And it usually produces grain in bad seasons as well as good-an invaluable attribute for poor farmers and of special benefit to locations beset by changeable conditions. Even in its current state it gives fairly good yields-about the same as wheat under traditional farming in Ethiopia. It grows well under difficult conditions, many of them poorly suited to other cereals. Tef has much more promise than has been previously thought. These days scientists in Ethiopia and a few other countries are beginning to seriously study the plant and its products. The new appreciation of tef is also extending into the research community. Many cities (including Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Rome, and Frankfurt, not to mention Tel Aviv) now have restaurants that rely on injera, as well as the convivial communal dining it fosters. This is because Ethiopian restaurants have recentlyīecome popular in both Europe and North America. Commercial production has begun in both the United States and South Africa, and international markets are opening up. Now, however, the use of tef as a cereal for humans is transcending the boundaries of Ethiopia. Also, the plant is widely grown as a forage for grazing animals in South Africa and Australia. Some has long been produced for food in Yemen, Kenya (near Marsabit), Malawi, and India, for example. The plant can certainly be grown in many countries. Tef is so overwhelmingly important in Ethiopia that its absence elsewhere is a mystery. The area cultivated rose from less than 40 percent of Ethiopia's total cereal area in 1960 to more than 50 percent in 1980. Indeed, farmers have steadily increased their plantings in recent years. Unlike many of the species in this book, tef is not in decline.

For the middle and upper classes it is the preferred staple for the poor it is a luxury they generally cannot afford. People tear off pieces and use them to scoop up spicy stews that constitute the main meals. Most tef is made into injera, a flat, spongy, and slightly sour bread that looks like a giant bubbly pancake the size of a serving tray. In that area, tef contributes about two-thirds of the protein to a typical diet.

The grain is especially popular in the western provinces, where people prefer it to all other cereals and eat it once or twice (occasionally three times) every day. Each year, Ethiopian farmers plant almost 1.4 million hectares of tef, 1 and they produce 0.9 million tons of grain, or about a quarter of the country's total cereals. There, however, its production exceeds that of most other cereals. Tef (Eragrostis tef) is a significant crop in only one country in the world-Ethiopia.

Tef 250 activities