Atlas Final Web Version 6_14

What do people grow for consumption?
Cereals are primary
only in particular niches in SNNNPR and Oromia Regions. Even
of teff is relatively limited, with most teff sold in order to generate
here, cereals run enset a close second as a food source. On the
The left-hand map serves to show just how cereals-based Ethiopia
other hand, enset is an important secondary staple in a wider
is. Enset is the only substantial non-cereal main staple, and then
area, and so are sweet potatoes. The right-hand map shows
- perhaps surprisingly -
Main food crop grown for consumption
that rural consumption
cash for purchase of cheaper cereals and other necessities.
Where herders grow no crops (white areas of the main map) it is
still cereals - bought on the market - that are the basis of the diet,
more than milk. (See Diet section for more on what people eat.)
Crop Production & Livelihoods
Type of food crop
None
Cereals
Enset
Root crops
No Data
To eat your harvest or to sell? The special nature of teff
Teff is by some margin the most expensive cereal, because it is the most widely preferred
and also the most difficult to produce, requiring much soil preparation. Teff is widely
spread but grown in very different amounts in different localities relative to other
crops. Where consumption is comparatively high, i.e. on average less than 50% is sold,
this is usually because teff is a relatively minor crop, grown with a view to occasional
Proportion of teff production
that is sold
Percentage of teff
production sold
75%
No data
consumption during
the year. Elsewhere
there is more
concentration on teff
and a higher degree
of sales, and in special
Notes: This map shows which type of crop grown in the livelihood zone contributes most to kilocalories
consumed, for an average household. The analysis deals with consumption of own crop production only. Imports
from other areas are excluded. See markets section for more on the contribution of purchased food.
areas it is the ‘cash
crop’, with less than a
quarter consumed.
24 The Livelihoods Atlas for Ethiopia The Livelihoods Integration Unit