Abstract
Arisaema schimperianum
(Schott) is an underutilized crop grown in the Gamo highlands of Ethiopia. It supports the food security and livelihoods of local people, while its management and utilization constitute an essential component of ethnobotanical knowledge and food culture within local communities. This study was intended to document the indigenous knowledge of local people concerning the production and utilization of the crop and its uses. A mixed sampling strategy was used for data collection: purposive sampling for districts and kebeles, random sampling for household heads, and a combined purposive and snowball sampling approach to select knowledgeable elders for the study. Ethnobotanical data were collected from a total of 357 informants: 318 through semi-structured interviews, 30 through focus group discussions, and nine through key informant interviews. The results revealed that local people recognize the diversity of
A. schimperianum
landraces and their associated folk names and classify them. Approximately two-thirds of respondents identified landraces based on morphometric attributes; approximately four-fifths cited the plant as a food crop, and a small fraction (13%) cited it as a source of food, ethnomedicine, and ethnoveterinary medicine, while only a small minority (5%) reported it as a source of food and ethnoveterinary medicine. Planting propagules and managing the farm throughout the dormancy period highlighted growers’ tacit ecological knowledge of the plant’s phenology, while intercropping practices revealed environmentally friendly agriculture. Postharvest practices, namely pulverization and fermentation, have been pivotal traditional skills in making the crop nutritious for human consumption. The local community domesticates, manages, and continues to use the crop, which helps preserve local food traditions and biodiversity. The multiple regression output highlighted that sociodemographic factors (age, gender, education level, occupation, marital status, and family size) significantly influenced informants’ local knowledge (
F
= 78.507,
p
< 0.001). Social stigmatization, tedious culinary processes, land-use changes, and lack of promotion have been threatening the sustainability of the crop and associated traditional knowledge.