http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jan/23/quinoa-ethiopia-teff-super-grain
Move over quinoa, Ethiopia's teff poised to be next big super grain
Rich in calcium, iron and protein, gluten-free teff offers Ethiopia the
promise of new and lucrative markets in the west
Claire Provost and Elissa Jobson in Addis Ababa
theguardian.com, Thursday 23 January 2014 03.00 EST
At Addis Ababa airport, visitors are greeted by pictures of golden grains,
minute ochre-red seeds and a group of men gathered around a giant pancake.
Billboards boast: "Teff: the ultimate gluten-free crop!"
Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries, well-known for its
precarious food security situation. But it is also the native home of teff,
a highly nutritious ancient grain increasingly finding its way into
health-food shops and supermarkets in Europe and America.
Teff's tiny seeds - the size of poppy seeds - are high in calcium, iron and
protein, and boast an impressive set of amino acids. Naturally gluten-free,
the grain can substitute for wheat flour in anything from bread and pasta
to waffles and pizza bases. Like quinoa, the Andean grain, teff's superb
nutritional profile offers the promise of new and lucrative markets in the
west.
In Ethiopia, teff is a national obsession. Grown by an estimated 6.3
million farmers, fields of the crop cover more than 20% of all land under
cultivation. Ground into flour and used to make injera, the spongy
fermented flatbread that is basic to Ethiopian cuisine, the grain is
central to many religious and cultural ceremonies. Across the country, and
in neighbouring Eritrea, diners gather around large pieces of injera, which
doubles as cutlery, scooping up stews and feeding one another as a sign of
loyalty or friendship - a tradition known as gursha.
Outside diaspora communities in the west, teff has flown under the radar
for decades. But growing appetite for traditional crops and booming
health-food and gluten-free markets are breathing new life into the grain,
increasingly touted as Ethiopia's "second gift to the world", after coffee.
Sophie Kebede, a London-based entrepreneur who, with her husband, owns
Tobia Teff, a UK company specialising in the grain, says she was
"flabbergasted" when she discovered its nutritional value. "I didn't know
it was so sought after ... I am of Ethiopian origin; I've been eating injera
all my life."
The gluten-free market is the backbone of Kebede's business. Today, Planet
Organic shops in London stock 1kg bags of Tobia Teff flour (£7 each), while
300g packets of its teff breakfast cereal sit alongside milled flaxseed and
organic, sugar-free Swiss muesli, and cost £5.44 The company also sells
readymade, gluten-free teff bread with raisin, onion, sunflower and other
varieties. (Teff is available at other UK stockists).
As western consumers acquire a taste for teff, how to ensure that Ethiopia
and its farmers benefit from new global markets is a critical question.
Growing demand for so-called ancient grains has not always been a
straightforward win for poor communities. In Bolivia and Peru, reports of
rising incomes owing to the now-global quinoa trade have come alongside
those of malnutrition and conflicts over land as farmers sell their entire
crop to meet western demand.
Ethiopia's growing middle class is also pushing up demand for teff, and
rising domestic prices over the past decade have put the grain out of reach
of the poorest. Today, most small farmers sell the bulk of what they grow
to consumers in the city.
This may have helped boost incomes in some rural areas but it has had
nutritional consequences, says the government, as teff is the most
nutritionally valuable grain in the country. Estimates suggest that while
those in urban areas eat up to 61kg of teff a year, in rural areas, the
figure is 20kg. The type consumed differs too: the wealthy almost
exclusively eat the more expensive magna and white teff varieties; less
well-off consumers tend to eat less-valuable red and mixed teff, and more
than half combine it with cheaper cereals such as sorghum and maize.
The Ethiopian government wants to double teff production by 2015. Its
strategy, published in 2013, argues that the grain could play an important
role in school meals and emergency aid programmes, and help reduce
malnutrition - particularly among children and adolescents.
It notes that teff is also gluten-free, so it is well suited to address
growing global gluten-free demand, and calls on companies to start testing,
promoting and mass manufacturing teff-based products such as cakes and
biscuits.
Though Ethiopia has a fast-growing economy, it remains on the UN's list of
least-developed countries. An estimated 20% of under-fives are malnourished
or suffer stunted growth, and the UN's World Food Programme estimates the
costs of chronic malnutrition could be worth 16.5% of GDP.
The government's agricultural transformation agency aims to boost yields by
developing improved varieties of the grain, along with new planting
techniques and tools to reduce post-harvest losses.
The Syngenta Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Swiss seeds and
pesticides company, has also joined the quest for increased teff production.
Government restrictions, instituted in 2006, forbid the export of raw teff
grain, only allowing shipments of injera and other processed products. But
this could change: the goal is to produce enough teff for domestic
consumption and a strong export market, according to the government's
strategy.
In Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, dozens of women painstakingly sift
and mill teff at the factories of Mama Fresh Injera, one of the few
domestic companies that exports teff products.
Mama Fresh is a family firm that has been selling injera to top restaurants
and hotels in the Ethiopian capital for years. It also ships the flatbread
to Finland, Germany, Sweden and the US, primarily for consumption by
diaspora communities. But the company has its eye on the gluten-free
market. It aims to double exports to America in 2014, and will soon start
producing teff-based pizzas, bread and cookies.
David Hallam, trade and markets director at the UN's Food and Agriculture
Organisation, says while there is money to be made from new global markets
for traditional crops, governments have to support small-scale producers to
ensure they share the benefits of increased trade.
"Typically, these products are going to go through many hands before they
reach the shelves of Sainsbury's or wherever. There are [profit] margins at
every step, and small farmers are not necessarily well placed to bargain
with the bigger traders," says Hallam, who sees quinoa's popularity as a
cautionary tale of how export opportunities can be a mixed blessing for
poor countries.
Regassa Feyissa, an Ethiopian agricultural scientist and former head of the
national Institute for Biodiversity, warns that without careful planning,
increased teff production for export may displace other important crops for
farmers. And efforts to boost production could benefit business interests
at the expense of small farmers.
With little Ethiopian teff on the international market, farmers in the US
have started planting the crop. Farmers in Europe, Israel and Australia
have also experimented with it.
Kebede says she gets her grain from farms in southern Europe, though she
would prefer to source it from Ethiopia. "Teff is second nature to an
Ethiopian; so who better to supply it? We have this sought after grain
being grown in the country, so why can't an Ethiopian farmer benefit from
this?"
Received on Sat Feb 22 2014 - 10:03:03 EST