Quinua Rural PDF

Quinua and rural livelihoods in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador
Jon Hellin and Sophie Higman

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Quinua and rural livelihoods in
Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

1 Dr Jon Hellin and Sophie Higman
11 Magdalen Road
Oxford OX4 1RW
hellin@fincahead.com

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Quiua and rural livelihoods in

Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

Executive summary 1

1 Introduction 2
2 Quiua and Andean agriculture 2
2.1 A diverse and robust grain 2
2.2 Quiua and local agricultural systems 3
2.3 The rediscovery of quiua: Malnutrition, under-nutrition and food security 4
3 Production of quiua in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador 7
3.1 How much quiua is grown? 7
3.2 Yields of quiua 9
3.3 Costs and prices 9
4 Consumption of quiua in the Andes 12
4.1 What do the figures say? 12
4.2 Romanticising an indigenous crop? 13
4.3 Consumer demand for quality quiua 14
5 Wheat imports to Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador 16
5.1 Volumes and prices 16
5.2 Impact of wheat imports on the production of quiua and other domestic crops 19
6 Exports of quiua from Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador 21
6.1 Reacting to demand in the Developed World 21
6.2 La Asociacin Nacional de Productores de Quiua (ANAPQUI), Bolivia 22
6.3 Escuelas Radiofnica Populares del Ecuador 24
7 Quiua and food security: The pitfalls of the export market 26
7.1 Were not talking about coffee and bananas 26
7.2 Natural, social and human capital: Under-appreciated resources 26
7.3 The organic dilemma 27
7.4 Quiua diversity and patents 30
7.5 Cultivation of quiua in Europe and the United States 31
8 What does the future hold? The contribution of quiua to food security 33
8.1 Programa Nacional de Apoyo Alimentario: Peru 33
8.2 The power of mimicry: Win over the urban middle classes 34
8.3 The need for new approaches 35
References 38

Annex 1 - Terms of reference 41

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Executive summary
Quinua (Chenopodium quinoa) is an annual plant found growing in the Andean region of
South America, between sea level and the heights of the Bolivian altiplano, at around 4000 m
above sea level. Quinua has long been known for its nutritional value and was highly valued
by the Incas. In the last 25 years, there has been a growing interest, on the part of scientists
and anthropologists, in quinua, particularly with respect to its contribution to food security.

One of the problems facing any study of quinuas potential and actual contribution to food
security is that there few reliable data available on the impact of quinua on farmers
livelihoods. Data suggest that the production of quinua has increased in the last 20 years,
especially in Bolivia. However, an increasing amount is for export to the developed world.

One of the biggest obstacles to the cultivation and domestic consumption of quinua is that
food preparation is very labour-intensive. In the Andean region, farmers are increasingly
obliged to work off-farm to supplement farm income. Labour availability to process quinua
for home consumption and/or sale in local markets is increasingly unavailable. Often it is far
easier to consume cheaper bread and/or pasta.

While many commentators have referred to the detrimental impacts of wheat imports on the
consumption of indigenous foods such as quinua, it is hard to support this claim with the data
available. Production of quinua and imports of wheat and wheat flour show no direct
relationship. What is undeniable is that people in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador are so
accustomed to eating bread made from imported flour that domestic consumption of quinua is
unlikely to increase dramatically in the short- and mid-term.

Faced with the difficulty of competing with wheat on the national market, current research
and development efforts seek to encourage the production and consumption of organic quinua
and its export. Case studies from Bolivia and Ecuador demonstrate that this approach is
partially successful. One of the dangers is that quinua thrives in parts of Europe and the
United States. This may undermine the market for Andean-produced quinua. There is also a
risk farmers will focus on a handful of quinua varieties that suit the export market rather than
those that offer them great food security in adverse climatic conditions.

Despite the above uncertainties and ambiguities, quinua does have an important role to play in
local peoples livelihoods. This is particularly the case in rural populations living in extreme
condition such as the Bolivian and Peruvian altiplano. Domestic consumption of quinua in
can increase if the crops image as a 3
rd
class food is improved. In the meantime, Peru has
shown that production and consumption of quinua can be stimulated if it is included in
national food programmes.

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2 Introduction
This report examines the role that quinua plays in local peoples livelihoods in Bolivia, Peru
and Ecuador. Quinua was highly valued by the Incas as a nutritious and hardy crop. After
several centuries of neglect it has been rediscovered by natural and social scientists who see
its potential in terms of its contribution to food security in the region. This reports looks at the
area planted with quinua and changes in production and consumption over the last decade.
Furthermore it examines the likely link between imported wheat and the replacement of
quinua in local peoples diets. A number of case studies of farmers who grow quinua for
export are analysed in order to assess the advantages and disadvantages of producing quinua
for a small but growing market in Europe and the United States (US).

It is important to note that much of this report is based on secondary sources. The authors
field research on quinua was largely confined to the issue of farmers producing quinua for the
export market (Sections 6 and 7). Although there are some data on quinua production,
consumption and internal markets, there is little information on the impact of quinua on
farmers livelihoods. Furthermore, data on the impact of subsidised wheat imports on food
security are not readily available. This is particularly the case with respect to imports and
national debt. Further field research is warranted to clarify the potential contribution of
quinua to food security and rural livelihoods and to gather first-hand information from
farmers on the extent to which cultivating quinua is a viable option.

3 Quinua and Andean agriculture
3.1 A diverse and robust grain
Quinua (Chenopodium quinoa), also known as quinoa, is an annual plant found growing in
the Andean region of South America, between sea level and the heights of the Bolivian
altiplano, at around 4000 m above sea level. The mature plants stand 1 to 2 m high and
produce striking purple and yellow heads of seeds, which turn brown on maturity. The grain
is small (about 2 mm across) and can be used as flour, or toasted, added to soups or made into
bread. Dried, it can be stored for up to ten years. Quinua has long been known for its
nutritional value, having a high protein content and significant amounts of many
micronutrients. For the Incas it was a staple, known as the Mother Grain and because it was
a light and nutritious food, quinua helped sustain the Inca army on its long march through the
Andes (National Research Council, 1989). It complemented the other Inca staple of freeze-
dried potatoes, known locally as chuo and like quinua, still consumed today.

As a species, quinua is highly variable. It is more a complex of sub-species, varieties and
landraces (National Research Council, 1989), which allows it to survive in an extraordinarily
wide range of harsh ecological conditions. Once established, quinua can survive levels of

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drought, salinity and frost in which other crops would perish. In Bolivia, near the famous salt
lakes of Uyuni, quinua grows in areas which receive only 200 mm of rainfall per year, in
saline soils and conditions of frost on over 200 nights per year (Sven Jacobsen, Centro
Internacional de la Papa, Lima, pers. comm.). During the day the sun dries the air
mercilessly. At night the temperature plummets to well below freezing. There are few plants
which produce a useful crop under these conditions, and thus few alternatives for farmers to
cultivate in such areas.

Largely because of its ability to survive and produce under such conditions, quinua remains
an important crop in three main regions of the Andes, all located between 3,200 and 4,200 m:
the northern Altiplano (around Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian and Peruvian border); the
southern Altiplano (around the salt flats of southern Bolivia) and the highland valleys of
central Peru, mainly around the Mantaro Valley (Gar, 2000). In these three areas alone, some
56,000 hectares (ha) of quinua were cultivated in 1998, producing about 80 % of Andean
quinua production (Aroni, 1999; Arca, 1999). Significantly less quinua is cultivated in
Ecuador.

Quinua is variable too, in the type of grain it produces. In some areas, notably southern
Bolivia, native quinua varieties tend to be large grained and bitter, with rapidly germinating
seeds and quick maturation times. Further north, there are more varieties of sweet quinua,
with small grains and a longer growing cycle (Alejandro Bonifacio, Fundacin para la
Promocin e Investigacin de Productos Andinos (PROINPA ) La Paz, Bolivia, pers. comm.).
The colour also varies widely, ranging from white through pale yellow, orange, red and black.

Despite its hardiness, Quinua is susceptible to a variety of pest and disease problems. In the
dry southern Altiplano, insect pests cause greater damage. Moving further north and with
increasing humidity, diseases such as mildew become more important. Sweet varieties in
particular, are subject to severe depredation by birds: not only do they eat the grains,
immature grains are also shaken from the seed head and wasted. Up to 25 % of the crop can
be lost this way (Juan Perez, Escuelas Radiofnica Populares del Ecuador (ERPE),
Riobamba, Ecuador, pers. comm.).
3.2 Quinua and local agricultural systems
Andean agriculture, particularly in the altiplano areas of southern Peru and Bolivia, is based
on systems of crop rotation, which emphasise diversity, environmental risk management and
food security. It is traditional to sow a mixture of quinua varieties in any one area. Some
varieties are valued for their ability to withstand drought, frost, and salinity. Other varieties
are grown largely for their market value, and nutritional or gastronomic qualities. For
example in the northern Altiplano area around Lake Titicaca, native varieties such as
Kiankolla has a high resistance to frosts; Blanca de Juli has good market value; kkotio is
valued for its nutritional and gastronomic qualities. Cultivation of a range of varieties

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contributes to farmers security, particularly in a risky environment. This is especially
important for poor farming households cultivating marginal lands (Gari, 2000).

In the northern Altiplano, crop rotation generally involves alternation of potato or another
tuber, followed by quinua and finally a cereal, such as barley, or perhaps a legume. If land
pressure permits, the land is left in fallow for four to eight years, and is used during this time
for grazing of animals. However, with decreasing areas of land available for use, farmers are
often forced to reduce the fallow period. In the southern Altiplano, the traditional system
comprises potatoes in rotation with quinua and fallow, the cycle lasting 10-12 years. There is,
however, a myriad of variations of these systems depending on topography, rainfall, soil type
and land tenure.

In the altiplano, traditional forms of land management still exist. The system of Aynuqa has
traditionally regulated the balance between cultivated land and fallow, grazing land. An
aynuqa is a collection of plots, communally owned, but individually worked and inherited.
The individual plots within an aynuqa are managed in a co-ordinated manner, with periods
designated for crop cultivation; grazing of crop residues; grazing of regrowth, or firewood
collection. Each aynuqa is enclosed by a communal wall, which helps to protect crops from
grazing animals and frost, while minimizing individual labour requirements. This allows a
smaller number of shepherds to watch everyones animals and reduces individual wall-
building and maintenance costs. The aynuqa is managed and regulated by a traditional
organisation, the ayllu (Laguna, 2000). Increasingly, however, the ayllus and aynuqas are
disappearing, weakened by migration, and the increasing intensification of quinua production
where the focus is on an individualised export market (see sections 6 and 7).
3.3 The rediscovery of quinua: Malnutrition, under-nutrition and food
security
For centuries, quinua has been ignored by non-indigenous peoples as a potential agricultural
crop. Following the Spanish conquest of the Incas, traditional crops such as quinua, were
deliberately repressed and replaced with European species such as wheat, barley and broad
beans (National Research Council, 1989), a culinary colonialism that continues to a large
extent today. Whilst extensive crop improvement programmes have focussed on the better
known cereals such as wheat and barley, indigenous crops like quinua have remained
largely untouched by science.

