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(Xanthosoma Sagittifolium (L.) Schott) Grown in Ethiopia

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(Xanthosoma Sagittifolium (L.) Schott) Grown in Ethiopia Vol. 12(35), pp. 2681-2691, 31 August, 2017 DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2017.12465 Article Number: 6E0FCB865773 African Journal of Agricultural ISSN 1991-637X Copyright ©2017 Research Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR Full Length Research Paper Farmers’ perception of agromorphological traits and uses of cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) grown in Ethiopia Eyasu Wada1,2*, Zemede Asfaw3, Tileye Feyissa4 and Kassahun Tesfaye4 1Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, P. O. Box 1176, Ethiopia. 2Department of Biology, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita Sodo, P. O. Box 138, Ethiopia. 3Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, P. O. Box 1176, Ethiopia. 4Institute of Biotechnology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, P. O. Box 1176, Ethiopia. Received 20 May, 2017; Accepted 14 June, 2017 Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) is one of the tuberous root crops in the Araceae family that has been grown in Ethiopia. It has spread widely and has become an important part of the agriculture and food systems of indigenous communities in southern and southwestern Ethiopia. However, less research attention has been given to cocoyam. It is a neglected/underutilized or ignored crop. A survey was conducted to assess the state of cocoyam in Ethiopia based on the farmers’ perception. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 farmers from five zones. During the survey, two distinct cocoyam landraces (green and purple leaf colored cocoyam landraces) were observed. Numerous local names were given to the crop; the most commonly encountered names were “Keni Zhang”, “Cubi Zhang”, “Sudan Kido” and “Samuna Boina”. The naming systems were, in most cases, followed by the local name given to taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott), as seen in the cases of “Zhang” and “Boina”. The local term “Godere” or taro was also used for both X. sagittifolium and C. esculenta. Cocoyam is locally used for food (100%), fodder (60%) and other purposes such as medicine and organic fertilizer. Farmers use the local method in the preparation of cormels for food and medicine. Corms were preferred planting materials for Ethiopian farmers. The farmers’ preference to cocoyam was related to adaptability, edibility of its young leaves and it serving as food security crop whereas hardness texture, low market demand, sour taste and unpleasant smell of cocoyam were farmers disliked traits. In this study, useful knowledge about cocoyam in Ethiopia was demonstrated. The quality and productivity of cocoyam in Ethiopia need to be improved based on farmer preferred attributes to ensure dissemination of the useful aspects and enhance sustainable production of cocoyam in Ethiopia. Key words: Cocoyam, Ethiopia, indigenous knowledge. INTRODUCTION Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) is an humid tropics and sub-tropics. There are many associated herbaceous tuberous root crop that belongs to the names to X. sagittifolium, which includes Xanthosoma monocotyledons in the Araceae family. It is grown in the violaceum Schott, Xanthosoma atrovirens K. Koch and 2682 Afr. J. Agric. Res. C.D. Bouche, Xanthosoma mafaffa Schott, Xanthosoma It is an important food crop in many parts of the world, brasiliense (Desf.) Engl. and Xanthosoma caracu K. Koch mainly for smallholder farmers in playing a major role in and C.D. Bouche, all closely related to X. sagittifolium, the lives of many as a food security crop and has socio- but much taxonomic confusion reigns in this group of cultural implications. Both leaves and starch-rich tubers taxa. can be eaten after cooking (Towle, 1961; Mayo et al., Thus, the name X. sagittifolium has usually been given 1997; Ramawat and Merillon, 2014). to all cultivated Xanthosoma species (Mayo et al., 1997; Cocoyam mainly grows as annual crop harvested after Bradshaw, 2010; Quero-Garcia et al., 2010). Several 8 to 12 months of growth. The senescence of the plant is common names including tannia, yautia, malanga, used by farmers as a harvest index (Lebot, 2009). It is callalo, cocoyam and new cocoyam are used to refer to the best practice to regenerate this crop after 9 to 12 the domesticated species of Xanthosoma, and X. months when the central or mother plant begins to die sagittifolium is most widely known as cocoyam (Morton, down (Jackson, 2008). 