PROJECT SUMMARY
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AMU Project code |
EXT/ITA/ERD/01/2011 |
|
Project status |
Ongoing |
|
Acronym |
AMU_EBTi |
|
Project phase |
I |
|
Partner(s)/ country(ies) |
Bio-and-Emerging Technology Institute (Ethiopia) |
|
AMU coordinating office(s) |
Research Directorate |
|
Website |
|
|
Project type |
Research |
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Project location |
Gamo highlands and AMU |
|
Target Communities |
Enset growing farmers in Gamo highlands |
|
Project coordinator |
Tesfaye Habtemariam (PhD) |
|
Project manager |
Addisu Fekadu (PhD) |
|
Total project budget (€) |
125,000 |
|
Project start |
01-Jul-2019 |
|
Project end |
01-Jun-2023 |
|
Contact person (e-mail) |
Dr. Addisu Fekadu (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) |
|
Project Management Office
|
Office of the Director for Grant and Collaborative Project Management: Dr. Thomas Torora (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) |
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is the main food source for more than 20 million Ethiopian population residing in southern, south-western and central parts of the country. The fermentation techniques and the processing tools used to process enset differ among regions and even among localities. There are so many enset processing devices reported by different research institutes and inventors, but none of them are seen adapted by the end users. Women still use the sharpen edge bamboo and knife as the most convenient but laborious option to prepare enset for fermentation. The fermentation is by far the slowest step and hardly been investigated and is prone to optimization. Furthermore, storage of the fermented product is another challenge compromising the safety of the product for consumption. Therefore, the aim of this research project will be to introduce new enset processing machines to enset growing regions. To this end, pseudostem scrapping, bulla pressing, and corm decortication machines will be co-designed and manufactured to fit local community needs. Moreover, the eight lactic acid bacterial strains (which were identified in our previous studies, Annex II) will be evaluated, and the best performing isolates will be propagated and used to prepare standardized starter culture. These starter cultures will also be used for pilot scale testing. Moreover, new storage devices will be introduced to enset growing regions and pilot trials and evaluations will be conducted for better adaptability by end users. These major optimizations will help to refine, standardize and increase the utilization of the plant. The refined technology will be immediately commercialized by interested parties.
PROJECT RELATED PUBLICATIONS
- Andeta, A.F., Debele, G.L., Ibrahim, R. (2022). Fortifying Fermenting Enset (Ensete ventricosum) with Moringa Leave and Garden Cress: Physicochemical and Microbial Profiling (Manuscript being prepared)
- Andeta, A.F., Rahmeto, M., Workineh., D., and Siraj, T., (2022). The effect of freeze drying and cryoprotectants on viability and selected functional properties of lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermented enset (manuscript being prepared)