Quinoa expansion beyond its origins

Bazile Didier. 2021. Quinoa expansion beyond its origins. . MNSUAM. Multan : MNSUAM, Résumé, 5 p. Quinoa: A Future Smart Food, Pakistan, 8 Novembre 2021/8 Novembre 2021.

Matériel d'accompagnement : 1 diaporama (32 vues)

Note générale : Le congrès s'est tenu en ligne

Résumé : Agriculture has always been based on access and exchange, not on exclusivity. PGR were collected and exchanged for more than 10,000 years: Propagation on the planet with human migrations; Improvement of cultivars according to local contexts; Use and cultivation of a large number of species. People have always shared or traded their local plants and breeds. Farmers exchange seeds and grow exotic materials among their usual plants to avoid declines in productivity. Farmers are actors of the dynamics of agrobiodiversity. Because of they domesticated the original wild plants for generating landraces, and added to diversity by adapting cultivated plants to new ecosystems and human needs and discovered new crops. Some key specificities of agrobiodiversity: The value of agricultural genetic resources lies as much in the intra-specific diversity as in the number of species. Farmers contribute to increasing diversity through farming and cropping systems. When a system dies, diversity must be conserved ex situ. Countries and regions are "interdependent": all depend on crops originating from other countries. Most of the plant genetic resources plant genetic resources are found in tropical and semi-tropical countries, not in the "industrial north". Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) knowns as neglected and underutilized species, was considered major crop used by the Pre-Colombian cultures in Latin-America for centuries. As a consequence of the invasion and the conquest by the Spanish, cultivation and consumption of this crops were suppressed and thereafter only continued on a minor or local scale. Quinoa has been grown in the Andes for over 7,000 years. After centuries of neglect, the potential of quinoa was only rediscovered during the second half of the twentieth century. Following the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ) in 2013, the case of quinoa was highlighted with the potential to rapidly change its status from a minor to a major crop in the world agriculture, on basis of the role that quinoa's biodiversity and its high nutritional value can play in providing global food security. To open this international conference, I will give first some general elements of background on quinoa. Second, I will analyze trends of quinoa's expansion and discuss the limits. Third, I will present the Global Collaborative Network on Quinoa as a an option to develop a strategic action plan for the future of quinoa. Chenopodium, commonly known as the goosefoot genus, includes a wide array of species and is native to all the inhabited continents. Quinoa is cultivated primarily for its edible grains but the plant has broad uses like the consumption of the young leaves and sometimes the tender panicles. It serves also as animal fodder in fresh or as silage, and additionally it is used in medicine, cosmetic, etc. where the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and disinfectant properties are exploited. Similarly, the saponin is currently under investigation for insecticide and antifungal properties. Quinoa is a gynomonoecious allotetraploid (2n = 4× = 36) and a facultative autogamous annual with outcrossing from 10 to 16%. Many Chenopodium species are adapted to arid and/or saline environments. The genus is notorious for its invasive weeds, such as lambsquarters or pigweed (C. album and C. berlandieri), although these and at least two other species of the genus were domesticated anciently on four continents, as both vegetable and seed crops, while numerous species provided vegetative sustenance for local population from antiquity. Economically important species are: C. quinoa (2n=36) used as a grain crop, C. pallidicaule (2n=18), C. berlandieri subsp. nuttalliae (2n=36) used for both grain and vegetable and C. album (2n=18,36,54) mainly used as a leafy vegetable and foliage crop, and some Himalayan types are also cultivated for grain. Phylogenetic relationships between cultivated and their related wild taxa have been studied on the basis of allozyme studies, crossability, DNA structuration but there are complex and the great morphological, ecological and chromosomal diversity found within the genus complex needs further studies to solve the taxonomic problems. South American quinoa (C. quinoa) has risen from a neglected subsistence crop of indigenous farmers to become a major export of the Andean nations of Bolivia and Peru within the past 20 years. The emergence of quinoa to prominence in organic food markets of the Developed World has led to scientists giving increasing attention to the crop's unique nutritional benefits, including a superb amino acid balance in the seed, and potentially novel abiotic stress-tolerance mechanisms. Quinoa was domesticated near Lake Titicaca. Generations of farmers have been involved in quinoa selection, which explains the high levels of genetic diversity found today. Quinoa diversity, at a continental scale, has been associated with five main ecotypes: Highlands (Peru and Bolivia), Inter- Andean valleys (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru), Salares (Bolivia, Chile and Argentina), Yungas (Bolivia) and Coastal/Lowlands (Chile). Each of these ecotypes is associated with sub-centres of diversity that comes from the surroundings of the Lake Titicaca. And each one corresponds to specific conditions of altitude, latitude and soils and climatic conditions. The differences are very pronounced between ecotypes. And the central and southern part of Chile ecotype is the more adapted to temperate environments. Faced with the challenge of increasing the production of quality food to feed the world's population in the context of climate change, quinoa offers an alternative for many countries suffering from food insecurity. The project “American and European Test of Quinoa” (1996-1998) was the first wide diffusion of quinoa worldwide and underlies the current global expansion of the crop. Field trials were established in several countries such as Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Italy and Greece through first network of international cooperation for promotion of quinoa. The project “American and European Test of Quinoa” overseen by Angel Mujica and Sven-Erik Jacobsen together with Juan Izquierdo