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Ethiopia to encourage farmers to grow "multi-purpose" plant

Enset, or "false banana plant"

Over thousands of years the knowledge to cultivate and harvest the Enset, whose food-products can be buried and stored in the ground for years, has been passed down through generations of ethnic groups. Enset, or the 'false banana plant', is virtually unknown outside of Ethiopia, it produces no edible fruit but can provide an extraordinary supply of food and natural resources. It's an important food for nearly fifteen million Ethiopians, and some scientists say it could be used to avert a famine in the future.

You'd be forgiven for arguing they're 'real' banana trees but on closer inspection there are a few minor physical differences. The enset plant's leaves are erect, unlike the banana tree's leaves which droop. Their leaves are ideal for collecting rainwater, which goes straight down into the plant's interior and makes its trunk succulent and juicy.

The false banana tree doesn't produce any edible fruit, unlike its 'relative' the banana tree (they're in the same botanical family). But the trunk and 'pseudostem' can be transformed in to different foods and stored in the ground for years. So if the rains don't come and a farmer's cereal crop fails, there's always enset to fall back on as it's available all year round.

Exploring the plant

Research on the plant began in the 1950s. More recently Solomon Zewdie from the University of Addis Ababa's Science faculty has been exploring the plant for his PhD. To conduct his research, he bought a plot in the Gurage region to the south-west of the capital Addis Ababa and hired several locals to assist him. Zewdie says he wants to identify which varieties are most drought resistant and which grow best in differing conditions.

Enset is believed to have first been identified in Ethiopia around 7,000 years ago. Although it grows wildly in other East African countries, nowhere else in the world is it as a food source. Now, it's mainly grown by communities in the south and south west of Ethiopia and as a result, these people rarely experience famine.

Kocho

There are three enset derived foods: 'bulla' which is similar to porridge, amicho which is like potato and the most popular: 'kocho' - a fermented bread-like food. Local farmer Amlework Sibah says that without kocho the local people would not survive.

To make the Kocho, the women must carry out a backbreaking sequence of chores. Their feet are as important to the process as their hands. They'll usually work in groups and it'll take three women one day to harvest just two enset plants. The men cut down the plants, and the women slowly dismantle them.

The fibre and the juicy pulp found in the trunk's leaf sheaths are separated, and the liquid used to make bulla. The "corm", the underground stem-base, is mashed and then mixed with the juicy pulp (from the leaf sheaths). The mixture is then covered for two to three days. It'll then be re-opened for ventilation, mixed and then left for another two days.

After this, a pit is prepared and lined with enset leaves, the mixture is put in to the hole, sealed and covered with more leaves and some heavy stones. It's then left to ferment for up to a year, but it can be used just a week after its burial. This means that the supply can be tapped in to at any time throughout that year. Whenever it's needed it's taken from the pit, prepared and cooked in a smoked filled mudhut for about 10 minutes.

The kocho feels and tastes rubbery and has a sour after-taste, but is palatable. It's usually eaten with milk, cabbage, potatoes or cheese and when families have some extra cash they'll treat themselves to some meat. These foods are necessary to supplement enset because it's low in protein, vitamins and minerals.

Enset's also exceptional for being a 'multi-purpose' plant. On top of providing a source of food, its leaves are used for plates, wrappers and as food for animals. Its fibrous material is used to make ropes and mats which can be sold.

It's also used in traditional medicines and during rituals such as funerals, marriages and births. The Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development only recognised enset as a national crop in 1997. Now the government is working towards encouraging farmers in other parts of Ethiopia to grow the plant.

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