Enset provides the staple food for eight million people in the most densely populated areas of the country, especially the south-west. They are inhabited by the Gurage, Sidama, Kembata, Hadya, Wollayta and related tribes. It is also the co-staple food for two million people in south-west and western Ethiopia. Altogether they comprise one-fifth of the population of the country.

Because of its resemblance to the banana plant enset is also referred to as “False Banana”. It grows best at an altitude of 1600 to 3000m. and can withstand dry periods. It is grown in a semi-permanent cultivation system marked by a complex cycle of transplanting lasting from five to ten years within which it has to be transplanted three to four times.

To prepare enset plants for food first, the men and boys remove the leaves, dry and shrunken ends of outer layers and small adventitious roots from the corm. The plants are then pushed over and divided into the corm, the inner and the outer sheaths together with the lower part of the ribs of the leaves. All further processing is carried out strictly by women and girls.

After being cut off, the leaf sheaths are taken to a scraping board and are scraped from top to bottom with a tool made from a split of bamboo stalk.

The plant is used for the production of a starchy food mainly derived from the corm and pseudostem. These parts are pounded and scraped to pulp which is fermented and stored in a pit for a period lasting from a few days up to five years. From the fermented pulp a sour starchy food, referred to as “KO’CHO” is prepared which is mostly eaten with cheese, cabbage and chopped meat mixed with butter. The other is BU’LLA, a desiccated juice collected from the pulp. Ritually prepared Enset has an important role in birth, circumcision, marriage and death ceremonies.

In addition to its food value, Enset plant can also be used for livestock feed, industrial fibers, mattresses and seats, as binding material in fences and housebuilding, packing material and as a substitute for plates.