from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that began in 1996, was the most important effort in the 1990s for quinoa's expansion. The testing followed two other important activities, which were focused on cultivation in Europe: the EU project under the AIR1 program “Quinoa – a multiple crop for EC's Agriculture diversification, 1993–1997,” coordinated by University of Cambridge, UK, and the Food and Agriculture COST Action 814 on “Crop Adaptation to Cool and Wet Climates, 1991–1996,” coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Belgium. Through international cooperation initiatives for promoting quinoa, field trials were set up in other countries such as Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Greece. The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2013 as the "International Year of Quinoa", in recognition of ancestral practices of the Andean people, who have managed to preserve quinoa in its natural state as food for present and future generations. Nowadays, quinoa is present in more than 125 countries. The spread of worldwide quinoa is made from strong relationships between institutions that share their genetic material. Andean countries hold the largest germplasm collections. But many countries have established collections prior to signature of the Convention on Biological Diversity which specifies that states are sovereign over their genetic resources (red triangles on the map representing 25 countries worldwide). Considering the evolution of global regulations on seeds, two periods must be distinguished for their importance on biodiversity sovereignty: the signing of the Convention of Biological Biodiversity (CBD in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992) marks a particularly break and contrasts the before and the after for plant genetic resources' access and sharing. The CBD stipulates national sovereignty over biodiversity and obliges parties to form bilateral agreements for accessing their genetic resources. In order to facilitate innovation in plant breeding, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of 2004 provides a specific instrument for exchanging germplasm of the major food and forage crops. It established a global and Multilateral System (MLS) to allow farmers, plant breeders, and scientists to exchange plant genetic materials. Quinoa, unfortunately, is not one of the species pertaining to Annex 1 of the Treaty, which is a list of those species included the MLS of exchanges. The Declaration of Cordoba (2012) from the International Seminar “Crops for the XXI Century,” the first international event celebrating the UN IYQ 2013, proposed the addition of minor crops to be included in the Annex I to the Treaty. To date, however, there has been no consensus reached. The different regulations on plant genetic resources are usually applied at different levels (local, national, and international) and for different purposes (genetic resources, varieties and seeds, agricultural by-products, etc.). For quinoa, however, there is no single existing legal framework providing a comprehensive coverage of all the issues related to the genetic resources and their sustainable management. The CBD does regulate bilateral access and benefit sharing, but this is difficult to apply to quinoa as the crop is now planted internationally, not restricted to the Andean region, and this has been the case for decades. This now means that these countries may well develop new varieties from this germplasm without having to refer directly to the country of origin. The Nagoya Protocol (adopted in Japan in 2010) is an international agreement which aims arising at sharing the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, and contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components. In this case of quinoa, it's not relevant for Andean Countries. So these countries need to be active in the international agenda on quinoa to protect their genetic resources and interests. Considering the challenges for protecting farmers' varieties and at the same time facilitating access to genetic resources for creating new biodiversity, new ways of doing science are needed. As we have seen the number of research centers on Quinoa is increasing worldwide. In parallel the number of researchers working on Quinoa is expending, even in region such as Eastern Europe or Central America which are not yet producing Quinoa. However today, the main concerned countries of the researches and studies are still the first producers of Quinoa. But as we can see, there is a big gap in the knowledge on Africa for example. This could be one of the challenges for the international year of Quinoa and after, if we want to increase the chances of its introduction and development there. Some knowledge and technologies are already available: Using molecular markers (SSR linkage map, marker-assisted selection), Improving feature selection based on genes of interest, PVB/PPB methods, Adaptation to climate change and salinity using variability. There is an imbalance technology access between the North and South. How can we consider sustainable agriculture development for food security and nutrition? Quinoa is a good example of adaptive crop for many environments that can help to restore agricultural systems in marginal and degraded areas. But how can we improve resource efficiency of production, but also of natural resources (soil, biodiversity, water, ...)? To achieve sustainable development goals, we need to think about agricultural systems resilience against risk, against variability and against uncertainty. Social aspects also need to be considered. Given that quinoa cultivation and research is expanding to parts of world that are not familiar with the crop, researchers and farmers would benefit from being included in a network with other researchers facing similar challenges. Promoting cooperation and collaboration is the best option if we truly wish to promote quinoa within a global agroecological shift that considers agricultural biodiversity in all its dimensions for food nutrition and sustainable agricultural systems. Treating quinoa cultivation in the Andes as not only a localized system, but as an agroecological model, can connect our thinking to a geographic process and generate new knowledge.

Mots-clés libres : Quinoa, Biodiversity, Expansion, Trends

Auteurs et affiliations

• Bazile Didier, CIRAD-ES-UMR SENS (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0001-5617-9319

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/600242/)

Métriques

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