The Anglo-Ethiopian Society

Lecture - Two Ethiopian crop domesticates with potentials for the future and their challenges

Professor Sebsebe Demissew

Thursday 7th March 2019

5th Trapnell Lecture

17:00 – 18:00 in the Halford Mackinder Lecture Theatre, School of Geography and the Environment, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY.
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the Gottmann Room.

Ethiopia has been recognized as one of the few centres of origin and diversity of cultivated crops globally both by Nikolai I. Vavilov (Russian) and Jack Harlan (American) who pioneered the work on cultivated crops.

Among the many cultivated crops in Ethiopia, two indigenous cultivated crops, Enset (Ensete ventricosum) and Teff (Eragrostis tef), will be highlighted together with the challenges in growing them. Enset, also known as false banana, is a multipurpose crop providing a range of services such as food, forage, medicine, ritual, construction and soil protection. Teff is an annual grass species with the small grains providing a balanced nutritional value and which are also gluten free. Both crops are resilient to climate change.

These two crops collectively are utilized as a food source by the major proportion of Ethiopians (of 100 million) and occupy huge areas in the Ethiopian landscapes. Although these crops have been domesticated and cultivated by indigenous communities, both occur in the wild in other parts of Africa. There is a potential opportunity to export knowledge of how to utilise the crops to other communities in Africa.

Schedule:
17.00 – 18.00 - Lecture
18.00 – 19.00 - Drinks reception

Attendees are welcome to attend both the lecture and drinks reception.

Tickets for the event are free and can be booked through Eventbrite:

Eventbrite Tickets - 5th Trapnell Lecture - Two Ethiopian crop domesticates with potentials for the future and their challenges



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