Status of Black Cumin (Nigella Sativa L.) Research and Production in Ethiopia; A Review

Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) in family Rannunculaceae is one of the most important earliest cultivated plants in history of spices with worldwide distribution. The miracle seed has been used by millions of people to treat various ailments for centuries in different parts of world as it contains essential macro and micronutrients which play vital roles as structural and functional components of metaloproteins and enzymes in the living cells. It is produced in most parts of Ethiopia and its uses are diverse from spices and medicinal aspects. The country generated 1.55 million USD in 2009/10 crop season from export of 801 MT cumin seeds in addition to huge domestic consumption. Since black cumin is high value spice and medicinal crop higher attention were given by national spice research sector. Ethiopia is one of the centers of diversity of black cumin. From entries of black cumin local cultivars grown 84 accessions have been collected by IBC from potential production areas/agro ecologies and under maintenance. Various reports indicated there is significant variability among entries in their vegetative performance, yield, and yield components and their reaction to pests. So far, improved varieties; Darbera, Dershaye, Eden have been released for users. However, with huge potential (production and export), the production and productivity of this spice crop remained very low due to a number of challenges; shortage of improved variety, traditional production, less awareness and inferior attention on its importance, lack of processing factory and market. Updated information on current status of black cumin production, productivity, market, potentials and prospects in the country is also lacking. This helps to give updated image for producers and policy makers and to give possible direction of black cumin revitalization. Therefore, this paper reviews the research activities conducted and achievements in different disciplines so far, the status of current production and the challenges and future prospects in the country. Status of Black Cumin (Nigella Sativa L.) Research and Production in Ethiopia; A Review International Journal of Forestry and Horticulture Page | 21 structural and functional components of metalloproteins and enzymes in the living cells (Ansari et al., 2004) that is why it can give us medicinal value. Recently, industry facilities based on the evaluation of medicinal and aromatic plants in which included the black cumin. Industrialists emphasize that the demand to fixed oil of black cumin is much and so, the necessity of increasing local production for the supply of raw material (Yilmaz, 2008). For this reason, black cumin is a plant having potential to be produced in producing countries in the future like Ethiopia. As sited yimam, 2015. In Ethiopia black cumin is the second cash crop exported next to ginger, (The spice sector strategy committee, 2010). The country exported at a value of 1.18 USD kgG1 but imported 5.80 USD kgG1. This shows that there is a wide room for black cumin production and Ethiopia has about 12% share in the world market. However, 99% of the produce consumed locally. Due to the increased demand of black cumin seed for local consumption and other importance’s, such as oil and oleoresin for medicinal purposes in the world and also in Ethiopia, its export market, its potentiality in crop diversification, income generation and its importance to reduce the risk of crop failure and others made black cumin as a best alternative crop under Ethiopian smaller land holdings. In Ethiopia production is normally by subsistence farmers, total area under spices production is estimated to be 90,959 ha. Of this area, 9, 204 ha of land were covered by Ethiopian caraway and black Cumin in 2003 with production of 5,887 tons (MoARD, 2003). But in major black cumin producing regions of SNNP, Oromia and Amhara regions 42,012.00 quintal black cumin produced with in 13,672.52 ha of land, (Ministry of Trade and Industry, 2010). According to MoA produced in the year 2012, 9533 ton/cumin in 5336 ha of land. And then according to Ethiopian Investment Agency, (2015) annual production of black cumin increased rapidly from the previous low production level to 18000 metric ton seed produced 2014/15 production season. From the vast majority of Ethiopia’s black cumin exports go to Arab countries, which, together with other predominantly Muslim countries, accounted in 2008 for some 98% of national exports. Sudan overtook Saudi Arabia as the main export destination in 2007 and by 2008 it accounted for almost one half of all official exports. It is uncertain how reliable this market is and whether exports can be maintained at current levels. Value-adding to cumin in Ethiopia is low, with all exports being made in the form of whole grain (Ethiopian Investment Agency, 2010; Ostlund, 2002; Yazachew, 2011). However, the share of spices export in total export earnings of Ethiopia has in general remained negligible (< 1%) from the total export earnings. Ethiopia’s export of spices for the recently completed 2009/10 shows that ginger, turmeric and cumin are the leading export commodities with these cumin shares 8.4%. In terms of volume, the export of cumin accounted (7.9%) and ranked 3. In value terms, ginger claimed a higher share of 62% of total spice export, followed by cumin seed (13.7%). In 2009/10, export of cumin was 801 MT valued at 1.55 million USD. Based on the trade statistics descriptive information, white cumin (WC) is a negligible export with a share of 2.4% in volume and 0.98% in value terms of total cumin export from Ethiopia in 2009/10 when we see its volume Black cumin accounts 781,292.50 kg while White Cumin 19,336.00 kg and also its value of BC, USD 1,539,859.00 while WC, 15,195.20 (yimer, 2010). Since black cumin is found in different parts of Ethiopia at various altitude ranges it shows there is a potential to grow black cumin in wide agro ecology and also preferred for the existence of genetic diversity of black cumin species. However, there is no enough information about even for 84 conserved accessions of 34, 24, 10, 9 and 7 accessions collected from Oromia, Amhara, Benshangul Gumuz, Tigray and South Nation’s Nationality Peoples Regions respectively, (Birhanu, 2015); about their genetic diversity of these herbs has been generated for the Ethiopian black cumin population. One of the important factors restricting their large-scale production and development of better varieties is that very little information is available about their genetic diversity, inter and intra-specific variability and genetic relationships among these species. Despite the country’s favorable environmental condition for its production and its importance, black cumin cropping system, as a sole crop has not been practiced mostly. In addition, recommended varieties were not sufficiently identified and introduced to the farmers for all growing areas, little attention has been given to improve its production and productivity and hence, it remained an underutilized crop. Status of Black Cumin (Nigella Sativa L.) Research and Production in Ethiopia; A Review International Journal of Forestry and Horticulture Page | 22 Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review current status of black cumin to give updated image for producers and policy makers and to give possible direction of the cumin revitalization. And also; to give summary of reviews, the research activities conducted and achievements in different disciplines so far, the status of current production, research achievements done and the challenges and future prospects in the country to put clear image and to give research direction on status of black cumin production in Ethiopia. 2. BIOLOGY OF BLACK CUMIN 2.1. Morphology of Black Cumin Nigella sativa is an annual flowering plant grows at 20-90 cm tall, with finely divided leaves; the flowers are white, yellow, pink, pale blue or pale purple color, with 5-10 petals. The fruit is a large and inflated capsule consists of 3-7 united follicles, each containing several seeds (Goreja, 2003). Seeds are small dicotyledonous, trigonus, angular, tubercular, black externally and white inside, odor slightly aromatic and taste bitter (Warrier et al., 2004). Germination is epigeal and takes 10-15 days, in temperate climates black cumin starts flowering about 100 days after sowing and seed reaches maturity 50 days later. In warmer climates, flowering may start 8-10 weeks after germination. Flowering is protandrous and pollination is believed to be mainly by insects. The flowering starts from the tip and progresses down to the bottom, (Miheretu, 2016). In older flowers the stigmas bend down and self-pollination may occur, N. sativa responds favorably to fertilizers. Plants are more hairy with smaller flowers and more tuberculate fruits. Propagation and planting of N.sativa can easily by seed. Seed is broadcast as seedlings are too fragile for transplanting, but seed may also be sown in peat blocks. A row spacing of 15-40 cm is common. In Ethiopia, N. sativa is often practiced intercropped with barley and wheat (Ahmed and Haque, 1986).