DOI: 10.11648/j.scif.20260205.12 ISSN: 3070-6289

Enset Xanthomonas Wilt in Ari Zone, Southern Ethiopia: Epidemiology, Disease Risk Factors, Food-Security Impacts, and Integrated Management Strategies—A Review

Daniel Abebe
Show PDF Cite
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a vital food-security and livelihood crop in southern Ethiopia, supporting household food availability, livestock feeding, income generation, and resilience to food shortages. However, production is increasingly threatened by Xanthomonas wilt, a destructive bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas vasicola PV. musacearum, characterized by rapid leaf yellowing, wilting, vascular discoloration, and eventual plant death. This review synthesizes available evidence on the epidemiology, distribution, risk factors, food-security impacts, and integrated management of enset Xanthomonas wilt in Ari Zone, southern Ethiopia. The disease is driven by interactions among pathogen, host, environment, and farming practices. Key risk factors include infected planting materials, contaminated cutting tools, movement of diseased plant residues, close plant spacing, and poor field sanitation. The disease reduces enset stands, destroys mature plants, increases production costs, and limits the availability of planting materials, thereby threatening household food supplies and farmer livelihoods. Effective management requires an integrated approach combining healthy planting materials, early detection, removal and destruction of infected plants, tool sanitation, restricted movement of planting materials, improved field hygiene, farmer awareness, and community-based disease surveillance. Further research is needed to identify resistant or tolerant landraces and to develop locally appropriate management strategies for Ari Zone.

More from our Archive