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Teff
Scientific name:
Eragrostis tef
Order/Family:
Cyperales: Poaceae
Local names:
Teff (Amharic); Taffi (Oromo); Taff (Tigrigna)
Common names:
Lovegrass / Annual Bunch Grass (English) / Mil éthiopien (French).
Pests and Diseases:
African armyworm  Purple witchweed 

The African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta)

It is an occasional but seriously destructive pest on teff in Ethiopia. It causes serious damage to young plants in years of armyworm outbreaks. The caterpillars feed on the leaves eating them down to the midrib. Outbreaks usually start during May in the southern provinces of Ethiopia. During the main growing season they move northwards.

What to do:
  • Monitor regularly field margins, low areas where plants have lodged, beneath plant debris around the base of plants, on the ground, and underneath the plant leaves. Check daily young crops if conditions are known to be favourable to the pest.
  • Spray Bt or botanicals such as neem and pyrethrum extracts. Spray when caterpillars are small. Once caterpillars are mature (about 3 to 3.5 cm long) they may have cause serious damage and it may no longer be economical to treat the crop. For more information on (neem click here, for pyrethrum click here and for Bt click here)
  • Conserve and encourage natural enemies. For more information on natural enemies click here
  • Practise field sanitation. For more information on field sanitation click here
African armyworm
© University of Arkansas
General Information and Agronomic Aspects
Geographical Distribution of Teff in Africa
Teff or tef (Eragrostis tef) is a species of lovegrass native to northeastern Africa. It has an attractive nutrition profile, being high in dietary fibre and iron and providing some protein and calcium. It is similar to millet and quinoa in cooking, but the seed is much smaller. Teff is believed to have originated in Ethiopia between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE. (Germer 1985).
The word tef is thought to originate from the Amharic word "teffa", which means lost (due to small size of the grain), or from the Arabic word "tahf" used by Semites in South Arabia.
Teff is an important food grain in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is used to make injera. Because of its small seeds (less than 1 mm diametre), a person can hold enough to sow an entire field in 1 hand. This property makes teff particularly suited to a semi-nomadic lifestyle.










Nutritive Value per 100 g of edible Portion
Raw or Cooked Teff Food
Energy
(Calories / %Daily Value*)		 Carbohydrates
(g / %DV) 		Fat
(g / %DV) 		Protein
(g / %DV) 		Calcium
(g / %DV) 		Phosphorus
(mg / %DV) 		Iron
(mg / %DV) 		Potassium
(mg / %DV) 		Vitamin A
(I.U)		 Vitamin C
(I.U)		 Vitamin B 6
(I.U)		 Vitamin B 12
(I.U)		 Thiamine
(mg / %DV) 		Riboflavin
(mg / %DV) 		Ash
(g / %DV)
Teff cooked 101 / 5% 19.9 / 7% 0.7 / 1% 3.9 / 8% - - - - 2.0 IU / 0% - 0.1 / 5% 0.0 / 0% 0.2 / 12% 0.0 / 2% 0.7
Teff uncooked 367 / 18% 73.1 / 24% 2.4 / 4% 13.3 / 27% 180.0 / 18% 429 / 43% 7.6 / 42% 427 / 12% 9.0 IU / 0% - 0.5 / 24% - 0.4 / 26% 0.3 / 16% 2.4
*Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower, depending on your calorie needs.


Climate conditions, soil and water management:
It is adapted to environments ranging from drought stress to water logged soil conditions. Maximum teff production occurs at altitudes of 1800 to 2100 m, with a temperature range of 10 to 27 °C. Average annual rainfall is about 750-1000 mm in the central Ethiopian highlands. Maximum rainfall in the area of cultivation is about 2500 mm. However, teff could produce good yields at much lower annual rainfalls: for most cultivars 300-500 mm of rainfall per growing season is adequate. Early maturing varieties (60-75 days) can do with less than 300 mm of seasonal rainfall. Teff is day length sensitive and flowers best during 12 hours of daylight.

