Enset (EnseteVentricosum) is a root crop that forms a staple food for over 20 million people in Ethiopia. Enset is domesticated and used as a food crop only in Ethiopia although wild forms are known to be found in a few African countries. Ethiopia is known to be a center of diversity for enset. From my research work in Shebedino district of Sidama, I have recorded 45 enset clones grown by the sampled households. A recent study on enset diversity has shown the presence of 115 enset clones.

Importance of enset

Enset is an indigenous staple food crop that has been widely grown and consumed by communities residing in the central, southern, and southwestern parts of the country for millennia. Enset-based food production systems are common among the Guraghe, Silte, Hadiya, Kemabata, Alaba, Tembaro, Sidama, Gedeo, Wolayta, Dawro, Gamo, Goffa, Sheka, and some more communities.  More than just food, enset has socio-cultural significance and as such is part of the identity and pride of these communities. Hence, one could not talk about the cultural values of these communities without mentioning enset.

Enset is a special plant with all its above- and underground parts having diverse end use-values. The main food products of enset are: the corm (locally called amicho and usually consumed when young) and the processed products; mainly kocho and bulla. The flatbread from kocho is a special dish consumed along with kitfo i.e. minced beef flavoured with chilli powder and spiced ghee. One of the local dishes that an Ethiopian coming from the enset culture would really miss when travelling abroad is kocho (flatbread from processed enset) and its accompaniments (see figure below). The uniquely delicious and satiating taste of kitfoandkocho meal appears to have no substitute. For many gourmet consumers, kitfo dish without kocho is not complete.

Another enset product is bulla fine extract from freshly processed enset products. It is preferred as a light breakfast meal and it is usually consumed as thick porridge. The thin porridge (locally called atmit) is commonly consumed by nursing mothers after delivery. It is claimed to provide relief for backache to facilitate quick recovery. Also, bulla porridge is widely used as a weaning food for babies and as a breakfast meal for elderly people.

Fresh green enset leaves are used as wrapping material to keep injera soft for some days. They are also used to wrap enset products (kocho and bulla), lining pits where kocho is stored, and recently for Khat as well. In some communities, the leaves are used as plate to serve kitfo meals. The dried sheath of the pseuedostem is used as wrapping material for butter (to take to the local market for sale), to make mats, pot holders for coffee pots, as well as clay pots used for cooking stew and for water container pots. People in some rural villages also use it to make a special circular local stool.

Moreover, fresh enset leaves are used as source of animal feed especially during the dry season. The dried leaves serve as bedding material for animals. After some days, these are let to decompose mixed with the animal manure and become organic matter to enrich soil fertility. The broad and unsplit leaves serve as local umbrella commonly used by children.

Enset plant has also medicinal value used to treat both human and livestock ailments. There is rich local knowledge regarding this among the elders of enset grower communities. Certain clones of enset are known to be good for healing bone fractures; adjusting joint dislocations; lessen swellings and treat some types of infections. In livestock, enset is used to facilitate placental discharge in cows, as elder farmers claim.

Enset plant produces high-quality fibre and it is obtained by decortication. The pseudostem is the plant part that has the fibre. The fibre has multiple uses. Among others, it is used to make ropes of different sizes and thickness, ropes used for tying packed items, tethering animals in-house at night and outside during the day; replacing nails in local house construction and fencing, etc. The fibre is also used to weave baskets, bags, mats, rugs, etc. Nowadays, the fibre got new use i.e. it is becoming common to decorate roofs with different designs especially in urban centers including Addis Ababa. The fibre is mixed with gypsum and moulded into a variety of designs. It has gained wider popularity and is in great demand in the capital.

Enset can be harvested and consumed at different stages of growth mainly for its corm (amicho). Some enset clones with sweet corm, are favoured for this. The maximum volume of enset products (kocho, bulla, amicho) are attained at flowering stage i.e. when the plant attains its full physiological maturity. Therefore, flowering signals readiness for processing/decortication. If not harvested and processed in time, the flowers develop fruit for certain period of time and then the plant dies out naturally.

Being a perennial plant, enset plays vital role in soil and water conservation; gives green vegetation cover all year round; reduces surface erosion by facilitating water percolation (curbs run-off during the rainy season); serves as a shade for coffee trees when grown as intercrop; creates refreshing homely environment; and serves as windbreak protecting the home compound from strong winds. Furthermore, enset plant yields higher amount of edible product per unit area than any other cereal food crop. Enset plant also tolerates heavy rainfall as well as moderate level of drought. Due to these multiple uses and its unparalleled contribution to food security, enset is referred to as the tree against hunger in some literature.

Why the rush to introduce GMO enset?

