A Solid Staple

The enset plant—endemic to Ethiopia where it has been cultivated for 7,000-plus years—is being promoted by researchers as a resilient famine food in that country’s southern highlands where climate change is causing harsher droughts.

Known as the false banana, the lush-leaved plant is used as a food and for its fibers. It’s a staple for some 20 million people, or 20% of Ethiopia's population.

"It's the backbone of the family and community,” says Wolde Tadesse, a visiting researcher at the African Studies Department at Oxford University.

Deutsche Welle