A few days ago the Cultural Commission and Cultural Heritage of the Congress of the Republic approved that the maca, the Andean tuber considered one of the “superfoods” that humanity has, is ‘Genetic, ethnic and cultural heritage of Peru’.

INITIATIVE. The legislator Casio Huaire Chuquichaico, who presented the proposal, pointed out that the maca has great importance since the pre-Inca period, when it became one of the first roots that the Peruvian inhabitant consumed. “It also served as an offering to the gods along with corn and potatoes,” said the congressman.

Also, Mr. Huaire indicated that he presented the project 4 years ago and that it was finally approved, but for that, it had to go through the Agriculture Commission in the first instance and finally the Cultural Commission approved it. “The purpose is to reassess and guarantee that this tuber is native to the mountains of Peru. It also has nutritional and productive qualities that need to be preserved, “he said.

He added that it is the first time that a tuber receives that name of heritage because it is intended to create a genetic bank in order to take care of the authenticity of the various products that there are highlighting the benefits, too. Mr. Huaire hopes that next month, in the last session of the Congress of the Republic, the measure will be approved and recognized by means of a law. “Otherwise, the next government will take it into account,” he said.

MASSIVE PRODUCTION. In what sectors is the production of maca massive? In the central regions of Junín and Pasco, in the areas of the Bombón plateau and the upper parts of the Mantaro valley.

It is thus, that according to the Dirección Regional de Agricultura (DRA) Junín, Tarma, Jauja and Junín are the places with the highest incidence of maca production out of the 9 provinces of the region. For instance, that in Tarma there are 2, 355 hectares of maca plantations, in Jauja there are 1,630 hectares and in Junín up to 1, 472 hectares can be found.

Also, according to an approximation, the yield is relatively high because one hectare can get up to 8, 022 kilos of maca.

And the price per kilo on farm is S / 6 on average.

EXPORT. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Minagri) has recently announced that Peru stands out as the world’s leading exporter of maca.

According to the ministry’s reports, in the case of maca, sales of fresh maca in 2015 registered a volume of 763 tons valued at more than US $ 6.6 million, which represented an increase of 44% over the year 2014.

Similarly, the MINAGRI revealed that the main export markets for maca flour during 2015 were the United States (35%), Canada (8%), England (8%), Germany (7%), China (7%), Japan (7%) and Holland (4%), which together were 76% of the total maca flour exported.

In this sense, the main producing regions of Maca are Pasco, Junín and Huancavelica, which demonstrates the competence of our Peruvian highlands as a source of diverse, high quality food and a generator of value for the country.

Source: El Correo

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