerate on all fronts that address the biophysical and socioeconomic merits and limitations of the various enset systems.

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