1972; Giacometti and Leon, 1994; Mayo et al., 1997; Despite their increasing importance, less research Raemaekers, 2001; Lebot, 2009; Quero-Garcia et al., efforts have been given to aroids. The preservation and 2010). use of aroids are far less unlike other major root crop Cocoyam is likely to have been domesticated in the genetic resources (Matthews, 2002). The major challenge northern part of South America where it was cultivated of aroids production is the loss of a large pool of from very ancient times (Giacometti and Leon, 1994). It is germplasm which is mostly held in farmers‟ fields and in widely cultivated in tropical America, Africa, Asia, the wild. These losses pose a threat to aroids germplasm Caribbean and other parts of the tropics mainly by small- conservation (Onwueme, 1999). scale farmers (Mayo et al., 1997; Bown, 2000). It was Many developing countries experience difficulty in introduced into Eastern Africa through Western Africa sustaining, conservation and genetic improvement of from tropical America (Giacometti and Leon, 1994), but aroids. Most of these crops are being conserved by the unknown to many people in the region (Raemaekers, elder and/or are being left to grow on their own. Hence, 2001). these neglected root and tuber crops are being lost due In Ethiopia, cocoyam is largely unknown or to lack of knowledge on the importance of such crops synonymous with taro (Colocasia esculenta), which is (Matthews, 2002). known to have been grown since immemorial times Ethnobotanical study can be important in genetic (Simone, 1992). In the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea, resource conservation and application in crop volume six, wherein the tribes of the Araceae are improvement. Early advances in ethnobotany provided us described, taro was described as cultivated or naturalized with utilitarian benefit of plants and on that basis plants near streams and waterfalls (Reidl, 1997) but the were classified. Today, such documentation is essential existence of cocoyam was not mentioned. for the conservation of earth‟s vast biological resources Cocoyam has spread widely and has become an (Osawaru and Ogwu, 2015). Knowledge on different important part of the agriculture and food systems of qualities that affect the use, preparation and consumption indigenous communities in southern and southwestern is important to plant breeders because it is critical for the Ethiopia, where root and tuber crops are part of the local acceptance of new cultivars by consumers (Matthews, food systems of the people. It was ranked by farmers 2002). second among the top 10 most preferred plants around In Ethiopia, the indigenous knowledge of farmers on Bonga City in Kefa based on the use values, adaptability, cocoyam has remained largely within the domain of cultural significance and other reasons (Asfaw, 2001). It farmers‟ knowledge in the rural areas. Research on grows even in poor soils and under dry conditions that cocoyam has been scarce in Ethiopia except a few are too difficult for cultivation of other tuberous root crops. attempts initiated at Agricultural Research Centers and It diffused mainly into the lowest settlements (below 1000 Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute to collect and maintain its m.a.s.l.), and has already totally replaced taro in germplasm. No concrete work to date has looked at the homegarden patches (Fujimoto, 2009). It was, however, cocoyam landraces of Ethiopia in the extent that mentioned that the fast expansion of cocoyam cocoyam has been known by smallholder farmers. aggressively expands in the garden and competes at the Thus, Ethiopian farmers who cultivate the crop hold household level threatening to replace staple food role of enormous indigenous knowledge of the local clones. indigenous food crops (Asfaw, 2001; Woldeyes et al., They are the main owners of knowledge about the uses, 2016). Cocoyam has become the main edible aroid in cultivation practices and management of the crop. The many tropical areas (Bradshaw, 2010). main aim of this study was, therefore, collect the *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +251 91 284 1769. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Wada et al. 2683 Figure 1. Map showing the location of the study area. knowledge that is available in the farmers on cocoyam to Sampling frame and data collection retrieve the knowledge held by the farming communities who cared to manage and use this neglected crop Data were collected from 10 Woredas (Districts) of five Zones (Bench-Maji, Kefa, Dawuro, Wolaita and Gamo-Gofa), which are species. located in the southern and southwestern parts of Ethiopia. A semi- structured interview guide was used to conduct individual interviews with 50 farmers by purposely sampling five best cocoyam cultivating MATERIALS AND METHODS farmers in each Woreda. During data collection, farmers were encouraged to express information in the way they perceived Study area description cocoyam by their own eyes through experience. The farmers were told to be free to tell all what they know about cocoyam on their own The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is composed of 9 accord using their native languages. The general distribution of Regions and 2 administrative Cities. The Regions are organized cocoyam in the study areas was observed during the survey. While into Zones which are clustered into Woredas (Districts). Kebeles recording the ethnobotanical data, the following factors were (Villages) are the smallest administrative units within the Woredas. considered: The study area covered the cocoyam belt between latitudes 06°20.301′N and 07°25.213′ N and longitudes 035°29.829′E and 1.
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