Quinoa in Ecuador

Abstract

For around 7 000 years, quinoa has been cultivated in the Andean region, where it has been valued for its nutritional qualities and its adaptability to difficult environmental conditions. In Ecuador, quinoa cultivation has been considered of secondary im-portance: the cultivated area is relatively small and per capita consumption is low (Jacobsen and Sherwood, 2002). Pulgar Vidal (1954, cited by Tapia, 1979) believed that the Chibchas and other tribes of the Cundi- Boyacense plateau in Colombia grew quinoa intensively, and he also suggested that the ancient inhabitants of Cuyumbe (Huila, Colombia) assisted in the spread of quinoa southwards , which would explain its distribution in Ecuador.