Bolivia announces world quinoa event to accelerate industrialization

Bolivian quinoa producers and President Luis Arce announced this Monday the VIII World Quinoa Congress 2023, intending to innovate in production and recover the position of the first exporter of those cereals in the world.

“We are launching the VIII World Quinoa Congress from March 28 to 31, 2023.”

“Quinoa is an ancient crop of the Andes, between Bolivia and Peru, which adapted to adverse climatic conditions and fed for more than 7,000 years to ancient civilizations such as the Incas,” he explained in his speech.

Quinoa is a cereal native to the Andes of South America and is the most complete food in vitamins and amino acids for human nutrition, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The president called on academics from other countries, producers, and researchers to contribute to improving quinoa production and industrialization in Bolivia.

“We hope that from this congress can come out important ideas to accelerate industrialization,” he said.

At the announcement ceremony of the international event were representatives of cooperation agencies from Japan, Korea, and Switzerland, among others, and organizations such as FAO and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture IICA.

Bolivia was consolidated in 2013 as the first exporter of quinoa in the world, with 35,000 tons for a value of 153 million dollars. In 2014, it dropped to 30,000 tons for 197 million dollars, according to data from the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE).

The price per ton of quinoa in 2014 reached US$6,602 and then fell to US$2,000 in 2021.

In the first four months of 2022, just 7,729 tons were exported for a value of US$16 million, registering a drop in value of 21% and a volume of 15%, compared to the same period in 2021, according to IBCE figures.

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