In Aiye’s Garden. Propagation and Processing of Enset in the Gamo Highlands

Synopsis

In Aiye’s Garden is a film in the Guardians of Productive Landscapes series (editor Ivo Strecker). Enset, which is related to the banana plant, is very drought resistant and a good source of carbohydrates (in the stem and underground bulb). Enset has been farmed from time immemorial in the Gamo Highlands of southern Ethiopia, where women are the main cultivators. The film focuses on Aiye, the filmmaker’s grandmother, who shares her knowledge about the enset plant, and shows how it is possible to produce good organic food by using simple farming tools and natural fertilizers. We see how she and a young kinswoman cultivate (using animal dung and organic waste to fertilize the plants), propagate (generating suckers from the corm), harvest (digging up the plant) and process (scraping and fermentating) the enset, and finally produce a variety of nutritious dishes. Eyob Defersha