Why is the genetically modified (GMO) enset needed now? The answer given is to control the bacterial wilt disease of enset. Although this is something one cannot object to, there are serious concerns that need to be addressed, and I raise the following questions to stimulate discussion. It has come to my notice that Ethiopia is trying to copy what was tried on banana production by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) based in Nigeria. The key question is: “Do we really need a GMO enset right now?” In my opinion, this question needs serious attention mainly for  the following reasons;

1. From my experience with enset grower communities, I have come to know of traditionally less costly ways of controlling the bacterial wilt disease. There is huge diversity among enset clones and some are known to be tolerant of the disease. I learnt of the existence of tolerant enset clones from my research work with enset grower farmers in Sidama. It seems to me that we haven’t fully explored the possibilities at hand yet. Would not it then be more judicious to use the existing resources than resort to expensive ways of control with unknown consequences?

2. The GMO enset is attached to a patent right, incurring royalty fee for using these enset types. How fair, appropriate and affordable would be offering the GMO enset to resource-poor farmers? Why the rush for a non-sustainable production system?

3. With patent rights, farmers are not allowed to reuse, sell and exchange the GMO enset as planting material like they used to do with their regular enset clones. This is against the regular social norm and is in a way breaks the social ties and mutual support mechanism among the enset grower communities.This, no doubt amounts to depriving their rights and disempowering the enset grower farmers.

4. Since some foreign DNA is inserted in making the GMO enset to incorporate the disease tolerant trait, the resulting impact on the taste and nutritional quality of enset products is unknown. The same is true with regards to the health of humans and animals feeding on the GMO enset leaves. As far as I know, there is, as yet, no detailed study showing the new GMO enset products are healthy and environment-friendly. Given the fact that the disease is easily controlled by farmers, why introduce something with unknown potential health risks?

5. Promoting GMO enset will lead to gradual displacement of the existing diversity on farmers’ fields. This loss has negative consequences on the food and livelihood security of the enset grower farmers. Some enset clones have specialized socio-cultural and medicinal values. Hence, loss of diversity is not in the vested interest of enset grower communities and it constrains future improvement research work on enset as well. Improvement in the absence of genetic diversity would be a kind of absurd exercise knowing the lessons from the Irish potato famine of the 1940s, the barley dwarf virus disease case in the USA, and the coffee berry disease incidences in Ethiopia and East Africa. In all these cases, it was possible to get resistant trait from among the enormous diversity grown by the farmers in the centers of origin and diversity.

6. The GMO enset suppliers claim that their new enset has a disease tolerant trait. As mentioned earlier, there are lots of disease tolerant enset clones known by the traditional enset grower communities. Had it  been otherwise, we wouldn’t  have all the enset diversity we enjoy  today as the disease is a killer one. The key question here is: How will the GMO enset be differentiated from the existing enset cones cultivated by the farmers?

Some other related concerns, of serious import, could be mentioned :

(a) Is there any procedure/mechanism in place to identify disease-resistant trait of the GMO and non-GMO enset types existing already in the fields of enset grower communities?

(b) What if the company sooner or later claims that all disease tolerant enset types are its own property and even proceed to  claim patent protection?

(c) Is there any mechanism available to control such an eventuality  from happening and protect farmer communities who developed all the available enset diversity and whose livelihood is dependent upon enset cultivation?

(d) Are there concrete studies that indicate whether the bacterial wilt disease has been changing itself over the decades or not? This is important to know the efficacy as there are real case examples where resistance is developed shortly and new control measures required.

7) Loss of enset diversity will negatively affect the food security of enset grower households. As estimates show, over 20 million households currently rely on enset production for their livelihood. Do we have any alternative food crop that can be comparable with enset to fall back on just in case something goes wrong? If we assume there is one, how do we evaluate its suitability to the food culture, local adaptation, withstanding climate change -related challenges, and ensure sustainable food production for the long future?

The enset grower communities have the right to know, in very clear terms, about anything that has direct implication on the very source of their livelihood. This is about food sovereignty of the local communities.

8) Was there any community consultation carried out to assess the need for such a GMO enset reaching all the enset grower communities in the country (listed in the introductory section)? Or is it the old, “top-down approach” type of prescription? It is essential to give opportunity for the farmers to learn about the new (GMO) enset type, the expected benefits as well as the concerns raised by technical people (health, social and environment related), and let them have the chance to have a say. The enset grower communities have the right to know, in very clear terms, about anything that has direct implication on the very source of their livelihood. This is about food sovereignty of the local communities.

What are the real motives of multinational companies supplying GMOs?

Here are key questions that need to raised  :

1. Do GMO supplier companies (multinationals) really care or are they genuinely concerned about food security of small-scale farmers of Ethiopia as such?
2. Why are the multinationals interested in a food plant that has only local significance or has no international market demand?
3. Who recommended this option at this particular period in time and why? Whose priority is this? Farmers have been living with the bacterial wilt disease and have developed ways to easily control its spread. It is not out of hand of farmers as such. If farmers have not controlled it and there were no tolerant enset clones, repeated incidences of the disease would have wiped out enset long ago. The existence of the disease for decades and survival of enset in the fields of farmers in a wide range of diversity proves that farmers have learned ways to manage the disease very well.

