Climate Change in the Horn of Africa Drylands: Domestication of Yeheb as a Climate-Smart Agricultural Mitigation Strategy to Protect the Regional Food Chain

Abstract

Climate change is aggravating the drought in the fragile drylands of the Horn of Africa. While also is further exacerbating food security in an overharvested, overgrazed, and degraded ecosystem. Sustainable regeneration and domestication/cultivation of native flora (environmentally and culturally adapted to the region) may present an opportunity to combat ecosystem degradation and food insecurity in a hotter and drier foreseeable future. One of these indigenous plants is Yeheb, a small tree endemic to the drylands of Ethiopia and Somalia, botanically known as Cordeauxia edulis (Leguminosae). This vulnerable species produces a highly sought, tasty edible seed (‘nut’) of high nutritional and economic value. The energy value of this seed is twice that of the carob and equivalent to soybean, with a rich profile in fatty acids. The leaves exhibit unique chemical features and are an essential source of fodder, especially during the drought season. Its domestication can both diversify income and improve the livelihoods of rural people in the drought zones of the Horn of Africa. In this chapter, we demonstrate how Yeheb not only has the potential for becoming a critical stable source of food in drylands but also an ethical commodity as the next superfood in the climate-change era.