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The Transition of Maca from Neglect to Market Prominence Lessons for Improving Use Strategies and Market Chains of Minor Crops

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The Transition of Maca from Neglect to Market Prominence Lessons for Improving Use Strategies and Market Chains of Minor Crops Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods Discussion Papers 1 THE TRANSITION OF MACA FROM NEGLECT TO MARKET PROMINENCE Lessons for improving use strategies and market chains of minor crops Michael Hermann & Thomas Bernet Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods Discussion Papers 1 THE TRANSITION Lessons for improving use strategies and OF MACA market chains of minor crops FROM NEGLECT Michael Hermann & Thomas Bernet TO MARKET PROMINENCE Bioversity International is an independent international scientific organization that seeks to improve the well-being of present and future generations of people by enhancing conservation and the deployment of agricultural biodiversity on farms and in forests. It is one of 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private members who support efforts to mobilize cutting-edge science to reduce hunger and poverty, improve human nutrition and health, and protect the environment. Bioversity has its headquarters in Maccarese, near Rome, Italy, with offices in more than 20 other countries worldwide. The organization operates through four programmes: Diversity for Livelihoods, Understanding and Managing Biodiversity, Global Partnerships, and Commodities for Livelihoods. The international status of Bioversity is conferred under an Establishment Agreement which, by January 2009, had been signed by the Governments of Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine. Financial support for Bioversity’s research is provided by more than 150 donors, including governments, private foundations and international organizations. For details of donors and research activities please see Bioversity’s Annual Reports, which are available in printed form on request from [email protected] or from Bioversity’s Web site (www.bioversityinternational.org). The geographical designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Bioversity, the International Potato Center (CIP) or the CGIAR concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Similarly, the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Mention of a proprietary name does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information. iii The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence The authors Michael Hermann is a senior scientist at Bioversity International, posted in Montreal, Canada. His recent work focuses on approaches involving high-value product differentiation to enhance the use of agrobiodiversity, with the ultimate goal of linking poor farmers (and keepers of much agricultural diversity) to markets for income generation. (Email: [email protected]) Thomas Bernet has worked for several years at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru, where he has conducted methodological research on how to link small-scale farmers to markets. Since 2006, he has been a consultant for marketing concept and market chain development, especially in the context of underutilized pro-poor crops. (Email: [email protected]) Both authors have lived and worked in Lima, Peru, Michael Hermann from 1988 to 1990 and from 1997 to 2004 and Thomas Bernet from 1997 to the present. The authors have consumed maca, and traveled on several occasions to Junin to witness maca production, trading, processing and local consumption. iv The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence Correct citation Hermann M. and Bernet T. 2009. The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence: Lessons for improving use strategies and market chains of minor crops [on-line]. Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods Discussion Papers 1. Bioversity International, Rome, Italy. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. You are free: to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work to Remix — to adapt the work Under the following conditions: Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights Rights owner: Bioversity International, 2009 v The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence Acknowledgements This study was commissioned and partially financed by the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species. We thank the following people for generously sharing with us unpublished information about maca: Mr Javier Castillo Güere, Mr Michel Guillerm Ducher, Mr Magno Meyhuay Montes, Dr David Ponce Aguirre, Mr José Luis Rabines Alarcón, Mr Percy A. Rojas Puente, Mr Alberto Salas, Mr José Luis Silva, Ms Alejandra Velazco Muñoz. Mr Ivan Manrique, Ms Nicole Locher and Ms Céline Clément provided some of the pictures in this paper. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ms Cecilia Ferreyra (CIP) in preparing the ‘Bibliography on maca available at CIP’ and of Ms Alexandra Walter in revising and standardizing the references. Ms Arwen Bailey edited the final manuscript and provided many useful suggestions for improvement. Cover Picture Rural women in Junin gathering dehydrated maca. Photo courtesy Ivan Manrique, CIP, Lima. vi The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................1 2 The biological and agricultural context of maca supply chains ........3 2.1 Taxonomy and nomenclature ....................................................................................... 3 2.2 Life form and agro-ecology ............................................................................................ 6 2.3 Economic plant part and vernacular name ......................................................10 2.4 Reproductive biology, genetic diversity and ploidy ..................................11 2.5 Production .................................................................................................................................12 2.6 Seed production ...................................................................................................................14 3 Maca use ............................................................................................................................................16 3.1 Chemical composition and nutritional value ...................................................16 3.2 Traditional processing, culinary uses and intake levels .........................18 3.3 Indigenous knowledge associated with maca use ................................... 22 4 Domestication and pre-contact distribution ...............................................23 5 Distribution and use in colonial times ..............................................................25 6 Modern expansion of use and market development ............................28 6.1 Humble beginnings (until about 1990) ................................................................ 28 6.2 Expansion of demand and production (from 1990 onwards) ........... 30 6.3 Crash and consolidation (2000–2006) ................................................................ 34 6.4 Maca production outside Peru ................................................................................. 36 7 Analysis of factors affecting maca market development...............38 7.1 Demand expansion ............................................................................................................ 38 7.1.1 Product innovation and diversification ................................................ 38 7.1.2 Supply chain diversification ......................................................................... 40 7.1.3 Promotion in the Internet ................................................................................41 7.1.4 Exports ......................................................................................................................... 42 7.2 Maca encountering barriers on international markets ........................... 45 7.2.1 The problem of unsubstantiated health claims ............................ 45 7.2.2 European food safety legislation
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