State of the Art Report on Quinoa Around the World in 2013
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401 CHAPTER: 5.4 Quinoa in Chile *Corresponding author: Didier BAZILE [email protected] Authors: DIDIER BAZILEa; ENRIQUE A MARTÍNEZb.; FRANCISCO F FUENTESc; EDUARDO CHIAd; MINA NAMDAR-IRANIe; PABLO OLGUÍNf; CONSTANZA SAAe; MAX THOMETg; ALEJANDRA VIDAL Bf. a UPR47, GREEN, CIRAD (Montpellier, Francia) y PUCV, Instituto de Geografía, Av. Brasil 2241, Valparaíso, Chile. b Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas, Av. Raúl Bitrán s/n, Casilla 599, La Serena, Chile. c Universidad Arturo Prat, Facultad de Recursos Naturales Renovables, Av. Arturo Prat 2120, Iquique, Chile d UMR Innovation, INRA (Montpellier, France). e Qualitas AgroConsultores, Santiago, Chile. f Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparíaso PUCV, Instituto de Geografía, Av. Brasil 2241, Valparaíso, Chile. g CET Sur, Calle Tres Poniente s/n. Labranza, Temuco, Chile. Abstract Introduction The biogeography of quinoa (Chenopodium quinua In the current context of economic globalization, Willd.) provides a comprehensive view of a crop agriculture is vital to populations around the globe that is relatively minor in Chilean agriculture, de- (Harvey, 2001, 2005). A variety of models based on spite growing in a large geographical area (18°– use of natural resources, agriculture (FAO, 2006), 47°S). Quinoa’s genetic diversity illustrates that it social organization and cultural identity (Leff, 2005) is a vital crop in the South American Andes region. may be applied to rural development and food It was domesticated in various geographical zones, production. Two production models are present in which generated a wide variety of adaptative mor- Chile today. One is export-driven and focuses on phological and environmental features. Specific ad- land concentration (particularly by increasing farm aptations in each macrozone throughout the Andes surface area), with resources and production chains have created five ecotypes, associated with subcen- highly dependent on external risk factors; the oth- tres of diversity. Two ecotypes are present in Chile – er is dominated by rural, family-run farms, and is quinoa from the salt flats in the country’s extreme limited to food production for local markets. These north: Salare quinoa, and quinoa from sea-level ar- farms have adapted their practices to ecosystemic eas in the central and south central regions: Coastal features that farmers have understood for genera- quinoa. Recently, these ecotypes have been asso- tions. Both models have an important role in local ciated with diverse production systems, depending development, and exist on a smaller scale in the on their biophysical, social and cultural features. case of quinoa crops. This chapter aims to use the Public policies and market relations also play a vital specific case of quinoa in Chile to underscore the role in determining production system dynamics. importance of (re)considering agricultural produc- tion system diversity in terms of biogeography, for Key words: Chenopodium quinua Willd., Chile, bio- the purpose of optimizing crop potential. diversity, geography, agro-ecosystems. CHAPTER: 5.4 Quinoa IN CHILE 402 Quinoa was first domesticated over 7 000 years territory in question. Additionally, this principle of ago in southern Peru and northern Bolivia. It was representation or transcription must contribute to adapted through a series of agro-ecosystems mod- bridging the knowledge gap between rural and sci- elled by ancient civilizations, as it was transported entific cultures, so as to avoid confrontation and an- from the north to southern Chile. This generated a tagonism (Serrano, 2005) between traditional and high degree of genetic diversity, adapted to a broad innovative models (Hocde et al., 2008). ecological spectrum. The first section of this chapter focuses on the gen- There have to date been no studies in Chile to sub- eral history of quinoa in the Andes and in Chile, stantiate the importance of traditional crops and explaining its presence today in Chile’s various ag- farmers’ varieties (landraces). Therefore, there is a ricultural contexts, from the far north to the val- lack of historical, anthropological, economic, geo- leys and mountains of the south. The second sec- graphical and/or strategic studies able to link qui- tion presents the agricultural space and its various noa’s conservation to the country’s development. If features: climate, soil and local varieties of quinoa. quinoa’s diversity were considered a phytogenetic The third section addresses the characterization of resource, the very perception of biodiversity could quinoa producers in the Chile of today with respect change from a biological and agricultural productiv- to farming ecology (Parra, 2007; Rescia et al. 