Fighting Climate Change with Quinoa: A Highly Nutritious Crop that Can Withstand Harsh Environments
摘要
Quinoa is not only highly nutritious, but it is also the only crop that can be grown in the southern Altiplano region of Bolivia (at an altitude of around 4,000 m), which is a high plateau in a harsh environment with saline soil, drought, and frost. However, quinoa production is currently threatened by frequent extreme weather events and soil erosion caused by the expansion of agricultural land. Therefore, this project aims to develop production technology for resilient quinoa based on the conservation and management technology of sustainable agroecosystems using indigenous biological resources. By disseminating this technology, we will contribute to stable food production and increased national income in Bolivia. Furthermore, our ultimate goal is to contribute to strengthening global food security by applying this technology, which has been cultivated in extremely adverse environments, to diverse agricultural settings, not only in other arid regions of the world threatened by desertification. In this way, the overall objective of this research project is to contribute to the realization of the United Nations International Year of Quinoa (2013) through efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2.4, to ensure sustainable food production systems based on resilient agricultural production systems; SDG 2.5, to conserve genetic diversity, including that of related wild species; SDG 15.3, to combat desertification).