Quinoa has a space in Family Farming month

Activities academic and marketing take place from Monday 5 to 8 October the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) , the Week Quinoa , which is also part of the activities planned in the month of family agriculture .

Quinoa has a space in Family Farming month

According to information from the MAG, 40% of the approximately 4,500 tons of quinoa produced in the country come from peasant family farmers, mainly from the provinces of Carchi, Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, Imbabura and Pichincha , where there are 2,089 producers who plant the product in 2,957 hectares.

Quinoa is considered a strategic product to combat hunger and malnutrition globally. That is why the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared 2013 as the International Year of Quinoa , and Ecuador instituted October 7 as the National Day of Quinoa .

In this context, on October 5 and 6 the III Congress of Quinoa will be held , to disseminate the axes of: genetic resources, biodiversity and conversation ; technological innovation; feeding; sociocultural and archaeological aspects and ancestral knowledge and practices ; marketing and market trends, as well as public policies and financing.

In the development of these themes, the Congress will include the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIAP) , the Polytechnic School of Chimborazo, FAO; the Ministry of Production , Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries; Maquita Cushunchic, the Mag District Office in Chimborazo, and the producers.

On October 7, the Quinua Cooking Workshop will be held, in conjunction with Taste Ecuador and the Canadian School of Gastronomy; There, dishes made with quinoa will be prepared, so that citizens can access new ways of using this grain in their meals.

On October 8, the First Meeting of Ancestral Knowledge and Practices of quinoa will be held, to revalue and strengthen ancestral knowledge and practices in the production process, post-harvest, commercialization, exchange and consumption of quinoa .

These academic, gastronomic and innovation activities , through virtual platforms, will have the support of the European Committee for Training and Agriculture within the framework of the Value Chains Program, National Institute for Agricultural Research; Ministry of Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, through ProEcuador; FAO; Cushunchic Maquita; Espoch; University of Bolívar; Universidad de Quevedo, and Canadian School, together with MAG to revalue the cultivation and consumption of quinoa. (I)