Revolutionizing Enset cultivation: Strategic alliance aims to tackle challenges in Ethiopia

4 October 2024

IITA, Alabaster International (Alabaster), and the Girl Child Network (GCN) have forged a strategic partnership to transform Enset cultivation in Ethiopia. This collaboration seeks to leverage each organization's unique expertise and resources to tackle key challenges in Enset cultivation and utilization, focusing on tissue culture, bacterial wilt management, genomic sequencing, and gene editing of Enset.

Enset, often referred to as the "tree against hunger," is a staple crop for over 20 million Ethiopians. However, it faces urgent and serious threats, particularly from diseases like bacterial wilt, which can devastate entire crops and lead to 100% yield losses if not managed effectively. This disease has also contributed to reducing landrace diversity, exacerbating food insecurity in certain regions. Traditional breeding methods have struggled to address these issues, making innovative research efforts critical.

This strategic collaboration is not just about advancing science but about making a significant and tangible impact on the lives of smallholder farmers, especially women, who depend on Enset for their livelihoods. The project aims to secure a sustainable and promising future for Enset cultivation by addressing challenges like bacterial wilt and enhancing tissue culture techniques.

The collaboration officially took shape when Alabaster representative Dr Shannon Fernando-Rubera and GCN colleague Mercy Musomi paid a courtesy visit to IITA Eastern Africa Hub Director Leena Tripathi. During their visit to IITA at the ILRI campus, the team explored the advanced biotechnology laboratories where Tripathi and her team are conducting cutting-edge research. The visit underscored the critical role of IITA in driving the success of this project.

Further reinforcing this commitment, Tripathi recently led a delegation from IITA to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Juja, Kenya. The visit focused on assessing the progress made by JKUAT in collaboration with GCN, Alabaster, and Arba Minch University, Ethiopia, on Enset tissue culture. The work already done thus far in the JKUAT labs and greenhouse was remarkable. Tripathi is set to offer technical backstopping on the best practices needed to complete successful and sustained multiplication of Enset seedlings via tissue culture for both cultivated and wild Enset landraces. This guidance is crucial in ensuring the project's long-term success.

As we move forward, we remain committed to ensuring that the benefits of our research reach the farmers who need them most, safeguarding a vital resource for millions of people.

Contributed by Rose Harriet Okech

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