The advantage is that there remains a vast array of locally-adapted varieties which have not
been replaced by more productive improved varieties. Conversely it means that yields are low
and, therefore, while quinua may be able to survive in a range of extreme or marginal
environments, it is not as productive as the improved cereals when grown in favourable
agricultural conditions.

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In the last 25 years, there has been a growing interest, on the part of scientists and
anthropologists, in indigenous crops and the potential they offer both in the Andes and world-
wide. Quinua has attracted much interest in development circles because of its potential
contribution to food security, particularly its ability to provide good quality nutrition in
regions with problems of under-nutrition and malnutrition. Quinua is a source of a wide range
of nutrients, with a similar energy content to, but higher protein levels than other cereals. For
example, the protein content of quinua typically ranges from 14 to 16 %, (different varieties
of quinua have different nutritional properties) while that of wheat tends to be about 10 %,
rice 7.7 % and corn 10.2 % (Macdonald, 1999).

While quinua contains significant amounts of many micro-nutrients, it is deficient in some
essential amino acids and therefore works well when eaten in combination with other foods,
particularly legumes like beans, or animal products. Despite the frequent claims made for the
exceptional nutritional quality of quinua, studies of the effect of quinua in the human diet are
few, although they are suggestive of its beneficial effects (Macdonald, 1999). Hence, while
quinua may chemically be a good source of certain nutrients, it is less well-know how easily
these can be absorbed and utilised by the human body. Its potential contribution to aspects of
food security is unclear and remains unproven.

Following the World Food Summit in November 1996, The Rome Declaration on World
Food Security was issued. Food security was defined as food that is available at all times, to
which all persons have means of access, that is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity,
quality and variety, and is acceptable within the given culture. Traditionally the focus of
many food security initiatives has been on the problem of ensuring an adequate supply of
food. However, whilst adequate food supply may be available in total, not all members of the
population necessarily have the resources to obtain it. Those most at risk from food insecurity
are the marginalized urban poor and the rural population who are either land-poor or landless.
These groups of people often cannot supplement their diets with home-grown foods.

The issue of quinuas potential contribution to food security is further clouded by the
inconsistency surrounding estimates of the degree of malnutrition and under nutrition in the
Andean region. A recent United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID)
electronic forum entitled Hunger and Poverty, pointed out that the results obtained from
studies of food security and malnutrition may depend on who carries out the monitoring. For
example, governments may be tempted to portray an overly positive picture of food security
in order to demonstrate a policy success. In addition, there are no commonly-agreed
indicators of food security, leaving research open to manipulation.

Studies carried out at particular times of year (e.g. before, during and after harvest) or during
different years, may produce different results in the same population. Most studies have
focused on the provision of macronutrients, with little information available for micronutrient
intake, especially for adult women (Macdonald, 1999). According to some sources, acute

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malnutrition does not appear to be a widespread problem among Andean people. Several
studies have suggested that on average Andean peoples energy intakes range from 80 to over
100% of the required calories. The high consumption of tubers and a mix of different grains
means that on the whole, protein levels may be adequate (Tripp, 1982).

However, although the quantity of protein appears to be adequate, analysis of protein quality
does not seem to be well documented (Macdonald, 1999). The average adequacy of the diet
doubtless conceals severe extremes of nutritional levels. Acute malnutrition, as assessed by
weight-for-height, does not appear to be a widespread problem, especially for children
beyond 24 months of age (Macdonald, 1999). According to another study from 1988, acute
malnutrition was uncommon in Ecuador, and was concentrated among children aged 12 to 23
months (Freire et al., 1988, cited in Macdonald, 1999).

However, other researchers suggest the opposite. In the Ecuadorean Andes stunting has been
reported at levels of 57 to 67 % (Leonard et al, 1993 and Freire et al, 1988, cited in
Macdonald, 1999). Stunting is indicative of chronic under-nutrition. In addition, other studies
(Ayala, 1999) suggest that 50 % of the Peruvian population is affected by chronic
malnutrition, defined as an insufficient quantity and quality of food. The same study suggests
that approximately 45 % of the Peruvian population combine under-nutrition and malnutrition
at different stages of life, where inadequate food availability during childhood leads to obesity
and other medical problems later in life because of a growing preference for junk foods.

Despite confusion over the precise nutritional status, there is little doubt of the need for
improved nutrition and food security among the Andean population, both rural and urban.
What is less clear is the best means of achieving this. Many researchers and development
workers were concerned in the early 1980s at the downward trend in quinua production,
partly caused by cheap and alternative food products made from wheat (Section 5). For
example, research in three rural communities in northern Ecuador in 1980, demonstrated that
in 89 households, only 5 percent of total meals in a 24-hour period contained quinua (Tripp,
1982). Development practitioners speculated that quinua, with its high protein content, could
be promoted within the Andean region to improve nutritional levels of farmers producing the
crop and of the urban population who might consume it, whilst supporting smallholder
farmers to remain productively on the land.

One of the major problems facing any study of quinuas potential and actual contribution to
food security is that there few reliable data available about quinua production levels (Section
3), nor the amount of quinua which is destined for domestic consumption in, (Section 4) and
export from, the three focus countries of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador (Section 6). It is,
therefore, exceptionally difficult to determine the degree to which projects that encourage
farmers to produce quinua for the market, either national or international, automatically have
beneficial impacts on the nutritional status of the family. A recent study in Ecuador
(Macdonald, 1999) examining the impacts of an agricultural development project in the

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highlands, concluded that it is not clear that re-introducing quinua cultivation necessarily
improves the nutritional status of families, especially of women.

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4 Production of quinua in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador
4.1 How much quinua is grown?
Centuries of neglect from outsiders and disdain from the formal agricultural sector led to a
decline in the area of quinua cultivated. Until the 1980s, the area planted with quinua dropped
continuously. It is estimated that in Peru the area cultivated with quinua per annum fell from
47,000 ha in 1951 to 15,000 ha by the 1970s (according to Tapia et al, 1979, quoted in Gar,
2000). Since the 1980s, the area of quinua in Bolivia and Peru has been increasing (data from
FAO Statistical Database), with sharp increases seen in production in Bolivia during the mid-
1980s and late 1990s (Graph 1). The area planted with quinua in Ecuador, by contrast, has
remained very low, fluctuating between 500 and 2000 ha. Quinua in the northern Altiplano of
Peru now comprises about 10 % of the cultivated land (INEI, 1996). However, it should be
noted that less than 10% of the total land area of the northern Altiplano is estimated to be
suitable for agriculture and as a result there is a shortage of land. (Instituto Nacional de
Estadstica e Informtica,1996).

It is estimated that 70 % of peasant households on the Bolivian side of the northern Altiplano
have less than 10 ha (Risi, 1994, cited in Gar, 2000). However, there is much variation, for
example in Escoma, on the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, the authors were told
that the 1992 census had revealed that each family farmed on average only about 0.8 ha
(Gunter Martinez, Centro de Investigacin y Capacitatin Agropequaria, Escoma, Bolivia,
pers. comm.). Studies carried out in the Cusco and Puno areas of southern Peru (i.e. the very
northern end of the northern Altiplano) in the 1985/86 planting period, suggest that each
family cultivated an average of 1.7 ha, but only 20 % of families sowed quinua. When it was
sown it occupied an average of only 0.07 ha (Benavides, 1993).

In the southern Altiplano, approximately 19,600 families, out of a total of about 25,000,
cultivate quinua (Laguna, 2000). This area probably endures the harshest of the Andean
environments, with annual precipitation of only 110 250 mm, average monthly temperatures
fluctuating between 8 and 20 C, and 200-250 days per year with temperatures falling below
0 C. Families in some areas of the southern Altiplano rely almost entirely on quinua
production, to the exclusion of other crops or livestock, and intensively cultivate an average
of 6-7 ha per family (Laguna, 2000).

In Central Peru, the Mantaro Valley comprises the third largest quinua cultivating area (after
the northern and southern Altiplano areas). The Mantaro valley is a wide, flat agricultural area
at about 3,300 m altitude, which leads into a series of tributary valleys and associated
highland areas. The area planted with quinua in the Mantaro valley has increased
significantly in the 1990s, almost doubling between 1994 and 1998 (Gar, 2000) from 2000 ha
to about 4,000 ha of quinua. This represents about 15 % of Perus quinua production.

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Graph 1 Area of quinua cultivation, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador,
1961-2000 (Source: FAO Statistical Databases, FAOSTAT)
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Quinua, although traditionally grown in Ecuador, is cultivated on a much smaller scale than in
Bolivia and Peru. The milder climate of the green Andes of Ecuador and northern Peru,
characterised by adequate rainfall and little climatic variability, permit alternative crops to be
viable, hence, reducing the need to rely on quinua. Land pressure in many upland areas of
Ecuador is a disincentive to growing quinua. In Riobamba average land holdings are only 0.8
hectares per family (Juan Perez, ERPE, Riobamba, Ecuador, pers. comm.). Higher humidity
levels in Ecuador also encourage greater disease problems for quinua.
4.2 Yields of quinua
Yields of quinua in the Andean countries are low in comparison with production levels of
grains such as wheat and also in comparison with quinua which is grown in the developed
world. While the average yield per ha of quinua in 1998-2000 was between 0.5 and 0.98
tonnes in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru (data from FAO Statistical databases), yields of wheat in
the US averaged 2.8 tonnes. Meanwhile, a trial of quinua production in Portugal in 2000,
resulted in yields of 5 tonnes per ha, a difference attributed to irrigation and mechanised,
uniform cultivation (John Hedger, University of Westminster, UK, pers. comm.). Work on the
profitability of quinua cultivation in Europe carried out by a project funded by the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO), CIP and the Danish aid organisation, DANIDA project,
suggests yields in Europe of between 2 and 4 tonnes per ha.

