Eating the Andean crop Quinoa could bolster food security, protect farmer’s livelihoods and set the world on a path to zero-hunger, according to the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Speaking as the FAO launched a global year of quinoa, José Graziano da Silva said the crop could prove to be a potent weapon against hunger at a time when increasing climatic variability is making conditions increasingly difficult for small farmers.
“We are here to recruit a new ally in the fight against hunger and food insecurity – quinoa,” said da Silva.
“The International Year of Quinoa will serve not only to stimulate the development of the crop worldwide, but also as recognition that the challenges of the modern world can be confronted by calling on the accumulated knowledge of our ancestors and the small family farmers who currently are the major producers of the crop,” he said.