Propagation and Planting:
Ethiopian farmers grow teff either as a staple or as a standby. As a staple, they plant it like other cereals, but they normally sow it late and harvest it well into the dry season. As a standby, they wait until their main crops maize, sorghum, or maybe wheat shows signs of failing. Then they sow a fast-maturing tef as a backup source of sustenance in case of disaster. (Lost Crops of Africa: Vol. I: Grains (1996).

Husbandry:
Teff requires little care once it is established. Its rapid growth stifles most weeds; few diseases and pests attack it; and it is said to produce well without added nutrients. However, in most places teff will respond to fertilisers. In Ethiopia, large yield improvements can be achieved by applying techniques that are already known: careful land preparation, use of selected seeds, fertilisation, sowing and weeding at the optimum time, and disease and pest control, for example. (Lost Crops of Africa: Vol. I: Grains (1996).

Harvesting:
Teff threshes well with standard methods and equipment. Very early-maturing types are ready to harvest in 45-60 days; early types in 60-120 days; and late types in 120-160 days.

Yields range from 300 to 3,000 kg per hectare, or even more. Although the national average in Ethiopia is 910 kg per hectare, yields of 2,000-2,200 kg per hectare are considered routinely attainable if good agronomic practices are carefully followed. Yields of 2,000 kg per hectare have been achieved on South African farms also, although storms have sometimes levelled the fields, resulting in large losses.

The grain is easy to store and will survive for many years in traditional storehouses without damage by insects. This makes it a valuable safeguard against famine. (Lost Crops of Africa: Vol. I: Grains (1996).
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Information on Pests
Teffs rapid growth stifles most weeds and few diseases and pests attack it.

The African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta)

It is an occasional but seriously destructive pest on teff in Ethiopia. It causes serious damage to young plants in years of armyworm outbreaks. The caterpillars feed on the leaves eating them down to the midrib. Outbreaks usually start during May in the southern provinces of Ethiopia. During the main growing season they move northwards.

African armyworm
African armyworm (Spodotera exempta). Mature caterpillars measure up to 4 cm.

© University of Arkansas
More Information on African armyworm
What to do:
  • Monitor regularly field margins, low areas where plants have lodged, beneath plant debris around the base of plants, on the ground, and underneath the plant leaves. Check daily young crops if conditions are known to be favourable to the pest.
  • Spray Bt or botanicals such as neem and pyrethrum extracts. Spray when caterpillars are small. Once caterpillars are mature (about 3 to 3.5 cm long) they may have cause serious damage and it may no longer be economical to treat the crop. For more information on (neem click here, for pyrethrum click here and for Bt click here)
  • Conserve and encourage natural enemies. For more information on natural enemies click here
  • Practise field sanitation. For more information on field sanitation click here
back to Index
Information Source Links
  • Germer, Renate (1985). Flora des pharaonischen Ägypten. Mainz: von Zabern. ISBN 3805306202.
  • Insect pests of cereals in Ethiopia. www.ethiopia.ipm-info.org
  • Lost Crops of Africa: Volume I: Grains (1996). NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL Division on Policy and Global Affairs Development, Security, and Cooperation. Free online-version available: National Academies Press: www.nap.edu
  • Nutrition Data www.nutritiondata.com.
  • Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia www.en.wikipedia.org
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Teff
© Courtesy EcoPort (http://www.ecoport.org): L.E. Nielsen
Predator
Animal that attacks and feeds on other animals, such as an insect (e.g. ladybird beetle), bird or spider feeding on pest insects.
Cultivar
Cultivar is a plant variety. It is a group of similar plants which through their structural features and performance can be identified from other varieties within the same species.
IPM
A combination of chemical and biological control methods, based on the concept of economic tresholds. Pest management in organic farming uses many biological control methods developed as par of IPM.