DUSHANBE, October 16, 2013, Asia-Plus – The FAO Country Office in Tajikistan is organizing the event dedicated the World food Day in Dushanbe today afternoon.
The theme of 2013’s World Food Day is “Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition”. The FAO’s mandate in the eradication of hunger and reduction of rural poverty specifies that such be achieved through sustainable management and utilization of natural resources.
According to the FAO, given this sustainability provision, co-operatives feel especially confident as partners to the FAO in agricultural development, as co-operatives are genuinely sustainability-driven enterprises. Obligations towards sustainability are a constitutive part of the principles of co-operatives worldwide. Sustainable operations are in the founding principles of co-operatives since the movement’s birth in the mid 1800’s.
Co-operatives go beyond “aid as usual” and help farmers boost productivity, diversify into other products, improve environmental practices, have a stronger voice in trading negotiations and improve community-wide access to basic necessities like clean water, sanitation and energy.
This year is declared the International Year of quinoa. The FAO Country Office in Tajikistan is expected to launch a new technical assistance project in the country and quinoa will be cultivated in Tajikistan under this project.
Meanwhile, the technical report “Quinoa, an Ancient Crop to Contribute to World Food Security,” produced by PROINPA, describes the nutritional benefits and agricultural versatility of quinoa. The report notes quinoa is a crop with high potential to contribute to food security in various regions worldwide, especially in those countries where the population does not have access to protein sources or where production conditions are limited by low humidity, reduced availability of inputs, and aridity.
This report was submitted by the Multinational State of Bolivia to the 37th FAO Conference in support of the declaration of the “International Year of quinoa”, which was approved, declaring 2013 the International Year of quinoa.
Quinoa is reportedly the only plant food that contains all the essential amino acids, trace elements and vitamins and contains no gluten. Essential amino acids are found in the nucleus of the grain, unlike other cereals, like rice or wheat, in which they are located in their exosperm or hull.
Furthermore, the crop has a remarkable adaptability to different agro-ecological regions. It can grow at relative humidity from 40% to 88%, and withstands temperatures from -4 ° C to 38 ° C. It is a highly water efficient plant, is tolerant and resistant to lack of soil moisture, and produces acceptable yields with rainfall of 100 to 200 mm.
There are more than three thousand varieties or ecotypes of quinoa both cultivated and wild which can be grouped in five basic categories according to the altitudinal gradient: ecotypes from sea level, the valleys, the Yungas, the Salt flats and the Altiplano (high plain).
While the main producers are Bolivia, Peru and the United States, quinoa production is expanding to other continents and it is currently being cultivated in several countries in Europe and Asia with good yields.
