How Bolivian Farmers Made the World Crave Quinoa

[Judi Lynn]

How Bolivian Farmers Made the World Crave Quinoa

By Jim Yong Kim Oct 13, 2013 5:00 PM CT

On a recent trip to Bolivia, I traveled by helicopter with President Evo Morales to Santa Ana de Chipaya, a settlement almost 13,000 feet (3,960 meters) above sea level that is home to the last 3,800 speakers of the Chipaya language. There, we played soccer with members of the community, who then served us a lunch of lamb and quinoa, a grain-like crop that people in and around Chipaya have grown for thousands of years.

The quinoa was bursting with flavor, and so fresh that it still had tiny bits of dirt in it, making it crunchy to eat. Ignoring his lamb, Morales looked up as he ate and said, “This is real quinoa.”

I’m sure many Americans and Europeans, who have become caught up in the quinoa craze of recent years, would have loved this treat. But just two decades ago, Bolivia’s quinoa crop had almost no international market. The phenomenon in the U.S. and Europe represents a triumph of delivery -- of using trial and error, course-correction and innovative partnerships to raise demand for the grain throughout the world. It is instructive to look back at how the groundwork for this triumph took shape.

Farmers in Bolivia’s southern altiplano, a semi-arid plain, have difficulty growing much of anything. Their remoteness also makes it hard to transport crops to market. Still, since before the time of the Inca Empire the indigenous farmers in the Nor Lipez province, 500 miles south of the capital La Paz, have cultivated quinoa.

More:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-13/how-bolivian-farmers-made-the-world-crave-quinoa.html

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[FrodosPet]

2. Quinoa’s Global Success Creates Quandary at Home

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/americas/20bolivia.html?_r=0

LA PAZ, Bolivia — When NASA scientists were searching decades ago for an ideal food for long-term human space missions, they came across an Andean plant called quinoa. With an exceptional balance of amino acids, quinoa, they declared, is virtually unrivaled in the plant or animal kingdom for its life-sustaining nutrients.

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Now demand for quinoa (pronounced KEE-no-ah) is soaring in rich countries, as American and European consumers discover the “lost crop” of the Incas. The surge has helped raise farmers’ incomes here in one of the hemisphere’s poorest countries. But there has been a notable trade-off: Fewer Bolivians can now afford it, hastening their embrace of cheaper, processed foods and raising fears of malnutrition in a country that has long struggled with it.

The shift offers a glimpse into the consequences of rising global food prices and changing eating habits in both prosperous and developing nations. While quinoa prices have almost tripled over the past five years, Bolivia’s consumption of the staple fell 34 percent over the same period, according to the country’s agricultural ministry.

The resulting quandary — local farmers earn more, but fewer Bolivians reap quinoa’s nutritional rewards — has nutritionists and public officials grasping for solutions.

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The children of the growers of one of the healthiest foods on earth are eating cheap processed garbage while the too cool for words people in North America and Europe enjoy the latest food fad.

[Laelth]

3. Interesting. Thanks. n/t

-Laelth