Moringa is miraculous trees are commonly used and among high value plants that belongs to the monogeneric family called Moringaceae which consists of 13 species and Moringa stenopetala is widely cultivated and distributed in the Southern Ethiopia. South omo zone is southwestern parts of Ethiopia have favorable agro-climatic conditions for cultivation of moringa stenopetela tree species. The objective of this study was to promote and assess a socio-economic significance, consumption pattern and indigenous processing practices of moringa stenopetala (Bak.f) Cuf in the area. Household interview followed by theoretical training with practical demonstration were carried out. Random sampling methods were used to select 80 agro-pastoralists, 4 kebele administrative and 4 DA’s. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The results showed that most of the households are illiterates. About 77.5% of respondents use M. stenopetala because the plant is easily available that means any poorer individual can buy the plant leaves in minimum cost or can get the plant from the back yard of any individuals. It was found that most of the local people use indigenous processing practices for leaf cooking but most of them did not know the Moringa leaf powder processing. The consumption status of Moringa was very low. About 6.25% of households were consuming Moringa as daily food. Therefore, training given on moringa processing and utilization will improve their consumption pattern in their daily diet. The finding showed that educational level of the households positively influences the consumption and indigenous processing.
Consumption pattern; Moringa stenopetala; Processing; Promotion; Utilization