Message #105533

[Bianca]

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
 


We have really just scratched the surface of potential staple foods native to Central and South America.

Some of the colorful Andean tubers are still poorly known outside of their homeland.

Indian grains and cereals are also just now being introduced to our markets. One example is the important Andean grain, technically a pseudocereal, called quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Quinoa provides protein for millions of people in the Andes where the crop thrives despite the high altitude, extreme cold, and high winds. The Incas considered quinoa sacred. It contains high levels of all the essential amino acids making it a more balanced food than wheat, rice, corn, sorghum or millet. In
1988, 750 tons of quinoa entered the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The famines we've mentioned demonstrate the danger of depending heavily on a single crop without
the safety net of genes from its wild relatives. As crop monocultures become ever more vulnerable to disease, we have begun to realize the importance of agricultural techniques emphasizing biodiversity--some of which were practiced hundreds and thousands of years ago by ancient New World cultures!

The genetic resources and agricultural knowledge the people of the Americas oversee remain critical to global food security. Their storehouse of knowledge is only now becoming fully appreciated by modern agricultural researchers. The time has come to form a union to not only promote research in our own societies, but to give something back to the contributing people.



http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/Ethnobotany/page5.php