In examining production of quinua in the Andes, the figures available need to be taken with a
pinch of salt. In Ecuador, groups working with quinua producers anticipated yields of 0.9 - 1
tonnes per ha (extension agents with ERPE, Riobamba, Ecuador and Rodrigo Aroyo
(Inagrofa), pers. comm.). This compares to FAO statistics that indicate average yields of 0.5
tonnes per ha. In Bolivia, an average yield of 0.7 0.9 tonnes per ha in 2000 was considered
an exceptionally good harvest (Asociacin Nacional de Productores de Quinua (ANAPQUI),

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La Paz, Bolivia, pers. comm.). The FAO figure for that year was calculated at 0.5 tonnes per
ha. The overall yield in Bolivia was also expected to be high in 2000, with a harvest of 35-
40,000 tonnes. The FAO databases give the 2000 harvest as only 25,000 tons. The true
picture of quinua production in the Andean countries is therefore not clear.

Sources in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador all pointed out that a lot of the quinua which is sold in
Ecuador and Peru, is actually Bolivian in origin. This is particularly the case with so-called
Quinua Real, the large, white grained quinua, which is only grown in the southern Altiplano
area. Thus, official figures for production, sales and exports from all three countries are
probably missing a large portion of illicit trade in quinua between the three countries.
4.3 Costs and prices
A large proportion of the quinua produced in Peru and Bolivia is destined for home
consumption and is, therefore, never sold on the market. However, in Bolivia, where
commercialisation of quinua has had the biggest impact, farm-gate prices of quinua rose
almost 50 % between 1986 and 1999, from US$ 0.54 per kg to US$ 0.75 per kg in 1999.

Organic quinua, although commanding a slightly higher price (US$ 0.93 per kg in 1999), does
not seem to receive enough of a premium to make up for additional production costs (Laguna,
2000). In 2000, Bolivian farmers were being offered approximately US$ 0.70 per kg, a
reduction on the 1999 price. The authors were told that private buyers were offering only US$
0.28 per kg in local markets.

Although price reductions in 2000 were due to the exceptionally large harvest in the same
year, in Bolivia, there is no obvious relationship between the increasing production of quinua
and the price offered to farmers (Graph 2). Note that the very low prices seen in 1985 and
1986 were during a period of hyperinflation in Bolivia, distorting the price. The price of
quinua has risen in Bolivia along with production. This suggests an increase in demand.

Both price and production have levelled off in Bolivia since about 1998. However, the
relative value of quinua has changed over the past 20 years. At the start of the 1980s, quinua
producers needed to exchange 91 kg of quinua for 45.5 kg of sugar (Laguna, 2000). Relative
price changes now mean that the opposite applies: 45.5 kg of quinua buys 91 kg of sugar.

There is further confusion because it not at all clear, when the full costs of labour, land and
inputs are taken into account, whether the cultivation of quinua is profitable. Several studies
of quinua production suggest that, when labour costs are taken into consideration (i.e. the
opportunity cost of not working elsewhere, or the actual cost of employing paid labour) and
land costs, the net income from quinua is negative.

Based on prices from 1995/96, Salis (1993) calculate that the yield from one ha of quinua in
the Cusco area of Peru was 900 kg. At the time, quinua was sold for $US 0.37 per kg. This

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represented a net loss of US$ 198 per ha if the entire 900 kg was sold. In 2000, the Peruvian
governments National Food Programme, Programa Nacional de Apoyo Alimentrio
(PRONAA), were paying $US 0.61 per kg for good quality, but uncleaned quinua (see section
8.1). This price is considered high by others working in the sector, who are also trying to set
up commercial deals, and who consider that US$ 0.43 per kg was a fair market price in 2000.

In 1990, a study of quinua production in five provinces of Ecuador, looked at the profitability
of quinua production across a range of farm sizes and agricultural systems (Campaa and
Nieto, 1990). This study concluded that the biggest variable in production costs was that of
labour. Calculations of the profitability of quinua were hampered by the fact that production
figures varied from 0.25 to 2.180 tonnes per ha. In this study quinua was profitable in all
cases except in the lowest yielding farm.
Graph 2 Quinua production and price, Bolivia 1984-1999
Source: FAO Statisitical Databases FAOSTAT and Laguna (2000)
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The ERPE project (see section 6.3) is encouraging farmers around the town of Riobamba in
Ecuador to join their programme of quinua production for export. ERPEs field staff estimate
that 1 ha of land producing 900 kg of quinua would produce a profit of US$ 431. The ERPE
project offers farmers a price, which in 2000 was fixed at US$ 0.63 per kg for uncleaned
quinua ($ 0.74per kg clean). Rodrigo Aroyo, who runs an agricultural export business called
Inagrofa in Quito, Ecuador, pays farmers a farmgate price of US$ 0.66 per kg for
conventional quinua or $0.77 /kg for organic, uncleaned quinua. These figures are similar to
those paid by PRONAA in Peru.

There is, therefore, much variation across in the region in the farm-gate price of quinua. In
addition, there is very little consensus on whether quinua production is profitable. It could be
argued that in most cases the increased area planted to quinua is indicative of the fact that for

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many farmers it is a priority crop to grow. Whilst figures on the area sown to quinua and the
price paid to farmers are important, of more immediate concern to development practitioners
is the extent to which quinua is consumed in the Andes, and the degree to which subsidised
food imports undermine quinua consumption.

5 Consumption of quinua in the Andes
5.1 What do the figures say?
Quinua is traditionally a food of the rural population in the Andes and a large proportion of
production is destined for home consumption. In Puno, Peru, it is estimated that in recent
years, 60 % of the average 10,000 tonnes per annum produced in the province is for home
consumption, while 20% goes to the local market and a further 20% to local and Cusco-based
processing plants. Farmers produce different varieties of quinua, depending on the expected
end-use: 60-70 % of the area is sown with a mixture of varieties, for home use. The remaining
30-40 % is sown with commercial varieties (Ordinola, 1999).

However, although important in the diet, it seems that quinua is not a staple, in terms of its
inclusion in a majority of meals. A survey of 800 housewives in six provinces of Peru at the
end of 1996, found that 5.5 % included quinua in breakfast, 1.1 % in lunch and 0.9 % in
dinner. Whilst 90 % of respondents consume quinua in some form (from daily to irregularly),
it was not generally eaten on a daily basis. According to a study in Nunoa, Peru in 1988
(Leonard and Thomas, 1988, cited in Macdonald, 1999), quinuas energy contribution to the
diet had decreased from an average of 238 calories per day to 22 calories per day over 20
years. Similar patterns of low levels of quinua consumption have apparently also been
recorded in Bolivia and Ecuador (Kim et al, 1991; Tripp, 1982, cited in Macdonald, 1999)
during the 1980s.

A study by Tripp (1982) in Imbabura, Ecuador, found that quinua was a constituent of only 5
% of meals in a 24-hour period. However, according to a more limited survey carried out at
the same time in three different communities in Imbabura, 30, 60 and 90 % of households had
eaten quinua within the previous week. Quinua consumption was clearly very variable
between communities within the same area.. Another study carried out in five provinces of
the Andean sierra in 1989 found that 35 % of rural families consumed quinua (Nieto &
Andrade, 1990), although it did not look at how regularly.

Urbanisation and changes in working patterns also have an impact on patterns of consumption
of quinua. In 1996 in Peru, a survey found that in 15 farming communities in the Cuzco
Province, quinua was frequently eaten all year round, but particularly during seasons of
harvest and sowing. In contrast, consumption in urban areas tended towards cheaper and more
easily available products (Ayala, 1999b) (see Section 5 on the impact of wheat imports on
quinua consumption).

15
5.2 Romanticising an indigenous crop?
Many projects over the past two decades have sought to introduce or reintroduce the
cultivation of quinua, in the hope that this will promote consumption and improve food
security (Tripp, 1990). It seems intuitively illogical not to use a resource as nutritious and
locally available as quinua would seem to be. But are we in danger of romanticising an
indigenous crop, and thereby ignoring some of its drawbacks? Are there perfectly rational
reasons why quinua is not consumed widely by local peoples? The answers may lie in the
labour costs of cleaning quinua and water availability in rural areas.

When the mature quinua crop is harvested, a number of processing steps are needed before
the grain can be consumed or stored. It is a time consuming process and very labour-
intensive, especially when carried out manually, as in the majority of cases in Peru, Bolivia
and Ecuador. Once harvested (during which some grain is lost due to the irregular maturation
of grains on one stalk) the grain is dried in stacks, threshed, winnowed, dried again and then
de-bittered. Losses through the post-harvest processes are estimated to be over 40 % (Salas,
1999). The final result of manual processing is often a poorly cleaned product, contaminated
with dirt and stones.

The bitterness in quinua derives from a chemical called a saponin. Each quinua grain is
contained within a hard coat or pericarp, which contains 0-6 % saponin, depending on the
quinua variety. Saponins are toxic and distasteful and must be removed before consumption,
often an exhaustive process. At an industrial level, removal of the saponins presents two
problems: the high cost of drying the grains and the disposal of the contaminated water
following washing. Industrial processes may involve washing the grains, dry, mechanical
dehulling or a combination of the two. Dry processes entail lower costs and are less polluting
but only remove about 80 % of the saponins (Salas, 1999). Mechanical de-bittering is
therefore limited to the least bitter varieties of quinua.

Normally at a household level, the grains are washed and rubbed with stones to remove the
bitter outer coats. The other limiting factor to the rural consumption of quinua is, therefore,
access to sufficient water. In general, the removal of the saponins has been identified as one
of the main constraints to increased consumption at the household level, particularly the
increased labour demands (Macdonald, 1992).

The impression that there is often a surplus of labour in rural areas is often a fallacy. In many
parts of the developing world and especially in the Andean region, farmers and their families
are increasingly obliged to work off-farm to supplement farm income and provide consumer
goods (Zimmerer, 1993). The root cause of this is often increased costs of production and
reduced returns to labour, forcing farmers to seek off-farm income generating activities
i
.

Throughout the Andean region, temporal migration is a way of life for many communities,
especially in the southern Altiplano. For many years, men migrated to the mining

16
communities, leaving their families to care for the animals (sheep and llama), which were
subsequently sold or bartered in the mines. With the closure of many mines in the 1980s,
large numbers of former emigrants returned to their communities. Some of these returnees are
now engaged in the production of quinua for the market (Laguna, 2000). Others continue to
migrate temporarily elsewhere in Bolivia or abroad (Gar, 2000). In Bolivia, for example,
farmers from the altiplano have migrated to the Amazonian lowlands to grow soya bean,
coffee and coca. These farmers retain land in the altiplano and the detrimental impact on farm
management of this temporary migration has been well documented (e.g. Zimmerer, 1992).

