Teff Seed Bank 

Teff is a popular crop in Amhara region. In the villages of Kalu teff is often seen as a cash crop, only eaten if the quality is not good enough for sale. To ensure that everybody manages to sow some of this valuable crop, the village Gindrkore in the Kebele of Addis Alem has a seed bank, or ‘kre’. 

“The seed bank started in 1984”, explains the village elder, at whose house the ‘kre’ is based. “Initially each family of the village contributed money and collectively we bought our first load of teff. Now, we hand out an equal amount of teff to use for seed at planting time, which is in early August for teff. At harvest time, everybody commits the same amount, 3 large can-fulls of teff to the bank where it is stored for up to 9 months until it is planting season again.” 

“The teff is stored in my house in old oil drums. It is a crop that stores well. That is one of the reasons why we chose teff as a seed bank crop. Other crops like sorghum and maize are easily attacked by pests, even in storage, so it is better that everybody is responsible for their own seeds of these crops.” 

“The ‘kre’ has different purposes. When somebody dies, for example, I can give some teff to the family, who can use it to make food for people who come to the funeral. I can also sell some of the teff and give the money to the family of the deceased, if they are facing hardship.” 

“The main advantage of storing the teff here is that nobody can eat the teff, even in times of hunger. This way the teff is kept for seed and there system ensures that everybody in the village has seed to plant in August.” 

“We would like to carry out the same system for other types of seeds. But there is the storage problem, and besides that, we don’t have the financial capacity at the moment. We couldn’t ask people to contribute money for another seed bank right now because people are too poor.”