Alabaster inEthiopia
Agricultural Solutions to Food Insecurity
In working to foster health and wellness in communities across Kenya, Alabaster has seen the need for access to healthy food. In April 2022, Alabaster began working with representatives from Ethiopia and Kenya to initiate a new study of a drought-tolerant crop called Enset. Currently, Enset grows and is used for food only in Southern Ethiopia, but its potential to provide sustenance and food security across the drought-ridden East African region has been touted by agriculturists for years.
Now, Alabaster, along with Girl Child Network in Kenya, is partnering with the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute to study Enset and its ability to grow and thrive in new regions of Ethiopia and Kenya. Alabaster is proud to partner with the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute to ensure our research consortium strictly adheres to all Ethiopian access and benefit sharing laws and biologic diversity conservation guidelines. Alabaster will also be working with Enset experts from Arba Minch University in Ethiopia and researchers from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya to conduct research and community surveys to establish Enset as a solution to food insecurity in both Kenya and Ethiopia. Studying Enset and teaching communities to grow, harvest and cook with the crop could be a powerful and sustainable solution to what many fear--not being able to feed their own families and communities long-term.
