Study on the social, environmental and economic impacts of quinoa ...

The characteristics of “Royal Quinoa” are unique for its type, due to the extraordinary size of
the grain, which is one of the most relevant competitive advantages. For this reason the
international markets frequently demand Bolivian quinoa of high commercial quality.
In the quinoa-production chain, it is necessary to emphasise the important role played by the
producers of the Southern Altiplano. In addition to specialising in the management of this
crop, they are organised in associations and cooperatives. The companies engaged in
processing, transforming and marketing this product have considerable installed and
technological capacity developed by agro-industry, especially in regard to machinery for
transforming the grain (pearled quinoa).
However, competition has recently been noted in other neighbouring countries such as Peru
and Ecuador, which are gradually making inroads into Bolivian quinoa markets. The
existence of "potential" companies or possible competitors which in many cases re-export the
product they purchase in Bolivia (markets of Challapata or Desaguadero) and pass it off as
Peruvian or Ecuadorian quinoa.
Despite all this, Bolivia is the indisputable leader in recorded exports of quinoa on a world
level, controlling the world supply of this product (85% to 90%) of total sales.
5.3. The importance of quinoa to the Bolivian economy
According to CAF (CAF/CID/CLADS, 2001) the country’s annual GDP is 8,250 million dollars,
of which 15% corresponds to the agricultural sector. 52% of this sectorial GDP originates
from the country workers' activity (the remaining 48% corresponds to business). Within the
country workers' contribution, 2.3% corresponds to the contribution of the production and sale
of quinoa which is sold both locally and externally. In figures, this translates into exports in
1997 equivalent to US$ 1.6 million (PNUD/FNUDC, 1998) and at the present time it is
equivalent to US$ 5 million (3 millions official and the remainder unofficial (Laguna 2002,
Brenes et al, 2001).
According to the same author, when exports of Bolivian products of countryside origin are
analysed, the importance of quinoa increases because legal or official exports alone
represent 4.5% of this volume of exports.
Another aspect that should not be lost sight of is that these volumes of exports are achieved
by only 21% of the producers, which produce for self-supply and allocate very little surplus for
sale. Therefore, there is production potential here which should be utilised. If we compare
quinoa with soya, for example, it is obvious that the export of the latter product records better
profits for the country. However, the potential and rural developmental nature of quinoa
means that these two chains are the first to be studied in Bolivia (Crespo, 2001b).
The quinoa-production chain lays emphasis on the Southern Altiplano, an area where
production generates between 55% and 85% of the income of the families residing in that
region, the poverty level of which is close to 90%. Likewise, the Southern Altiplano of Bolivia
provides the biggest quantity of quinoa production (60%) for commercial purposes, though
quinoa is also important in the region from the point of view of nutrition and food security, as
part of the production is for self-supply.
68