User:David Vetterli/sandbox/Major Challenges and Prospects of Teff

Major Challenges and Prospects of Teff
The major challenges in teff production are its low yield and high susceptibility to lodging. Efforts to conventionally breed teff towards higher yields started in the 1950s and led to an average annual increase in yield of 0.8%. However, no considerable improvements concerning the susceptibility of lodging have been made. This is mainly due to the fact that the crop is hardly eaten elsewhere than Ethiopia and Eritrea. Because of that lack of a large international market, breeders outside these countries have largely neglected the crop. In 1996, the McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program started funding a first major teff research programme in Ethiopia. The goal, to breed high-yielding varieties was reached by the development of the variety Quencho, which has been widely adopted by farmers in Ethiopia.. In 2006, the Syngenta Foundation started funding the Teff Improvement Project led by Dr. Zerihun Tadele at the University of Bern in collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). That marks the first international approach to improve the properties of the orphan crop teff. A first important achievement of the project was the sequencing of the teff genome to enable marker-assisted breeding. At the same time a gene for semi-dwarfism and lodging tolerance was detected. An ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS)-mutagenized population was then used to breed the first semi-dwarf lodging-tolerant teff line, called kegne. In 2015, researchers tested 28 new teff varieties and identified three promising lines that generated yields of up to 4.7 t/ha. This would be a huge increase in yield, as currently the national average productivity is only about 1.7 t/ha. Meanwhile, the "Teff Improvement Project" marked a milestone by releasing their first teff variety Tesfa to the Ethiopian markets in March 2017. Other cultivars tolerant to soil acidity, salinity, and non-selective herbicides are still in the pipeline at various stages of laboratory research, field testing and crossing. However, other investigations and improvements have to be conducted in order that teff can further contribute significantly to food security of the fast growing population at the Horn of Africa. Areas of focus should include: "(i) improving productivity of teff; (ii) overcoming the lodging malady; (iii) developing climate-smart and appropriate crop and soil management options; (iv) developing tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought and soil acidity; (v) developing suitable pre- and post-harvest mechanization technologies suitable for smallholder farmers as well as commercial farms; (vi) food processing and nutrition aspects with special attention to the development of different food recipes and value-added products; (vii) developing crop protection measures against diseases, insect pests and weeds; and (viii) improving or strengthening socio-economics and agricultural extension services."