In areas such as Sucre, in Bolivia, the labour intensive harvest of quinua, coincides with a
seasonal migration to the cotton, sugar cane, soya and wine producing areas (Oscar Barea,
PROINPA, Sucre, Bolivia, pers. comm.). In areas with significant seasonal migration,
women are often left in charge of the farm. Labour availability to process quinua for home
consumption and/or sale in local markets is increasingly unavailable in many rural areas.
There is a counter argument that if quinua can be made a commercial crop, generating high
enough incomes to obviate the need for migration, sufficient labour may be available for the
post-harvest processing.
5.3 Consumer demand for quality quinua
Quinua is a rustic crop. It is produced largely by small farmers, and any excess to home
consumption is often sold as a mixture of varieties, processed by small companies and
distributed by a network of individual intermediaries. At all stages in this chain, there is a lack
of quality control. At each stage in the market chain, quinua from different sources may be
mixed together, so that good quality quinua will be mixed with other varieties and impurities
by the time it reaches the consumer. For example, in Puno in 1999-2000, there were 49
processing plants, mostly small and informal, with a lack of adequate infrastructure and poor
quality control (Ordinola, 1999).

Intermediaries who collect quinua from the smallest local markets and transport it to the
wholesale market in cities like Lima in Peru, constantly mix quinua from different producers
and markets. By the time the quinua arrives in Lima, and is bought in the retail market by the
poorer urban consumers, even good, clean quinua is mixed up with poor quality grain. Prior
to consumption it must be washed several times, and cleaned of debris.

A survey of housewives in Peru, found that the need for further cleaning of purchased quinua,
first to remove dirt and stones, and secondly to wash out the remaining bitterness, was a
major limitation to the market (Ordinola, 1999). It is not surprising then, that urban
consumers, within the Andean region, are put off buying quinua, despite its known benefits
(Table 1). Quinua sold in supermarkets is of better quality and subject to some controls, but is
sold at such a high price that it is beyond the reach of the low-to-middle classes which make
up the majority of the urban population.

17

Table 1 Perception of quinua by potential urban consumers in six
provinces of Peru (Lima, Huaraz, Huancayo, Ayacucho, Cusco
and Puno (Ordinola, 1999)

Positive attributes of quinua Negative attributes of quinua
Highly nutritious
generally with a pleasant taste
a natural, environmentally sound
product
well known
easy to digest
not clean and containing many impurities;
sometimes bitter, where inadequately cleaned
expensive
not consistently available
difficult to prepare

As populations of the Andean countries become increasingly urbanised and linked to the
market, people tend to seek both cheaper and easier alternatives to foods such as quinua.
There is no doubt that wheat products bread and pasta fit both these criteria. According to
Laguna (Laguna, 2000), in 1999 in Bolivia, the farmer who sold 45.5 kg (one quintal) of
quinua, without removing the saponin, received a price of about US$ 35, with which they
could buy about 81.8 kg (1.8 quintals) of pasta ready for cooking. Given the lengthy
preparation necessary for the consumption of quinua, it is much simpler to boil pasta.

Rising prices of quinua, whilst potentially being good for farmers, in terms of providing them
with a better income, may also provide an incentive for farmers as well as the urban poor, to
turn away from consuming quinua and substitute it with bread and pasta made from
subsidised, imported wheat. It is often far easier and cheaper for both rural and urban
households to purchase pasta and/or bread.

In the context of high labour demands, reduced labour availability, and competition from
cheaper alternative foods, it is clearer why efforts to promote quinua for local consumption
have been only partially successful. The issue of cheap imports is considered below. The
question of quinuas contribution to rural household livelihoods via production for export is
discussed in Section 6 and 7.

6 Wheat imports to Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

Since the 1950s, the massive imports and donations of wheat arriving to the
Andean countries have constrained the cultivation of quinua, confining it to rather
marginal and upper Andean lands, and driving it away from the gastronomy of
many cities, towns and households (Gar, 2000).

18
6.1 Volumes and prices
Wheat has been imported into Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in large quantities for approximately
50 years. While many commentators have referred to the detrimental impacts of wheat
imports on the consumption of indigenous foods such as quinua and locally-produced rice and
wheat, it is hard to identify cause and effect using the data available.

Statistics available for the import of wheat and wheat flour into Andean countries are not
always consistent (for example, the comparison of data available from US Department of
Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Global Agriculture Information Network [GAIN]
and those available through the FAO Statistical database), but they do show the same trends.
Wheat and wheat flour imports (wheat equivalent) to Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador have
fluctuated over the past 40 years as shown in Graph 3.

The striking trend is the huge and consistent increase in imports of wheat and wheat flour to
Peru, whilst in Bolivia and Ecuador, volumes have remained more constant. Over the five
years, imports of wheat and wheat flour to Peru have levelled off somewhat, although Peru
remains one of the major wheat importers in the world (USDA, 2001a).

Wheat and wheat flour may be imported in a number of different ways: as food aid (either
donated or on long-term credit supported by the US or other governments) or as commercial
imports. Wheat and wheat flour exports from the USA to Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, (actual
for January to December 2000 and planned food aid for financial year 2001) are shown in the
table 2 (USDA 2000; USDA 2001b).
Graph 3 Wheat imports to Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador,
1961-1999 (Source: FAO Statistical Databases FAOSTAT)
0
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19

Table 2 Wheat and wheat flour imports from the United States

Country Commodity volume 2000
(Tonnes)
Value 2000
(000$)
expected
volume 2001
(Tonnes)
expected value
2001 (000$)
Bolivia wheat flour 36,195 6,609 17,990 3,903
wheat 6,457 796 15,820 2,041
Ecuador wheat flour 21 10 - -
wheat 205,827 26,857 61,130 8,349
Peru wheat flour 9,023 2,055 1,530 332
wheat 266,620 29,582 123,210 16,250

Evidently, the US is not the only country to export wheat and wheat flour in vast quantities to
the Andean region. According to the USDA FAS GAIN report for Ecuador, 2001 (USDA,
2001c), in Marketing Year (MY - July to June) 2000/2001, imports of US wheat to Ecuador
were expected to be 180,000 tonnes out of a total 420,000 tonnes. (It should be noted that this
figure of 180,000 tonnes differs from the figure of 205,827 tonnes for calendar year for wheat
imports above. This may be due to the different time span over which volumes were
calculated.)

According to the GAIN Report, in 2001/2002, imports of US wheat to Ecuador are expected
to rise to 200,000 tonnes of a total 450,000 tonnes. The US contributes less that half of the
total wheat imports to Ecuador. In Year 2000, Canada was the only other exporter of wheat to
Ecuador, holding 60 % of the market. At other times, Argentina and Uruguay also contribute.

The GAIN report suggests local production of wheat in Ecuador is more likely to decline than
increase in future. The main reasons are the lack of incentives, suitable planting land and lack
of adaptable seeds. According to the USDA FAS figures, 50,000 tonnes of wheat was
imported into Ecuador under Section 416(b) regulations in 2000, and a further 30,000 tonnes
under Title I provisions of Food for Progress. This means that the former was donated to
Ecuador (under the US scheme for disposing of its surpluses), while the latter was provided
on long-term credit terms, with a minimum payment holiday of seven years, in return for
liberalisation of Ecuadors agricultural economy for imports of US commodities.

At the same time, Ecuador reduced its tariffs for imports of wheat and wheat flour to 10 and
20 % - presumably the pay-off for wheat supplied under Food for Progress. According to the
GAIN Report, the decision to reduce import tariffs for US wheat, stems from a desire to halt
the increase in the price of bread and pasta occurring in Ecuador during the previous two
years, due to devaluation and the transition from the national currency, the Sucre, to the US
dollar. Wheat flour remained at a relatively constant price of US$ 15.50 to $ 17.50 per 50 kg
bag during the first half of 2000. Increases in the prices of bread and pasta were largely due to
rising prices of electricity, water, labour and other inputs.

20

It is unsurprising that there is apparently a lack of incentives for the production of wheat in
Ecuador. Wheat yields in Ecuador were 800 kg per hectare during 2000 (FAO Statistical
Databases) compared to yields of 2,819 kg per ha in the USA and 2,445 kg per ha in Canada.

6.2 Impact of wheat imports on the production of quinua and other
domestic crops
It is worth a look at the scale of the imports of wheat and wheat flour into the Andean
countries in comparison with the production of quinua over the same period. Graph 4
illustrates the situation in Bolivia. There are two striking observations.

the scales are different by a factor of 10. Imports of wheat and wheat flour dwarf the
production of quinua nationally.
production of quinua and imports of wheat and wheat flour show no direct
relationship. There is no trend to increasing imports in correlation with decreasing
production of quinua. This may have happened prior to 1980, but the figures are not
available.

The situation is similar in Peru and Ecuador: imports of wheat and wheat flour occur on a
completely different scale from the production of quinua. Because the imports totally swamp
quinua production, there is no discernable relationship between the two. However, the link
between the two is a long-term one, going back some 50 years. As Rosemary Thorp points
out (Latin American Centre, University of Oxford, pers. comm., July 2001), people in Peru
and other Andean countries have become so accustomed to eating bread made from imported
flour especially in coastal districts that reliance on imported wheat is second nature to the
population
ii
.

While evidence of a possible link between subsidised wheat imports and a decline in quinua
consumption is not clear, there are data that clearly show that wheat imports have disrupted
the production of locally-grown wheat. In Ecuador, duty-free wheat imports and an
overvalued exchange rate led to significant negative incentives for domestic wheat production
during the 1970s.

During this decade, wheat production in Ecuador fell by 6.0 % per year while wheat
consumption increased. As a result wheat imports grew at a rate of 12 % annually from 1970
to 1982 and self-sufficiency in wheat fell from 54 % to 8 % (Byerlee, 1989). Consumers,
however, benefited; flour prices remained constant between 1973 and 1981, and the real price
of bread fell by 50 %

21
Graph 4 Wheat and wheat flour imports and quinua production, Bolivia 1980-1999
Source: FAO Statistical Databases FAOSTAT
0
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1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
year
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Bolivia: imports Bolivia, quiua production
Byerlee (1989) also points out that in the 1970s, Ecuadors economy grew rapidly. This was
due to the petroleum boom and resulted in more off-farm employment and an accelerated
rural-urban migration. Real wages paid by farmers in the Sierra almost doubled between 1972
and 1980. This raised the costs to farmers because they could not increase product prices due
to competition from cheap, imported wheat. In addition they could not substitute for labour
through mechanisation. Labour-intensive agricultural activities were neglected.

