Bolivia: Quinoa, Bolivia’s golden grain

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) accepted Bolivia’s proposal for the global promotion of quinoa, which has a high content of vitamins and proteins.

There is an economic motive behind Bolivia’s commitment to the spread of quinoa, as 46% of the world’s quinoa is produced in the South American nation. Currently, 95,218 hectares (235,289 acres) are dedicated to raising quinoa, a pseudocereal whose plants are not grasses (like cereals) but seeds that can be transformed into meal, such as quinoa and amaranth.

In 2013, crop size is expected to reach 150,000 hectares (370,658 acres), according to Bolivian Deputy Minister for Rural Development and Agriculture Víctor Hugo Vásquez.

During the past five years, Bolivia steadily has increased its quinoa production, with major increases the past three years. In 2010, the harvest totaled 22,000 tons, while it is expected to reach 44,000 tons in 2012.

“Of the total produced in 2012, 26,000 tons are for exporting and 12,000 tons are for domestic consumption. The rest is excess quinoa that will probably be smuggled into Peru,” Vásquez said.

Melquiades Veliz, the chairman of the National Council of Quinoa Traders and Producers (CONACOPROC), said about 15,000 tons of Bolivian quinoa will illegally enter Peru.

Exports of the grain have grown in recent years from 8,000 to 26,000 tons, contributing US$84.57 million to the country’s economy, according to Vásquez. A total of 52% of exports go to the U.S. market, while 12% is sold to France, 11% to the Netherlands and the remaining 25% to a variety of other countries, particularly in Europe.

The price of quinoa on the international market has almost tripled – from US$1,150 to US$3,115 – from 2006 to 2011, according to the Ministry of Rural Development and Land. In 2012, it is expected to rise to US$3,237 per ton.

To reach the cultivation level of 150,000 hectares proposed by the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Agriculture, an agricultural modernization process needs be carried out and the grain must be industrialized, according to the Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute.

The Bolivian government provided $36 million bolivianos (US$5.2 million) in credits to quinoa producers from March 2011 to August 2012. In total, Bolivia expects to invest $84 million bolivianos (US$12.2 million) in the sector, which has 70,000 producers.

Vásquez also said an International Quinoa Center will be built in Bolivia in 2013, though he didn’t specify the exact location. It will store different seed varieties of the pseudocereal.

“It will be used to preserve our variety of quinoa,” Vásquez said.

There are more than 3,000 types of wild and cultivated quinoa, with the majority found in Bolivia. The quinoa’s real variety is one of the most popular in the world. It is grown between the Uyuni and Coipasa salt flats – an arid location more than 3,600 meters (2.2 miles) above sea level – in northeastern Bolivia.

Superfood

Quinoa is also known as a “superfood” or a “supercereal,” despite being a pseudocereal. A study by King’s College in London determined the inclusion of quinoa in the diet of people with celiac disease (an allergy to the gluten in cereals) helps to regenerate the intestinal tract. In addition, a study by NASA declared it a balanced and complete food for astronauts.

One of quinoa’s major features is its high nutritional content. It has more protein than other grain, including rice, corn and wheat, according to the nutrition specialist Dr. Boris Calle. It contains 20 amino acids, 10 of which are not produced by the human body and considered to be essential.

However, quinoa also can contain saponin, a substance that can be toxic when ingested in large quantities but can be easily removed by washing and peeling the grains.

Cultivation can bring problems

The biggest downside to cultivating quinoa is the threat it can pose to the environment when carried out in an intensive manner, as it has been up to this point, according to the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) Ecology Institute’s National Herbarium of Bolivia.

Reducing the number of fallow years, or decreasing the barrier between cultivated and natural vegetation in the region prevents the soil from regenerating. The soil is exposed to water and wind erosion, resulting in a desertification process.

The department of Oruro is Bolivia’s leading producer of quinoa, followed by Potosí and La Paz and, during certain seasons, Cochabamba, Tarija and Chuquisaca. To a lesser degree, quinoa also is produced in the United States, England, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, France, Russia, Portugal, Namibia and Southeast Asia, according to the FAO.