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| − | Gesho (Rhamnus prinoides) cultivation in Northern Ethiopia, Tigray
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| − | Classification
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| − | Family: Rhamnaceae
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| − | Genus: Rhamnus
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| − | Species: Rhamnus prenoides L'Hér
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| − | Gesho is a perennial shrub or bushy tree with red berries or fruits. It was first described by French botanist Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1789.
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| − | Classification based on different criteria gesh plants can be classified as:
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| − | 1. Based on their leaves: large leaves and narrow/small leaves
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| − | 2. Fruits: big fruits and small in number and small fruits and numerous fruits.
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| − | Gesho has a considerable value in Ethiopia. It is one of the most and precious crops used for industrial uses both locally for domestic use and industrially. It is used for different local and fabricated products.
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| − | It is used to prepare or make:
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| − | Tella or siwa: this local drink is made from gesho as a major ingredient. Gesho leaves are sun dried and pounded with mortar and pestle into flour. Barley malt is prepared and sun dried and ground. These two ingredients are mixed, the proportion varies from person to person, and fermented 3-5 days on average. Finger millet or in other areas sorghum and maize flour are baked, and finally, mixed with the fermented solution locally called ‘Tijie in Tigrigna and Tinsis in Amharic’. Then after 1-2 days of stay and fermentation the tella can be filtered and supplied for drink locally called ‘Guesh’ and may stay for 3-4 days after filtration for “Tsiray”.
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| − | Tej: this local drink is basically prepared from honey and gesho.
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| − | Gesho production is becoming an important source of income for subsistence farmers in Ethiopia. gesho producers supply their produce to retailers, exporters, tella brewers and tej brewers. Due to the increasing demand of the crop, the price of gesho is getting higher and higher, though is disadvantage for tella and tej brewers whom their livelihood is based on.
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| − | Gesho plantation and management
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| − | Gesho is propated by seed and transplanting. It can grow as wild plant and cultivated plant. Seeds are collected and sun dried, they are sown on a well prepared seed bed. Seedlings are raised for one season, and then transplanted to well prepared holes. After one year, gesho plants can be harvested. During the early growth stages, weeding is very important, inter-rows should be free of weeds, and ring type earthing up is prepared to hold water during the dry period. Irrigation is very critical especially, during the dry periods help plants survive from water stress. Common insect pests and diseases in Ethiopia are not identified and characterized yet.
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| − | Harvesting: gesho leaves after they reach for harvest (picking the leaves) are harvested or collected by picking manually with hand or by cutting from the bottom with the shoot. After the leaves are collected, they are dried on sun for better quality. Sun dried leaves have good green-yellowish color, but if the leaves are not well dried or stored on shade, the leaves have dark brown to blackish color which indicates poor quality.
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| − | In the raya society, gesho plants are cut from the bottom together with the shoot, and chopped with konchera and dried.
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