Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is the traditional staple food of Sidama people who live in Rift Valley
lowlands to highlands in southwest Ethiopia. Enset is drought resistant, but it matures slowly, requires
substantial manure inputs from cattle, and intensive processing. Maize, introduced to Sidamaland in the midtwentieth
century, is common in midlands and lowlands. Maize matures rapidly and provides more kcal/kg
than enset, but it is prone to failure in dry years and requires chemical fertilizer, which is subject to global
market price fluctuations. We compare cultural ecology, productivity, failure, and resilience of enset and maize
in 410 farms across four Sidama ecological zones. The risks and benefits of enset and maize are complexly
associated with variable local environments. Enset offers drought-resistant produce that, with sufficient manure
inputs, is adequate for subsistence in the wet highlands, but its performance is more variable elsewhere.
Fertilized, maize yields larger harvests than enset, but vulnerability to rainfall and global processes create
special challenges. Maize and enset appear to be in different adaptive cycle phases: maize grows quickly and
maize farms rebounded from crop loss within four years. Only half of enset farms recovered within six years
after crop failure, complicating farming decisions in an environment with tremendous localized variation. In
general, the Sidama zone shows a pattern of regional diversity with local specialization for maize only, enset
only, or mixed maize and enset cultivation. In some areas maize has become a preferred crop and food for
younger people.