Description
Scitus Academics Quinoa Botany Production And Uses by Roma Doshi
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a pseudocereal native to the Andean regions of South America. Quinoa is one of the oldest crops of the American continent. Archeological findings in northern Chile have shown that quinoa was used prior to 3000 ??. in Ayacucho, Peru, evidence has been obtained that quinoa was cultivated there before 5000 ??. The quinoa plant was widely cultivated in the whole Andrean region, in Columbia, Equador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, before the Spanish conquest. However, the habits and traditional foods of natives were replaced with foreign crops such as wheat and barley. Therefore, quinoa was cultivated either in small plantations in rural areas for domestic consumption or as borders for other crops such as potatoes or maize. The failure of the green revolution in several areas and the negative impacts associated with it have forced mankind to look for an alternative. The accelerated inputs have resulted in intolerable pressure on fragile agroeco systems. The situation is compounded by a shrinking portfolio of species and an emphasis on a handful of crops that have narrowed the number of species on which global food security depends. The need of today is a gradual shift from input-intensive to environmentally sound sustainable agriculture.