Farmers in Ecuador also had to contend with the fact that during the 1970s, subsidised fuel
meant that long-distance transport costs declined substantially in real terms and this further
reduced the inland prices of imported and bulky items such as wheat. Ecuador became
dependent on imported wheat and since then, the country has not escaped this dependency.

Cano Sanz, (1987) has also documented the impact of cheap food imports on domestic
production in Colombia. There is strong evidence that subsidised wheat imports undermined
domestic production. In the 1950s Colombia cultivated 176,000 ha. of wheat, by 1987 this
had fallen to 50,000 ha. Wheat imports in Colombia between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s
increased by an average of 9.2 % per annum, some four times faster than the population
growth rate. Consumption of locally-produced rice and maize fell.

Given a strong demand for wheat-based products, particularly bread and pasta, it is very
difficult for quinua to be re-inserted into the national palate again. In addition to this, the
subsidisation of wheat production and export by the north American countries, combined with
reduced tariffs on imports to Andean countries (as with Ecuador in 2000) in an attempt to
keep the urban poor fed, means that quinua cannot possibly compete as a crop for national
subsistence. Faced with the difficulty of competing with wheat on the national market, the
prospect of an export market for quinua becomes increasingly attractive.

22

7 Exports of quinua from Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador
7.1 Reacting to demand in the Developed World
Over the past 20 years, the demand for health foods in the developed world has increased
enormously. Quinua, seen as a rustic and nutritious grain, has begun to be recognised on these
health food markets. Markets have grown in the USA, Germany, Switzerland and other parts
of Europe for products containing quinua. This potentially provides an export market for
quinua produced in the Andean countries, which can be sold as healthy, environmentally
beneficial, and perhaps as helping poor farmers.

Current research and development efforts can be seen as two-fold: to encourage the
production and consumption of quinua and to encourage its production and export so that
rural families can earn the money that is so needed. But what of the basic contradiction of
producing a highly nutritious native grain in a region where under-nutrition is widespread,
and then exporting it to the richer developed world to use in baby food? Is this really the way
forward?

Food insecurity and malnutrition are primarily problems of distribution not production. It is
often the households ability to obtain food that is critical to ensuring household food
security. As the purchasing power of the household increases, access to food increases
(Kennedy, 1994). In this context, if farmers can produce quinua for an export market and
subsequently their purchasing power increases, then in theory (and practice) quinua is
contributing to household food security.

Quinua farmers are expanding their production in several areas of Bolivia and Peru in order to
sell it onto the export market. In Ecuador, farmers are being encouraged to cultivate quinua
again, in areas where people can only remember it as a plant from their childhood. Quinua
was something our grandparents used to grow, according to one resident of Galte Ambrosio
Laso, near Riobamba in central Ecuador. Similarly, prior to an agricultural project to
introduce quinua growing to rural farmers in Imbabura, Ecuador in the 1990s, local
inhabitants did not grow or consume quinua (Macdonald, 1992; cited in Macdonald 1999).

In response to and partly driving the increasing demand for quinua in the export market, a
number of organisations have started providing assistance in production and marketing of
quinua to smallholder producers in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Two case studies, one each
from Bolivia and Ecuador, demonstrate the extent to which the twin objectives of increased
domestic consumption and export of quinua can be met. Furthermore, they illustrate the
potential contribution of quinua to household food security and rural livelihoods.

23
7.2 La Asociacin Nacional de Productores de Quinua (ANAPQUI), Bolivia
In Bolivia, there are two major associations working on the production of quinua for export:
La Asociacin Nacional de Productores de Quinua (ANAPQUI) claims to represent some
5000 producers out of a total of 20,000 in Bolivia. The farmers are distributed among seven
regional offices, each representing 20 or 30 communities (see Box 1). The Central de
Cooperativas Agropecuarias Operacin Tierra (CECAOT) has about 150 affiliated farmer
families.

Increasingly, ANAPQUI is looking to the export market largely because the internal market
in Bolivia is unlikely to absorb any more quinua than it does at present. Figures provided by
PROINPA (1999) and ANAPQUI (Bolivian Times, January 2001) for 2000 suggest that
quinua exports from Bolivia total only about 2000 tonnes per annum. This represents about 9
% of the average annual production in Bolivia. However, this does not mean that on average
91% of production is consumed in Bolivia. An unknown quantity of quinua is smuggled
across the border to Peru.

Between them CECAOT and ANAPQUI control some 55% of quinua sales from the southern
Altiplano area of Bolivia. The rest of the sales from Bolivia are channelled through private
buyers. ANAPQUI are aiming to increase its production and export, partly through improving
processing capacity by building a new processing plant in El Alto, just outside La Paz. This
factory will produce pasta and biscuits containing quinua. ANAPQUI already has a
processing plant near Uyuni in south-west Bolivia, allowing them to remove the bitter
saponins from the quinua and process it into quinua flakes. ANAPQUI recognises that the
organisation cannot build an export market overnight.

Box 1 La Asociacin Nacional de Productores de Quinua (ANAPQUI)

ANAPQUI aims to improve the living conditions of its member producers by paying a fair
price for their quinua. Farmers need to be affiliated to a local association to be part of
ANAPQUI, ensuring that they are organised and therefore easier to reach, for both purchasing
and technical assistance.

The price paid to farmers is set before they sow the seed. It is based on the previous years
price, with an increase for inflation. This leaves ANAPQUI vulnerable to fluctuations in the
open market price which is affected by the size of the harvest. For example, 2000 was a
difficult year for ANAPQUI. During 1999, the organisation handled about 2,000 tonnes of
quinua from its members. The price offered to producers for the 2000 harvest was based on
the price for the 1999 crop. Although the average production in Bolivia between 1987 and
1993 was 22,000 tonnes (Bonifacio, 1998), an excellent year for quinua in 2000 resulted in a
massive production nation-wide of over 40,000 tonnes, of which approximately 75 % had
been promised to, and accepted prior to the harvest by, ANAPQUI.

24

ANAPQUIs dilemma is intense: the market price has dropped precipitously due to
oversupply in Bolivia. Commercial buyers in the open market can offer about US$0.28 per kg
for quinua - less than half the price ANAPQUI promised prior to the harvest. But to abandon
their producers in a bumper harvest year would be disastrous in building up trust and
expanding markets: however, even the fair trade international buyers have requested a review
of the price, given the market situation.

Some of the farmers who are affiliated to ANAPQUI have qualified for organic certification.
Until 1999, the organic market was mostly in the US. In 2000 the focus shifted to Germany
and the Netherlands. Approximately 80 % of ANAPQUIs production is organic, which
commands an international price some 10-15 % higher than conventional quinua. The high
altitude of the Bolivian altiplano means there are relatively few pests and diseases, making
quinua a good choice for organic production, in Bolivia at least. Further north, with increasing
humidity, mildew becomes a greater problem.

What does ANAPQUI mean in terms of food security? Its difficult to judge but there is
plenty of evidence that in the southern Altiplano quinua is vital to food security. The Salar de
Uyuni in southern Bolivia is the second largest salt lake in the world and at almost 4,000 m
above sea level, it quite literally takes your breath away; a thick sheet of hard white salt that
stretches to the horizon. Further south is a series of snow-capped volcanoes, thermal lakes and
barren salt-encrusted soils. The area is raw, inhospitable and stunningly beautiful.
Extraordinarily and seemingly against all the odds, a number of villages are dotted around the
landscape. On the outskirts of each village, walled gardens have been constructed to keep
out foraging goats. Inside there are patches of tall stalks, each with a head of ripening grains.
This is quinua and it is about the only crop that will grow here. Some of the farmers in this
area are members of ANAPQUI.

Farmers who are producing for the market may well keep some quinua behind for home use;
certainly ANAPQUIs policy is to pay a fair price to producers that allows them to benefit in
the market from their production. It is difficult to envisage, however, how ANAPQUI (a
relatively small organisation with limited access to funds) can survive economically under a
system of offering a fixed price to producers before knowing the level of the harvest and the
consequent market price at harvest: if ANAPQUI is driven out of business by the high prices
it has to pay to producers, which are not compensated by high international sale prices,
producers food security will suffer.
7.3 Escuelas Radiofnica Populares del Ecuador
Ecuador differs from the heights of the Bolivian and Peruvian altiplano and Sierra in that in
many areas it is possible to cultivate other crops. Quinua does not have the same fundamental
importance for food security. However, some local NGOs and producers associations see
quinua as a means to diversification and a route into a stable export market.

25

In the highlands of Ecuador, the bustling town of Riobamba is a commercial centre for
agriculture in the steep surrounding mountains and upland valleys. The Escuelas Radiofnica
Populares del Ecuador (ERPE or generally known as Radiofnica), is a community radio
station is based in Riobamba, perhaps an unlikely candidate for a development organisation.
But when Juan Perez of Radiofnica explains the history of the station, it becomes clear why
they are developing one of the largest quinua exporting networks in Ecuador. Radiofnicas
aim is to improve the standard of living for the marginalized indigenous, mixed (mestizo)
and urban populations, in an area where the average land holding is only 0.8 ha (Box 2).

In a similar way to ANAPQUI in Bolivia, Radiofnica sets its offer price for producers before
sowing. Each community or group which wants to be involved brings a list of members and
areas to be planted, and Radiofnica provides the seed and some technical advice. In theory,
from each years harvest, Radiofnica allocates a proportion for the farmers food needs, a
proportion for next years seed and the rest for sale to Radiofnica at the price fixed prior to
sowing. Crucially, perhaps, Radiofnica retains some flexibility in the price, a margin within
which they can vary it. Furthermore, at the moment Radiofnica is less vulnerable to
international price fluctuations because it is cushioned by international donor money and it is
working with far fewer farmers than ANAPQUI in Bolivia.

Box 2 Escuelas Radiofnica Populares del Ecuador

Radiofnica started life as a basic education and literacy radio station almost 40 years ago.
Insufficient funds to finance the radio led them to start their own four-hectare farm in the late
1980s, where the focus was on organic production. As Radiofnica started to broadcast about
their own experiences of organic agriculture in the area, people began to ask for advice and
assistance. Radiofnica started to promote their own organic produce through trade fairs in
Germany and Costa Rica .It became evident that there was an international demand for
organic produce, which could be filled by smallholder farmers in the Riobamba area.

