Enset Landraces: Conservation, Distribution, and Use in an Enset-Based Agricultural System

Enset is a unique food security crop for more than 25% of the population in Ethiopia and serves as a food, animal feed, medicine, and fiber source, with significant resilience and environmental adaptability. Enset growing zones harbor several landraces, resulting from differences in natural selection, human selection, and cultural management practices. Understanding landrace propagation, selection, and in situ conservation practices is crucial. These practices are essential for crop improvement, management, conservation, and enhancement of genetic resources. This study investigates the utilization and in situ conservation practices of enset landraces and draws insights from farmers and agricultural experts through in-depth interviews, surveys, group discussions, and field observations. Representatives from the enset-growing areas of Hadiya, Gedeo, Gurage, and Kembata Tembaro zones and Basketo Special Woreda were selected due to their diverse sociocultural practices, geographic landscapes and distribution, altitude variations, enset farming systems, and rainfall patterns. Purposive sampling was employed to select 19 representatives from woredas based on traditional enset culture practices. Subsequently, 31 kebeles were chosen based on their altitude differences. A total of 406 household units were then selected. The relative density determined the abundance of individual landraces. The distribution and richness of landraces across sites were analyzed using Simpson's diversity, Shannon-Wiener, and Margalef's indices. A total of 274 vernacular names for enset landraces were recorded, but only 106 (39%) were cultivated in the sampled households. Despite this, analysis of diversity indices (Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, and Margalef) revealed no significant differences between the study sites. The analysis also revealed moderate to high enset landrace diversity across the studied sites. The study highlights a rich and diverse collection of landraces adapted to various ecological conditions and fulfilling various purposes (food, feed, fiber, and medicine). Notably, food value emerged as the primary driver of landrace selection and abundance. Promoting sustainable enset agriculture should, therefore, prioritize maintaining landrace diversity and supporting traditional knowledge to enhance resilience and food security.