Agrotechnology

Abstract

Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.)) Crop Production, Genetic Variability, Utilization, Trends, Challenges, and Future Prospects in Ethiopia

Asmare Zerfu*

Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.)) Chessman is a perennial, large herbaceous plant that belongs to the Musaceae family monocarpic crop. It is an African crop that at this time provides the staple food for millions of Ethiopians. It is perhaps the only widely grown and domesticated crop in Ethiopian that has never been cultivated outside Ethiopia, despite wild populations of E. ventricosum occurring from Ethiopia, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (along the rift valley mountain ranges) to South Africa. This extremely localized cultivation (though by many sociocultural and ethnolinguistic groups) may in part explain limited research to date, despite indications that enset could play a major role in maintaining food security contests, not only in Ethiopia but also further abroad.

Published Date: 2024-09-12; Received Date: 2023-10-11