AFK Insider
By Dana Sanchez
May 5, 2015
Ethiopia plans to begin exporting teff flour, a local food staple, following a 2006 government ban on exports of the gluten-free superfood, but the challenge will be how to get high prices internationally while keeping prices low locally, GeeskaAfrika reports.
An indigenous Ethiopian grain, teff may even overtake the likes of quinoa and spelt in popularity, BBC reports.
Unless it is in the form of cooked products, Ethiopian companies have been prohibited from exporting teff. Instead, Ethiopian entrepreneurs can only export injera — a pancake-shaped bread and centuries-old Ethiopian tradition — and other cooked teff products such as cakes and biscuits, according to BBC. The new initiative will allow exports of milled and packaged teff.
There’s a growing global interest in teff as a superfood, DW reports. Teff’s tiny seeds are high in amino acids, protein, iron and calcium, and they’re gluten-free. Demand is growing in Ethiopia’s large diaspora — cities such as Washington, D.C.
Prized for its flavor, Ethiopian teff will be produced commercially for export under tight government control on 48 farms throughout the country, according to a report in GeeskaAfrika
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