THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF QUINUA

The United Nations have declared 2013 the International Year of Quinua, a year of campaigns advocating the production and consumption of this highly nutritive crop (UN News Centre, 2013). Apart from providing a valuable basis for nutrition all over the world, it is also promoted as a source of income for small scale farmers (ibid.).

And indeed, in Bolivia, Quinua has been produced by small-scale farmers in very harsh conditions in the highlands, and it is being adapted for production in other areas of Bolivia (and the world) as well (Los Tiempos, 2 June 2013). And proudly, Bolivia has invited international buyers to visit the sites of Quinua production (El Diario, 2013).

But what is in this for Bolivia?

"As the price has risen quinoa is consumed less and less in Bolivia. It's worth more to them [the producers] to sell it or trade it for pasta and rice. As a result, they're not eating it any more", writes The Guardian (2013). This coincides with the observations I made during my fieldwork in Bolivia. With its international popularity, Quinua has become much more expensive than other staple foods.

In Bolivia, it is now valued by middle- and upper-class families as a healthy food. And also the internal supply chain is changing – while Quinua used to be sold and bought at the traditional markets, the urban elites prefer to buy it already packed in the trendy supermarkets.

The consumption of Quinua is changing markedly, from a traditional staple food to a global trendy health food. And these changes will have negative impacts on the sustainability of the production of this grain, which is still mainly produced in the fragile ecosystems of the Andes.

So what needs to be done for the boom of Quinua to be ecologically and socially sustainable is to work on its production and distribution as well. Only if the sustainable production of this crop is fostered in different regions of the world, the Andean ecosystems can survive this boom.

Quinua has been promoted as “The golden grain, a gift of the Andes to the world” (Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, 2012). And indeed, Quinua has been taken from Bolivia like a gift, like gold has been taken since colonial times, without any promises for benefits for Bolivia. So the Bolivians have to be very careful with this gift – they have to know its value and insist on Quinua being traded on fair terms and being produced in an ecologically sustainable manner, if they don’t want the Quinua boom to sack Bolivia of its Golden grain.

El Diario (2013). De varios continentes llegaron compradores de Quinua real Boliviana. Retrieved from

http://www.eldiario.net/noticias/2013/2013_05/nt130510/agraria.php?n=99&-de-varios-continentes-llegaron-compradores-de-quinua-real-boliviana

Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (2012). Quinua – grano de Oro, un regalo de los Andes al mundo. La Paz

Guardian Environment Network (25 January 2013). Quinua: good, evil, or just really complicated? Retrieved from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/25/quinoa-good-evil-complicated

Los tiempos (2 June 2013). Quinua, un cultivo exitoso en el valle. Retrieved from

http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/local/20130602/quinua-un-cultivo-exitoso-en-el-valle_215242_463038.html

The Economist (12 May 2012). The Andes’ new cash crop. Retrieved from

http://www.economist.com/node/21554570

UN News Centre (20 February 2013). UN kicks off “Year Of Quinua” with focus on world nutrition. Retrieved from

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44184&Cr=quinoa&Cr1=#.UbWlssXmT_t