Smallholder farmers expand production area of the perennial crop enset as a climate coping strategy in a drought-prone indigenous agrisystem

Smallholder farmers expand production area of the perennial crop enset as a climate coping strategy in a drought-prone indigenous agrisystem

2572-2611

Plants, People, Planet

2022

13 pp.

551.3-054 Ch11

Climate resilient crops will become increasingly important, especially in regions where smallholder farmers are vulnerable to climate extremes. Enset, a multipurpose perennial staple crop consumed by over 20 million people in Ethiopia, purportedly provides food security during periods of drought. Here, we find evidence that frequent severe drought events led to an increase in enset production area. This is consistent with a broader pattern whereby farmers preferentially cultivate perennial and storable crops after long-term drought events, providing an example of adaptation to fluctuations in climate through crop choice in indigenous agrisystems.

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