There is no disputing that multinational companies, by necessity, have as their raison d’être profit-making and their goal is always maximizing profit to the greatest extent possible. The company planning to introduce the GMO enset to Ethiopia cannot be the exception to the rule. There were formerly many small companies specializing in producing improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides for distribution in different countries. Through time, the bigger ones came to take over the small ones through merger to raise their annual profit margins. One noteworthy recent merger being that of giant Monsanto with Bayer company.

As a result, there are a few left now and currently less than five companies control about 50% of the global seed supply. The practice now is this, a company supplies both the seed and the agrochemicals. The reality on the ground shows that there is no single multinational company that is genuinely interested in food security of small-scale farmers. To my knowledge, there is no exemplary case country that is dependent upon a GMO supplier company and attained national food security. Cases abound where countries suffered after reliance on GMO products.

In fact, the real motive behind all this is to open up market outlets for their GMO products and make farmers dependent on their company for seed and associated input supply. Farmers normally do not opt to have a seed that is not good for them. But, when they are cheated and lose their own diversity, they are left with no choice but to fall at the mercy of the seed supplier company.

Multinationals usually do predictions about potential future market and profit margins before making their investments. This is clearly evidenced by the comment made in the USDA (2020) report stating that:“Ethiopia’s adoption of Bt cotton not only has economic importance, but is also expected to have the influence on the acceptance of this technology in the region”.

Ethiopia has been the leading country in Africa with strong emphasis on biosafety and precautionary principles. Therefore, the push on GMO crops has been resisted for long. The Biosafety law by then has made entry of GMO difficult as it makes a requirement for the GMO introducing (source) country to take responsibility for any damage that may occur in Ethiopia. It doesn’t allow a company to introduce GMO and just walk away when the promised benefits fail to materialize and instead damage occur. That is why the GMO promoters anticipate as open door for its future market in other African countries as well.

What needs to be done and the precautions

In my opinion, we are not sure how this GMO enset can face the challenges mentioned as key concerns above. We are not sure of the undesirable outcomes that may result at any time. We are not adequately prepared and equipped for that. For instance, it may be possible to control the bacterial wilt disease for the time being but new challenges may emerge as pathogens evolve and change over time. Hence, we need to make relevant studies and adequately check its suitability from various angles: agronomic, economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects before recommending wider use of the GMO enset.

Here are my suggestions for consideration:

1. Biotechnology in itself has no problem, but our capacity on how we use and manage it determines the outcomes as good or bad. Therefore, there is no need to rush for GMO enset now. We need to explore what we have and make adequate use. Regarding biotechnology on enset, my preference would be to use tissue culture and produce disease-free enset seedlings to boost production than go for GMO at this point in time.
2. Enset is a perennial crop with diverse uses: food, feed, medicinal, shade, soil and water conservation, windbreak, to mention a few. It supports diversity-based farming as farmers usually grow many crops as intercrop and strip cropping. Enset culture favours sustainable food production and needs to be strengthened further rather than introducing new threats into the system.
3. Consultation with enset growing farming communities is required before introducing something strange into their production system that threatens diversity and sustainability to a great extent. This is about ensuring farmers’ right to define their own food system that is environmentally sound and culturally appropriate.
4. The socio-cultural, economic, and ecological significance of enset need to be known to the wider public and duly acknowledged. So far, it has not been given adequate attention and little is known about it outside enset growing communities. Enset has merits that deserve expansion of its production to many other parts in the country.
5. Enset culture is a model production system based on sound agroecological principles and is sustainable. It doesn’t create dependency on external input supply. Hence, breaking this system and denying farmers their right to save, reuse, exchange  and sell planting materials is threat to the existing production system. 
6. Ethiopia is known as a center of diversity for enset and many other food crops. Hence, special care and considerations are needed to conserve and use this diversity without compromising the rights of the future generation. That means, we cannot simply allow this diversity to be replaced or lost for any reason. The enset diversity we have today is a product of long-term domestication and conservation effort of our farmers. It is a national treasure and deserves proper conservation for its current and future values. Any threat to this needs to be pre-empted .
7. Regarding enset production, I would suggest technical innovations that will reduce the work burden of women in decortication as priority. An innovation that simplifies the processing would help to save time and labour of hundreds of women that they spend in enset decortication.

On a  final note, I would like to stress the suggestion of our senior technical staff who once led negotiations representing Ethiopia, Africa, and the developing nations on global forums. These experts paved the way, being part of the global discussions that culminated in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Biosafety negotiations and played vital leading roles as international figures. Therefore, Ethiopia ought to continue to remain on the precautionary side and not rush for the genetically modified crops at this juncture.

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