Neurolathyrism in Ethiopia is caused by food dependency on grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.). In the study
area, a large proportion of the farmers are growing grass pea since it can withstand harsh environments.
Socio-economic factors (poverty; lack of money to buy other food legumes) and environmental problems
(such as water logging and frost hazards) influence consumption of grass pea. Most of the respondents have
the idea that some chemical contained in grass pea causes a health problem. Different processing and preparation
methods are used to prepare grass pea into different food forms. The major processing methods
include washing and soaking, as the farmers apply these methods mainly because they assume that the
chemical that causes lathyrism, scientifically known as b-ODAP (b-N-oxalyl-L-a,b-diaminopropionic acid)
is reduced through washing and soaking. The farmers adopt different strategies to avoid the problem of
lathyrism such as avoiding consumption of grass pea in the form that they suspect to cause the problem,
blending/mixing with other crops, applying different processing/detoxification methods. Since grass pea is
consumed with a fear of lathyrism, future research should concentrate either on developing grass pea varieties
with safe level of b-ODAP content or improving the traditional/indigenous processing methods.