Quinua was chosen as a focus crop, partly because it was being lost from Ecuador. The
communities around Riobamba may once have grown quinua, but its image as a third class
food and the comparative ease of preparation of rice and pasta had pushed it off the menu.
Radiofnicas role is to provide technical advice and provide an international marketing
network for local producers. It has the immediate advantage of access to the radio to promote
quinua, provide basic training and motivate people to join the programme.

In 1997, Radiofnica received its first order from the US, and worked with 220 families to
sow quinua and harvest it in June and July 1998. By 1998, Radiofnica had secured funding
from international donors: three years of funding in which to set up a self sustaining quinua
production and export business. Suddenly quinua has become big business in Riobamba and
by 2002 they aim to involve 4,000 families in production of 700 tonnes of quinua. This would

26
almost double the current 938 tonnes per year production of quinua in Ecuador (FAO
Statistical Databases, 2001). These volumes are still significantly less than the volumes
produced (and traded) in Bolivia.

Radiofnica has brought in an organic certifier from Germany to assure their organic claims.
With this they aim to expand their market from the US into Europe, as well as trying other
crops such as the grain Amaranto and the nutritious lupin seed. Germany will only accept
organically certified quinua, especially as much of it is sold through health food stores.

The washing and cleaning of the grain is done by Radiofnica. Although they buy the
uncleaned quinua from farmers for US$ 0.63 per kilo, they will also purchase clean quinua
from farmers at a better price of US$ 0.73 a kilo. Radiofnicas cleaning of the quinua is a
matter of serious concern to environmental groups, however, who claim the effluent from the
processing plant is poisonous with saponins. It is an issue which is unlikely to go away, as
Radiofnica doubled the capacity of its processing plant in 2000.

27

8 Quinua and food security: The pitfalls of the export market
8.1 Were not talking about coffee and bananas
The export market for quinua is an alternative to a domestic market that, in the absence of
radical policy changes (see below) is unlikely to grow in the near future. However, we should
be under no illusions about the difficulties that smallholders face and the obstacles that they
need to overcome. Some of the challenges in terms of farmers having to contend with issues
such as quality of produce along with quantity and continuity of supply, are no different to
those faced by other farmers in the developing world e.g. coffee and banana producers
seeking niches in the fair trade and organic markets.

The major differences with quinua are that the crop is grown in extreme and adverse climatic
conditions, world markets are minute in comparison with chocolate, coffee and bananas; and
farmers traditional farming practices may prevent them from producing organic quinua,
particularly when quinua is grown in rotation with potatoes (see below). A final concern is
that unlike commodities such as coffee, quinua can be grown in a wide range of agro-
ecological conditions and thrives in parts of Europe and the US. This may undermine the
market, already very small, that exists for Andean-produced quinua.

8.2 Natural, social and human capital: Under-appreciated resources
Despite all the best efforts of Radiofnicas teams of dedicated extension agents, increasing
quinua production in line with predictions has not been easy in the Riobamba area. In
particular the weather has conspired to confound production in the 1999 harvest and again in
2000. Planting was late in some villages within Radiofnicas scheme in 1999, as the
extension teams did not manage to get out into the field early enough, and some villages were
slow to organise into groups. Climatic factors played a role in reducing yields in 2000: high
rainfall early in the growing cycle, frosts, little sun to help ripening, and strong winds may all
have had an effect. In 1999, one kilo of seed produced 30-40 kgs of quinua at harvest;
normally production of 100 kgs would be expected, rising to 200 kgs in some areas. In late
2000, as the quinua was maturing on the stalks, similar low yields were anticipated.

Radiofnicas extensionists are also learning as the project develops. They speculate about the
disappointing production figures: perhaps the quinua was sown too high up, it might have
been too exposed to the winds, perhaps the seed was poor quality or the soil too heavy,
perhaps a different variety of quioa should have been used. The extension agents advice to
local farmers is to plant further down the hill where there is less frost and sandier soil so less
problem with flooding. But the farmers are demoralised and organising them into a group for
planting quinua is difficult. Perhaps farmers expectations were raised too high at the
beginning of the programme.

28

Organisation of the communities into groups of at least 20 people is important to Radiofnica,
to make their training and extension visits to remote villages cost-effective as well as for
collecting the produce. Where fewer than 20 people are interested, advice and seed may be
provided on a time-to-time basis, but Radiofnica make no regular commitment. Furthermore,
the scheme is more likely to be sustainable in the long run, if the farmers are organised.

The long term sustainability of the project is perhaps the biggest question though. Extension
agents are enrolling farmers as fast as possible, to meet the target numbers of people and
communities predicted for the project, and by which the donor will judge the success of the
project at the end of the three years. Extension techniques are traditional and top-down lack
of time, long distances between communities and a large number of communities per
extension team means that the extension agents do not have enough time to build up human
and social capital in many of these communities (the build up of natural capital is jeopardised
by the adverse climatic conditions).

Participatory extension methodologies such as Farmer Field School (FFS) and Local
Agricultural Research Committees (CIALs) would contribute to farmer empowerment and
sustainable rural livelihoods, but both methodologies are time-consuming and expensive
Braun et al., 2000). However, in the absence of farmer empowerment there is a danger that
the farmers will remain dependent on Radiofnica and its links to their markets.

Local peoples food security may be compromised by an exclusive focus on quinua for
export. Radiofnica is aware of the dangers of farmers relying almost exclusively on one crop
quinua and a reduced number of different varieties of this crop. The organisation is
actively trying to diversify into a number of other Andean crops, including lupin and
amaranto. A further incentive to do this is that the organic certifying organisation requires
farmers to rotate their crops. The problem faced by Radiofnica is that they need to find a
market for these alternative crops otherwise the incentive to grow them will be much
diminished. World demand is for organic quinua. A more worrying issue linked to crop
diversity and rotation is that where quinua is grown in rotation with potatoes, it risks losing its
organic status.

8.3 The organic dilemma
Rodrigo Aroyo is a businessman in Quito, Ecuador. Between 1987 and 1994, he sold quinua
to the USA and Germany. But with increasing concern about health and the environment, and
the growing market for organic food in Europe, his contract lapsed. Organic certification for
quinua had become essential to keep the international market. Rodrigo has recently re-entered
the export market, this time selling organic quinua.

29

Although the consumer in Europe or the US sees organic production as natural, rustic and
good for the environment, for the small farmer working within a traditional rotational
agricultural system in the Andean region, it can be a problem (Box 3). Producing organic
quinua is a challenge in its own right but it is possible. Pest and disease problems vary
depending on location. In Southern Altiplano areas, pests are the biggest problem according
to Alejandro Bonefacio of PROINPA.

Some experimental work has been done by PROINPA on biological control, so that the
quinua produced can still go to the organic, export market. Although successful, the measures
are very expensive and therefore not accessible to small farmers. Further north, disease
problems prevail: as far north as Ecuador, the high humidity of the so called green Andes
makes quinua more susceptible to diseases such as mildew.

Potatoes are a basic staple local people. In the Andean region, potatoes have been cultivated
for over 8000 years. Potato production is becoming increasing subject to late blight. This is
caused by a fungus, Phytophthora infestans, and was the disease that caused the potato
famine in Ireland in the 1840s. Late Blight is afflicting the Andean region with renewed
virulence: the native varieties of potato which farmers may favour for home consumption are
particularly vulnerable to attack.

In order to control late blight, there are few alternatives to spraying the potato crop with
fungicide. Researchers at the International Potato Center in Lima and Quito are looking at
ways to reduce the amount of chemicals used (Rebecca Nelson, CIP, Lima, pers. comm.), but
organic potato production is a long way off. The problem is that potatoes and quinua are
traditionally grown in rotation. The farmer is caught in a bind: the consumers desire for
organic, natural quinua, may actually contribute to farmers abandoning traditional crop
rotation systems which contribute to food security.

While greater food security can be achieved by crop diversification, the organic status of the
quinua can be compromised if farmers rotate quinua with potatoes one year, followed by
barley and then back to quinua,. While the quinua itself may be grown organically, it would
not pass a certification process
iii
(a prerequisite for any product sold in the developed world as
organic) were it to be grown on a plot of land that one or two years previously had been
sown with potatoes and treated with chemicals. Radiofnicas field technicians in Ecuador for
instance sought farmers who were not cultivating potatoes on their plots, in order to include
them in the organic quinua programme. Does it compromise diversity and food security at
home to produce organic quinua for a fickle market?

30

Box 3 Organic quinua: The risks of intensification and monocultures
(Laguna, 2000)

The southern Altiplano in Bolivia produces Quinua Real, reputedly the best quinua in the
world, for its large, white, though bitter grains. The focus of Bolivias growing production of
quinua for export has been on Quinua Real. Since the late 1980s, ANAPQUI and CECAOT
have worked with farm households in the southern Altiplano.

A number of changes have occurred during the last decade, which have affected community
structure and environment. Until 1986, poor agricultural prices and the presence of work in
the state-owned mines contributed to both emigration from the area and the production of
sheep for sale or barter in the mines. Closure of the mines in 1986 led to the return of many
people to the rural communities and the collapse of the sheep market. The return of previous
emigrants, the continued emigration of the young, the entry of new organisations like
ANAPQUI, and reformed local government structure have all contributed to the breakdown
of the traditional institutions like the ayllu (see section 2.2).

The introduction of mechanised agriculture has also permitted the uncontrolled expansion of
quinua cultivation into the pampa (traditional pasture). Yields in these areas have declined
rapidly due to the lack of organic fertiliser and wind erosion of the dry, sandy soils.
Communal agriculture has given way to the nuclear family, which cultivates a monoculture of
quinua and may contract in labour to look after its animals. The increasing area planted to
quinua and the emigration of young people, has reduced the availability of labour, making the
practice of communal or reciprocal labour-sharing impossible and forcing farmers
increasingly to contract labourers for planting and harvest of quinua.

ANAPQUIs Programa de Quinua Natural has resulted in 80 % of their production being
organic (ANAPQUI, pers. comm. 2000). One of the aims of this programme is to move
production away from mechanised cultivation of the pampas, and back to manual production
on the lower slopes of the hills. The lack of labour, however, makes this difficult. Combined
with the small difference in price between conventional quinua and organic quinua, it may
remain more profitable for farmers to continue mechanical production of quinua on the
pampas. Conflicts are beginning to emerge between farmers who are dedicated to and
certified for organic production of quinua, and those who increasingly use insecticides and
chemical fertilizers.