2002). ity standpoint. This in turn would lead to a change The final part analyses the relevance of the features in agriculture’s relationship with local ecosystems, of the “quinoa territories” to explain the crop’s giving impetus to a redefinition of agrobiodiversi- high genetic diversity in Chile, and examines the ty, with globally recognized repercussions, such as importance of maintaining these features in terms agricultural system reproduction, the creation and of adaptation to different environments and mar- maintenance of social ties and and the transmission kets, while offering specific products. In conclusion, of skills and patrimony from one generation to the despite its status as a minor crop, quinoa in Chile next (Chevassus-au-Louis and Bazile, 2008; Kaine exhibits high ecological and production diversity, and Tozer, 2005). Building sustainability with a focus occupying a wide range of ecosystems. Quinoa pre- on agricultural biodiversity is linked to the territorial sents new opportunities for agrarian development stakeholders’ system. This constant gives meaning in Chile, given the potential social, ecological and to the idea of biodiversity, described in geographi- economic interactions under sustainable develop- cal terms as a society’s link with the diversity of liv- ment. Quinoa crop management should be planned ing things, viewing it in terms of the “problems” (or in line with the dynamics of its broad biodiversity, benefits) it presents to that society. For Leff (2005), with twofold vertical management over a wide geo- “Territory is the place where sustainability is rooted graphical area extending from the Aymara to the within ecological bases and cultural identities. It is Mapuche region, and horizontal, or local, manage- the social space where social actors exercise their ment when territorial cohesion is required among power to control environmental degradation and local stakeholders: farmers and non-farmers; the fulfill the peoples’ needs, aspirations and desires public and private sector. that economic globalization is unable to satisfy.” General history of quinoa in the Andes and Chile At local level, the limitations and positive synergy of growth and agricultural development models are In the Andean context, the information available manifested in the spaces created (Zalabata, 2003). indicates that quinoa was probably domesticated Environmental diversity translates to a variety by ancient civilizations in different time periods and of agrarian practices that do not easily fit into an geographical zones, including the regions of Peru agrarian systems analysis (Naredo, 1996). To iden- (5000 B.C.), Chile (3000 B.C.) and Bolivia (750 B.C.) tify sustainability through the ecological pressure (Kadereit et al., 2003). Quinoa’s presence in Chile or economic potential of crops, it is important to today may be explained by cultural exchanges be- look towards the territory’s structural diversity, re- tween ancient peoples, such as the Inca culture and flected in the variety of soils, species, ecosystems, other groups native to Chile, in various agro-eco- landscapes, and their uses and applications. These logical contexts from the Chilean Altiplano in the models describe mechanisms for organizing the north (17°S) to the island of Chiloe and even further CHAPTER: 5.4 Quinoa IN CHILE south (47°S, Puerto Rio Tranquilo). During the Span- Nonetheless, rural peasants were persistent and 403 ish Conquest, quinoa was strongly discouraged as continued to grow it in the Andean region in north- a crop, due to its important role in society and the ernmost Chile on the border with Peru and Bolivia fact that it was sacred to the indigenous peoples’ (Lanino, 1976), in the central region south of San- religious beliefs (Ruas et al., 1999). tiago, at sea level in Concepcion, and in Araucanía, where the Mapuche people knew it as quinhua or As a result, quinoa was only retained as a crop in kinwa (Junge, 1978). places devoid of agricultural modernization pro- grammes, and it became the particular domain of Quinoa ecotypes present in Chile rural and indigenous women. The current phenom- enon of human migration from the rural regions of Quinoa grown in Chile retains the same morpho- the Andes to urban centres exposes quinoa to the logical patterns and colours found at other latitudes risk of genetic erosion. This process is consistent (Gandarillas 1979; Bhargava et al., 2005; Fuentes with a loss of genetic diversity (preserved in situ for and Bhargava, 2011). However, specific adaptations thousands of years), caused by the disappearance to certain geographical regions throughout the An- of traditional farming practices. des have generated five ecotypes associated with subcentres of diversity (Figure 1). Many historical documents describe quinoa as pre- sent in Chile, from the northern