Seed fund for the competitiveness of quinoa
Competitiveness of the Quinoa value chain in Peru and Bolivia
Context of the story
Quinoa from Peru and Bolivia is characterized by its high consumer demand at the national and international level. This scenario has generated new relationships and conditions for production, marketing and consumption, which in one way or another affect the value chain of this crop. For example, critical points and relationships are being found between the different actors in the chain and the cultivation areas have increased, leading to the cultivation of quinoa in monoculture on fragile soils, increasing the use of pesticides that in several cases are highly toxic and they can generate marketing problems in national and international markets.
Seed Fund
The implemented initiative
Formulate a proposal to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the quinoa value chain in Peru and Bolivia. It is convenient to review the current state of quinoa production in both countries, identifying critical factors in the different links of the chain to prioritize, design and formalize a public-private platform that allows strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of quinoa in important markets, and improve the backward links, both for organic quinoa (traditional agriculture areas) and conventional (new non-traditional areas).
Regional Proposal for R+D+i in quinoa
The technological solution
Identify critical factors and prioritize innovation in the quinoa value chain that allows structuring a bankable project proposal. The above should lead us to structure a bankable proposal, where the critical factors of the value chain are addressed in a participatory workshop with key actors and allow the development of improvement proposals and implementation mechanisms that interest financial sources committed to the development of quinoa in areas of traditional agriculture (organic niche) and others of greater socioeconomic development (conventional).
The high international demand for quinoa has caused several developed countries to be working intensively on the development of technological innovations, forcing the region to prepare to compete.
Type of project
Results
The production of quinoa in the region can reach significant production volumes to supply global demand through the introduction, promotion and dissemination of quinoa as an input in national and international cuisine. It is also possible to grow quinoa in lower areas; the high productivity that could be achieved in this type of agroecology can lead to an increase in supply in volume and quality. Likewise, another opportunity that should be explored is the value that quinoa has in the market with large agro-industrial companies.