31

8.4 Quinua diversity and patents
Andean farmers work small-scale plots, the vestiges perhaps of the individual plots scattered
among a variety of aynuqas (see section 2.2). Whilst traditionally they rotate crops, Andean
farmers also ameliorate risk by planting different varieties of quinua within the same plot.
Each family cultivates around 3-4 varieties of quinua belonging to two main groups: a)
varieties of high productivity in good years, and b) varieties of high resistance to frosts, pests
and other environmental pressures that yield a minimum production even in a bad year (Gar,
1999). Certain varieties of quinia are known for their low levels of saponins or their large
white grains.

Once mixed up, the tiny seeds are impossible to separate and the different varieties are
difficult to distinguish in the fields, lacking distinct morphological markers. Even the farmer
may not know which varieties he has planted. The mixing of varieties has implications for the
market: for instance, different varieties contain different levels and types of proteins and
saponins. They may also mature at slightly different rates, so that if all the grains are
harvested at once, there will be a mixture of unripe, ripe and overripe grains. Quality control
issues such as these are essential where further processing or export are considered (Box 4).

Box 4 Centro de Investigacin de Recursos Naturales y Medio
Ambiente, Peru

A number of organisations are working with small producers in Peru to improve production
and sales of quinua. Based in Puno, Per, the Centro de Investigacin de Recursos Naturales
y Medio Ambiente (CIRNMA) works with about 800 small farmers in the Puno area
producing quinua. According to Roberto Valdivia, the president of CIRNMA, the
organisation would like to develop international markets for locally produced quinua,
although they do not yet have any organic certification. As with other crops on the export
market, small farmers are faced with the challenges of producing adequate quantity, quality
and consistency of production.

One buyer in Canada has shown strong interest in buying quinua through CIRNMA, but
demands 20 tonnes per month, a demand which CIRNMA cannot meet when the issue is one
of quantity and the need to supply high quality, clean grain. CIRNMA aims to offer support to
farmers with supplies of seed, tending practices and the production of a clean harvest, free of
debris, which does not contain a mixture of wild and domestic quinua varieties. Given the
stringent demands of the export market for quality, quantity and continuity of production,
CIRNMA has decided to focus initially on developing national markets.

32

As commercial processors and exporters have expressed their preference for large, white
sweet grains, so the plant breeders and researchers have tinkered with the huge range of
variation available to them to try and come up with the ideal grain. Too often, however, the
breeding seems to have been directed at meeting the processors and exporters needs rather
than those of the farmers. Large sweet grains may be good for processing as there is less
saponin to remove, but they are also good for the birds which may steal or spoil as much as
25% of the farmers crop.

By focusing on the export market, farmers are increasingly excluded in the conservation,
research, innovation, and control over the quinua genetic resources. Farmers are encouraged
to cultivate particular quinua varieties with good market value, even though this may increase
their risks in areas with extreme and unpredictable climatic conditions. At the same time,
native varieties are lost, increasing the social and ecological vulnerability of rural
communities. A further threat lies in the issue of genetic property rights. As quinua assumes a
greater importance in world markets, the dangers arise of biopiracy and the patenting of
indigenous genetic material. This almost happened with quinua a few years ago (Box 5).

8.5 Cultivation of quinua in Europe and the United States
Ironically, it is precisely the issue of quinua diversity that might undermine the foundations of
Andean quinua exports to the developed world. Dr John Hedger, a researcher at University of
Westminster, London, has developed a process for fermenting quinua to produce a highly
nutritious product similar to tofu. Quinova is ideal for use in processed and vegetarian
foods. Currently at a pilot stage, Hedger is trying to find a commercial backer for the process,
If quinova took off, the international market for good quality, organic quinua might expand
rapidly, as processed quinua could be included in a wide variety of processed foods.
However, Andean producers will not necessarily be the beneficiaries.

John Hedger points out that quinua entering the fermentation process used for producing
quinova must be of consistently good quality. It needs to have been harvested at the right
time; it needs to be a consistent variety with a low saponin content and it needs to be clean
and free of debris. Farmers in Ecuador from where he sourced his quinua, frequently
substituted their own favourite home produced seed for the quinua seed they were provided
with. Furthermore, Dr Hedger carried out his own trials with quinua in Portugal, producing in
the first year a yield of five tonnes per ha of clean and uniform quinua. Productivity of quinua
in the Andes is significantly lower at 0.51 tonne per ha.

33

Box 5 The Quinua patent and the University of Colorado

In the Patacayama research station shared with the Bolivian State University of San Andrs,
Alejandro Bonifacio of the Fundacin para la Promocin e Investigacin de Productos
Andinos (PROINPA) shows us their collection of quinua seed from all across Bolivia: tiny
seeds stored in neat plastic tubes with red stoppers. With over 2700 different seed samples,
this represents one of the largest collections of quinua varieties in the world. These varieties
can be used for breeding improved or hybrid varieties through international research
initiatives. PROINPA has put much effort into developing varieties with larger, sweet grains,
or white grains, or recently prompted by apparently shorter rainy seasons, faster maturing
(precocious) plants.

There is a certain amount of suspicion in Bolivia and elsewhere about the outcome of such
international research cooperation on quinua. In October 1996, researchers from Colorado
State University, who had been cooperating with Alejandro Bonifacio and PROINPA on the
collection of quinua seed in Bolivia, took out a patent called the Apelawa patent (USA
Patent No. 5,304,718). This covered a method of hybridising quinua, which also covered
another 43 traditional varieties of quinua throughout the Andes. Potentially, Andean exports
of quinua to the USA and Europe were threatened by enforcement of this patent. Even local
production might have been affected. After a 14 month struggle by ANAPQUI, supported by
the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI; a US-based NGO) and Oxfam,
Colorado State University quietly allowed the patent to lapse in 1998 (Dawkins, 1999).

In this instance the piracy of Bolivian farmers traditional heritage has been defeated. But
farmers may now be more suspicious and reluctant to work with researchers who wish to
experiment, improve and work with their quinua varieties. The possibilities for genuine
development may have been narrowed by the action of one international partner. Many
international researchers are bound by an agreement that they will not apply for patents based
on products arising from any research. If quinua has a role to play in the food security of the
Andean countries, stronger protection of intellectual property rights is needed.

The question that has to be asked is that (with the exception of the fair trade market) if the
international demand for quinua were to grow, and were quinova to become a widely used
product, leading to new demand for quinua, would that demand be filled by small farmers in
the Andes, or would production simply be moved to new areas? Hedger who has worked in
Ecuador and whose sympathies lie with the Andean farmer, admits that quinua can be cheaply
and efficiently produced in Europe. Indeed he believes that the crop has potential as part of an
agricultural diversification programme within the EU.

34
And it is not just the EU. At the University of the Altiplano in Puno, Peru, Dr Angel Mujica
Snchez is directing an international trial supported by the FAO, to compare the growth of 25
varieties of quinua, in experiments repeated in 98 countries. The objectives of the trial are to
provide researchers with new varieties of quinua, to develop management techniques, and to
develop inter-institutional cooperation between research agencies in Europe and those in
North and South America. Precisely what this will mean for small farmers is unclear and will
depend on how closely research station conditions reflect those of small farmers, and whether
the researchers will choose as successful the same cultivars which farmers would find
appropriate to their needs. However, preliminary results demonstrate that quinua thrives in a
host of countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

So where does that leave the Andean population? Perhaps the answer lies in moving away
from producing quinua for an export market and towards producing quinua for local
consumption. Whilst there is little evidence that domestic consumption is increasing (Section
4), Peru demonstrates what can be achieved via a state-supported food programme that
favours quinua. Meanwhile CIPs work on increasing the popularity of forgotten local
potato varieties suggests that in urban areas consumption patterns can be changed by
attracting the interest of the middle classes.

9 What does the future hold? The contribution of quinua to food
security in the Andes
9.1 Programa Nacional de Apoyo Alimentario: Peru
Since 1994, the government of Peru has authorised the national food assistance programme
Programa Nacional de Apoyo Alimentario (PRONAA) to purchase certain agricultural
products directly from farmers and include these in food programmes. Among these products
is quinua, as well as a number of other native Andean grains. As Ricardo Orbegoso Carrasco
of PRONAA in Puno explained, PRONAA aims to improve nutritional levels, especially of
children under six years of age and pregnant and old women. There are several lines of action,
including breakfasts and lunch for school children, food for work programmes, stocks for
emergency use, and credit for small businesses. In addition, food purchases are made at a fair
price specifically from small producers. Quinua is used in the provision of school breakfasts
and for the Comedores Populares (popular canteens).

Between 1990 and 1995, the school breakfasts programme was based largely on wheat, of
which approximately 55-65% was imported. The cost was calculated at approximately US$
0.21 per meal. Since 1997, more emphasis has been given to the use of national inputs to the
programme, which now account for 70-80 % of ingredients: quinua and other native grains
are among these inputs. In 1998, the cost was calculated at US$ 0.15 per meal and the number
of school meals provided rose from 1,450,000 to 2,000,000 between 1990-5 and 1997
(Rivera, 1998).

35

The state has become one of the main buyers of native crops in Peru, leading to an increase in
the area under cultivation to such crops. In the 1980s, an average of 15,000 ha of quinua was
planted each year; in the last few years, this has risen to approximately 30,000 ha (FAO,
2001) (see Graph 1). In the Puno area, in 1999, 5000 tonnes of food, including quinua, (as
well as other Andean crops including haba (broad beans), chuo (freeze-dried potatoes),
charque (dried meat), kaaheu (another Andean grain) and lupin was purchased from small
producers, some of which was distributed to other areas.

Opinions about the equity and effectiveness of the PRONAA Programme vary however.
According to Ayala (1998), PRONAA initially signed contracts directly with small producers
in several areas, in order to promote cultivation of quinua (and other Andean grains) and for
use in local food programmes. PRONAA now publicly call for processors who supply the
foods to the programme to include a mix of cereals that preferentially includes nationally
produced foods, including quinua flour. However, in reality, says Ayala, the most favoured
foods, due to the costs, are soya, wheat and milk powder.

Similarly, Ayala (1998) says that in 1997, the school breakfast programme introduced an
obligation to include Andean crops, in order to stimulate production and processing of such
crops locally. In reality, however, very few producers for the school breakfasts programme
actually make their foods to the recipes they declared during the tendering process. The
smaller producers tend to comply with the terms of their licences better than the larger ones.
Whilst there are undeniably problems with PRONAA, it has stimulated increased production
and consumption of quinua. According to Sven Jacobsen (pers. comm.) a researcher on the
Quinua Programme at the Centro Internacional de la Papa, in Lima, an extra 1,800 ha of
quinua were sown in the Cuco region for the school meal programme in recent years.

