international - Bergische Universität Wuppertal

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Bolivian project partners (aji = chili)
Chilies – researCh against poverty
José Quispe is a chili
farmer. He has 2 hectares
of land on a steep slope
of the Bolivian Andes near
Colomi. He, his wife Teófila,
and their four children live
from the cultivation and sale
of locotos, a variety of chili
widespread in the Andes. In
the past this always got them
through the year, but now the
crop brings in too little for
them to survive. They lack
basic necessities: cooking oil,
clothes, medicine, and school
materials for the children.
Because of the sparseness
of the population and the distance
to local markets, the
Andean chili farmers do not
usually sell their produce directly
but to local middlemen.
These can dictate the price,
because the supply is relatively
uniform and the market
depends on two factors: the
size of the annual crop and local
demand.
That is generally the case not
only in Bolivia, but also in Peru
and along the upper Amazon.
An international research
project of the German Federal
Ministry of Economic Cooperation
and Development is
currently dedicated to improving
the situation of the chili
farmers.
soMe 1.4 biLLion PeoPLe
LiVe todAy in extre-
Me PoVerty: in soutH
AMeriCA More tHAn 120
MiLLion HAVe Less tHAn
tWo doLLArs A dAy
The uniformity of what the
farmers offer stands in sharp
contrast to the biological diversity
of chilies in their original
habitat. In the course of
the past twenty years, seed
banks have been established
in Bolivia and Peru to maintain
the gene pool, and these
state-supported programs
contain more than 900 different
varieties of chili. But the
biodiversity present in the gene
banks is deceptive, as it is
used first and foremost to provide
farmers with seed types
that increase the yield. This,
however, is not the same
as increasing the farmers’ income.
on the contrary, market
domination by a single
type of chili brings down the
price and with it the income
of the producer.
QuALity And diVer-
sity As WeAPons
AGAinst PoVerty
Michael Petz, Professor of
Food Chemistry at the University
of Wuppertal, explains
that “the biodiversity of chilies
can be used to improve
the farmers’ income in a sustainable
way”. The research
project aims to identify,
among the great number held
by the gene banks, some 30
different varieties distinguishable
for their aromatic, spicy,
or health-giving qualities. The
sustained cultivation of these
premium varieties, along with
the development of regional
chili-based foodstuffs like
jams, dips and spreads, will,
it is hoped, lead to economic
improvement for the Andean
chili farmers.
nAturAL Wonder-
WorKers
Like potatoes, tomatoes and
tobacco, chilies belong to
the solanum or nightshade
family, which includes the
capsicums, the only plants to
produce the intensely piquant
chemical capsaicin. This is
secreted in the plant’s pods,
which botanically speaking
are berries. Capsaicin is 300
times hotter than piperine,
which is responsible for the
spiciness of ordinary pepper.
The various species of
capsicum differ markedly in
piquancy, ranging from zero
in vegetable capsicums,
through mild in sweet paprika,
to the extremely hot
chilies that yield the extracts
used, for example, in rheumatic
plasters.
Chilies are also rich in vitamin
C, carotenoids and
plant phenols, antioxidants
that function as free radical
quenchers and are therefore
valued – among other
components of a high vegetable
and fruit diet – for their
preventive medicinal properties,
especially with regard
to cancer, cardiac and circulatory
diseases, and arteriosclerosis.
They are also
thought to retard the aging
process.
Food CHeMistry
in WuPPertAL
The project is coordinated
by Bioversity International,
a global NGo dedicated to
maintaining the genetic diversity
of food plants and
raising the income of small
farmers in developing countries.
The interdisciplinary
team of researchers from
Germany, Peru and Bolivia
includes molecular biologists
responsible for the
genetic characterization and
selection of plant types, agriculturalists
concerned with
the improvement of cultivation
and processing methods,
and economists whose
task is to determine and
enhance the scope of local
and international markets.
UW food chemists concentrate
on determining the
properties and constituents
of various chili types, from
color, aroma and piquancy to
plant phenols and vitamin C.
Aroma profiles are determined
by a special testing group
working in isolated cabins in a
pure climate room.
Prof. Dr. Michael Petz
Faculty of Mathematics
and Natural Sciences
(Food Chemistry)
Tel.: +49 (0)202 439-2783
E-mail petz@uni-wuppertal.de
k www.lebchem.
uni-wuppertal.de
Research project Unraveling
the Potential of Neglected
Crop Diversity for High-Value
Product Differentiation and
Income Generation for the
Poor: The Case of Chili Pepper
in its Center of origin.
Source of funding: Federal
Ministry of Economic Cooperation
and Development
Total funding: €1.2 million
Time frame:2010-2013
Coordination: Bioversity
International
kwww.bioversityinternational.org
Do or die! UW Marketing Manager Katja Indorf takes a late bite at Remscheid
Research Day 2010.
03_UW_RESEARCH
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