Året for Quinoa (udtales kinoa), en planteart med ualmindeligt næringsrige frø, hædres med titlen “En fremtid sået for årtusinder siden”, hvilket i bogstaveligste forstand skete før spaniernes erobring, når inka-solkongen plantede årets første frø med en gylden spade.
Dyrkningen af den nøjsomme plante tages nu op på andre kontinenter, og “hjemme” i Sydamerika er avlen med støtte fra bl.a. fra dansk udviklingsbistand allerede blevet udvidet i Andeslandet Bolivia og produktiviteten øget mærkbart.
NEW YORK, 20 February 2013 (UN News Service): Top officials from the United Nations and the Andean community of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru Wednesday launched the ‘International Year of Quinoa’.
The goal is to raise awareness of the nutritional (ernæringsmæssige), economic, environmental and cultural value of a food that has been traditionally cultivated for may be 6000 years.
“I hope this International Year will be a catalyst for learning about the potential of quinoa for food and nutrition security, for reducing poverty – especially among the world’s small farmers – and for environmentally sustainable agriculture,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the launch at UN Headquarters.
Calling it “extraordinary” and a “cultural anchor” in the Andes, Mr. Ban noted that quinoa contains all the essential amino acids (aminosyre), trace elements (sporstoffer) and vitamins, but no gluten.
The small crop is widely adaptable, thriving in temperatures ranging from -8 degrees Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius, at sea level or 4.000 meters above, and is not impacted by low moisture (fugtighed).
This versatility (alsidigheden) makes quinoa a viable food option for areas with arid farming conditions and high malnutrition rates.
Hjælp til verdens sultende
FAO estimates that one billion people were affected by malnutrition in 2010, nearly all living in the developing world.
Reducing world hunger by half is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the globally-agreed anti-poverty targets with a deadline of 2015.
“Many nations in South America are making strong progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goal,” Mr. Ban said, including by increasing food production, reducing poverty and increasing access to nutritious food like quinoa.
Bolivia and Peru account for more than half of the annual 70.000 tons of quinoa produced, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
While its cultivation is expanding to include Kenya, India, North America and Europe, most of the crop is farmed through traditional means in the Andean altiplano (højslette).
Morales: Ikke bare “indianerføde”, som spanierne sagde
In 2011 the General Assembly adopted a resolution honouring quinoa with its own year.
In doing so, the 193-member body sought to recognize the Andean indigenous people “who have managed to preserve quinoa in its natural state as food for present and future generations, through ancestral (ældgamle) practices of living in harmony with nature.”
The theme for this year is “a future sown thousands of years ago.”
Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma, a former farmer himself, told the launch that the world today “discovered the real value of quinoa,” which stands in sharp contrast to the colonial disrespect for the food and traditional ways of indigenous (indianernes) lives.
He also noted that since gaining popularity, quinoa’s price rose on the world market and it is becoming a more attractive crop for large companies which are keen to change the traditional methods by which it is cultivated and cropped.
Læs videre på
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44184&Cr=quinoa&Cr1=#.USUb7GV1T4s
Begynd fra: “Mr. Morales has been named Special Ambassador to FAO for the International Year of Quinoa, along……”
Mere om quinoa på http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa og
http://www.helsenyt.com/frame.cfm/cms/id=1541/sprog=1/grp=2/menu=1
Se tillige Verdensbankens baggrundsartikel på
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/02/19/quinoa-day-from-the-andes-altiplano-to-the-world-international-year