The manner in which the food programme interacts with commercial buyers needs careful
attention. The irony is that PRONAAs success in stimulating the production and
consumption of quinua competes with efforts to involve Peruvian farmers in the production of
quinua for export. According to Roberto Valdivia, president of the Puno-based NGO
CIRNMA (see Box 4), PRONAA requires good quality quinua from farmers, and offers a
high price of about US$ 0.60 per kg. This compares to the price he can afford to pay and
thinks is fair, of approximately US$ 0.43 a kilo. Farmers, seeing the price being offered by
PRONAA, are reluctant to sell for a lower price, even though the food programme cannot buy
all their production. CIRNMA, which is trying to develop an export market for quinua is
unable to compete with PRONAA.
9.2 The power of mimicry: Win over the urban middle classes
A national food programme, with a deliberate policy of support to national farmers can
provide a low-cost, dual function support to food security. But the approach needs careful
management. It is not a substitute for other initiatives to promote quinua cultivation and

36
consumption. These initiatives are still needed because further government cuts may threaten
the long-term future of PRONAA and were the food programme to be disbanded, alternative
stimuli to encourage quinua production would be needed.

As Rosemary Thorp (pers. comm.) points out, once a country has become wheat dependent
as the Andean region (and particularly Peru) has become, it is almost impossible to turn the
clock back. However, researchers are increasingly focusing on using the middle class in Peru,
Ecuador and Bolivia as a vehicle to improve the popularity of quinua. One of the difficulties
facing quinua in the Andes is that the urban rich are not traditional consumers and the crop
still maintains something of its 3
rd
class food status.

Changes in the image of quinua are being brought about in the urban population through
promotion of recipes, programmes on television, and through the fact that quinua has become
an export crop, symbol of wealth and health. Lima, for example, now supports a restaurant in
the expensive Miraflores District which specialises in high quality local produce such as
quinua. Up-market restaurants in Quito also serve quinua dishes. There is some hope that if
quinua is seen as a food favoured by middle class Andean families, the urban poor will mimic
their eating habits and quinua consumption will increase.

There is a precedent. In Jujuy province in northern Argentina, attempts to rescue native
varieties of potatoes have revolved around re-branding them with an image that appeals to the
urban consumer. Native potatoes from Jujuy are being sold in Buenos Aires under the English
name Inca Potatoes, to give them an international, exotic image and remove the stigma of
native, third-class food. Likewise Patricio Espinoza of CIP Quito explains that native potatoes
varieties are being re-invented and sold in Quitos supermarkets as a new food for the
growing middle class.

9.3 The need for new approaches
Some of the attempts to increase the small amounts of quinua that are grown and consumed
are based more on the emotional appeal of revitalizing native crops than on a measured
understanding of their realistic place in local production and diets (Tripp, 1990). In some
circumstances, the preparation of quinua (and other indigenous and nutritious crops such as
lupin) can be too labour-intensive.

Although quinua is a very nutritious crop, attention should also be directed at alternatives. For
example broad beans are comparable to quinua in calcium and riboflavin content, contain
higher levels of protein and are popular throughout the Andes (Tripp, 1982). It is, however,
important to note that these alternatives may not be a viable option for those living in the most
extreme parts of the Bolivian and Peruvian altiplano.

37
Another taxing issue is that, although the relationship between household income and food
security is well established, the association between income and improved nutritional status is
less apparent. Hence even if farmers can earn money from the sale of quinua, there is no
guarantee that this will lead to improved nutritional status. Nor will re-introducing quinua
necessarily lead to an improvement in the nutritional status of local people. For example, a
recent study in Ecuador (Macdonald, 1999), examining the impacts of an agricultural
development project in the highlands, concluded that it is not clear that re-introducing quinua
cultivation improved the nutritional status of families. The study also found that there was no
immediate evidence that the income generated from quinua sales had contributed to a
diversification of diet.

The issue is linked to the fact that it is the nutritional content of the total diet that is important,
rather than the content of a particular food (such as quinua) in the diet (Pinstrup-Andersen,
1990). In addition, factors such as hygienic practices within the household, availability of
health services and child feeding practices can have a much greater influence on nutrition
than simply the amount of food (or type of food) available at the household level (Kennedy,
1994).

Smallholder farmers can, however, benefit from growing quinua. There is a demand for
organic quinua in the developed world and farmers in Bolivia and Peru are well placed to
meet this demand. .The danger is that farmers will focus on a handful of quinua varieties that
suit the export market rather than reduce risk via the cultivation of a number of varieties.
Farmers also need to learn new skills so as to meet the demands of the market for quality,
quantity and continuity of supply.

There are also the dangers described by Laguna (2000) of social divisions arising in
communities where farmers have started growing quinua for export. These are risks that can
be mitigated with careful planning. Although demand for quinua in the West could be met by
production in the EU and the US, the possibilities of expanding quinua sales as part of fair
trade initiatives warrant further study.

Despite the above uncertainties and ambiguities, within the Andean region, quinua does have
an important role to play in local peoples livelihoods and can contribute to food security.
This is particularly the case in rural populations living in extreme condition such as the
Bolivian and Peruvian altiplano. With increasing numbers of farmers periodically working
off-farm and faced with relatively cheap alternatives such as bread and pasta, it is highly
unlikely that quinua will be able to compete effectively with these foods. However, domestic
consumption of quinua in Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru can increase if the crops image as a 3
rd

class food is improved. In the meantime, production and consumption can be stimulated if
quinua is included in a food programme such as PRONAA in Peru.

38
References

Aroni, G. 1999. Produccin de quinua en Bolivia. In: Memorias Primer Taller
Internacional en Quinua recursos geneticos y sistemas de produccin. Proyecto Quinua
CIP-DANIDA, Lima, Peru.
Ayala, G. 1999b. Consumo de quinua, kiwicha, y tarwi y estrategias para promover su
consumo. in Mujica, A. et al, (eds) Memorias: Reunin tcnica y taller de formulacin
de proyecto regional sobre produccin y nutricin humana en base a cultivos Andinos.,
Lima, Per.
Ayala, G. 1999.. Uso de la quinua en poblaciones magrinales. In: Memorias Primer Taller
Benavides, M., 1993. Aspectos technologicos y sociales en la Region Andina: el caso de
los cultivos Andinos en el Cusco. In: El Agroecosistema Andino: Problemas,
limitaciones, perspectives. Anales del Taller Internacional sobre el Agroecosistema
Andino, Lima, 1992; Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP), Lima, Peru.
Blaikie, P. 1985. The political economy of soil erosion in developing countries. Longman
Development Studies, London, 188 pp.
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41
Annex 1 Terms of reference

The quinua sector in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

A) Importance of the quinua sector in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia

role of quinua in small farmers livelihoods (number/location of small farmers/rural
workers (rough estimates), type of crops, farm-gate prices of quinua, etc)
role of quinua in agricultural cycles, constraints on quinua production (i.e. costs, etc)
quinua and the local environment (negative or positive factors in protecting local
ecosystems)
human interest quotes about the role of quinua in livelihoods
role and effectiveness of small producers associations
role of quinua in nutrition (versus other grains) and in food security

B) Threat posed by international markets: the impact of cheap wheat imports on
the domestic quinua sector

This part will examine the adverse impact of cheap wheat imports and food aid on the
livelihoods of small farmers involved in quinua production. It will start by examining the
extent to which food imports are substituting for quinua and changing consumption patterns.
The research will show how these imports are contributing to wider problems including the
neglect of food staple production in national budget priorities, weak infrastructure, and other
factors that are marginalising quinua producers.

Effects on small quinua producers and consumers

producer market access and prices/labourers wages
domestic smallholder production
link between production and consumption (i.e. extent to which production is geared to
export rather than domestic consumption)
welfare of quinua producers/labourers
rural-urban and international migration of quinua producers
human interest quotes of urban quinua consumers and their reaction to imports

42

Effects on consumers and food security

incidence of malnutrition among the poor (differentiate rural/urban poor)
effect on consumer preferences
have retail prices of imported wheat increased over time? Are imported wheat prices
converging with local quinua prices? If so, why? (increased margins for traders, taxation,
etc)

Effects of US (and other) food aid

impact of subsidised wheat on balance of payments and indebtedness
expected impact of food aid: consumption and domestic production
volumes of wheat (and other basic grains) food aid, including for 2001 and near future

Policy recommendations

This section will indicate what changes are needed in terms of trade, agricultural and aid
policies at the national and international level to provide relief to impacted farmers, improve
nutrition status of the poor and guarantee food security.

C) Opportunities: Quinua as an export commodity

This part will analyse whether exporting quinua could become a viable option for the quinua
sector in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, whether this would improve small farmers livelihoods,
and what challenges lie ahead.

Quinua exports: Volumes, value and market destination
Diversity, breeding and patenting issues
Issues regarding pricing: fair trade
Organic production
Impact on quinua domestic production

i
This phenomenon is known as the reproduction squeeze. It is a process of impoverishment of
smallholder farmers through the development of unfavourable terms of trade, for example governments

43

ensuring artificially-low prices for agricultural products (Blaikie, 1985:118). Typically small-holder
farmers have to purchase commodities for consumption and production by producing primary products
for sale. Faced with a deterioration of the terms of trade, farmers have to reduce levels of consumption
and/or intensify commodity production. The latter often involves more labour input on poorer or more
distant soils. This increases the costs of production and reduces the returns to labour (Zimmerer, 1992).
Faced with increasing costs of production, many farmers seek off-farm income-generating activities
often with detrimental consequences for land management.
ii
The authors conducted research in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru between May and December 2000.
Travel was almost entirely by bicycle and the authors can testify that in the smallest villages (some of
which were very remote) bread and pasta were widely and regularly consumed by the local people.
iii
Rodrigo Aroyo buys quinua from 35 small to medium scale producers in Ecuador. Organic
certification is carried out by a US company OCIA. The advantage of the OCIA scheme, is that it
allows farmers to cultivate one section of the farm organically while they move their entire production
of other crops gradually over to organic production; other certification schemes insist that the entire
farm must be organically run before any individual product can be certified as organic. For farmers,
this type of scheme is considerable less risky than having to leap with both feet into the organic world.

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Quinua and rural livelihoods in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

Jon Hellin and Sophie Higman

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