Review on contribution of indigenous food preparation and preservation techniques to attainment of food security in Ethiopian

Abstract

One of the main challenges facing Ethiopia today is ensuring food security, as the country demands more food than before with the increase in population. Although the country's production is much lower than the national demand, there are high postharvest food losses, largely due to limited food processing, preservation, and storage capacity. Universities and research centers in the country had been done and doing research on the postharvest activities to assure effective and sustainable methods of food security enhancement strategy. In contrast, most of the strategies and technologies they develop never get implemented by farmers as they still rely on indigenous knowledge for postharvest activities. Although people are using indigenous knowledge, their contributions and potentials in food processing, preservation, and storage are underestimated. However, indigenous methods of food preparation, preservation, and storage are time tested and have been used by locals people over generation to preserve their produce after harvest, thereby serving as a survival strategy. Moreover, the country is blessed with various types of wild edible plants and also possesses diverse indigenous knowledge systems for their processing, preservation, and storage. These indigenous foods are inexpensive to use, safe, nutritious, and thus boosting overall food security. Therefore, the aim of this review paper is to document indigenous knowledge of food storage, processing, and preservation in the country. This could help as a gateway to verify and support indigenous knowledge with latest technologies and promote their role in attainment of food security.