COMACHE, BOLIVIA—In the bright sunshine of Bolivia’s Altiplano plateau, 72-year-old Justo Herrera yanks a knee-high stalk of canahua out of the ground as he rushes to complete the harvest before another frost.
“Thirty grams of canahua, a spoonful of sugar and some lemon, and you don’t feel hungry,” Herrera said. “It’s pure vitamins.”
Indeed, the high-power varieties Herrera has been growing since he was a boy are both remarkably nutritious and perfectly suited to the Andean highlands climate.
They are also at risk of disappearing.
A cousin, quinoa, is gaining favour with young farmers in the region eager to supply Whole Foods and other trendy grocers that stock the grain alongside couscous and basmati rice.
Though a superfood in its own right, quinoa isn’t as well adapted to changing heat and rainfall patterns as canahua — a concern as climate shifts turn the tables on farmers and consumers. As planters such as Herrera age, his know-how in growing the nutritious, frost-resistant grain may be lost, along with the local varieties he cultivates.
Canahua is an “orphan crop” — a plant that receives little research or market attention compared with agribusiness mainstays, such as soybeans.
About 20,000 species of edible plants exist worldwide. Fewer than 20 of them provide 90 per cent of all food, according to Britain-based Plants for a Future. Many of the remaining plants hold promise for adaptation in a changing climate, said Allen Van Deynze, a plant scientist at the University of California-Davis.
To understand canahua (pronounced “kan-ya’wa”), it helps to know quinoa.
The darling of health-conscious consumers and a boon to small farmers in South America’s Andes Mountains, quinoa was called the “mother grain” by the ancient Incas. The United Nations declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. As western consumers have discovered it and raved about its high nutritional value and versatility, sales have boomed.
Canahua, a crunchier, less bitter grain dubbed “baby quinoa” because its seeds are smaller, is a superfood in its own right. Gluten-free like quinoa, it has half the fat content and more protein. It is often used to enhance the flavour of other foods, or made into flour for breads and pastries.
Grown at more than 4,000 metres above sea level in a region prone to unpredictable frosts, canahua provides vitamins and minerals in short supply to local residents — its high iron content compensates for the effects of living at high altitude, helping to make red bloods cells that carry oxygen through the body.
While the quinoa boom is well-documented, canahua isn’t tracked in UN or Bolivian government data. In neighbouring Peru, acreage has stalled at around 7,000 hectares for two decades, while quinoa sowings have doubled to more than 56,605 hectares in the past 10 years.
Canahua is “the orphan of all orphans,” said Alejandro Bonifacio, a quinoa and canahua crop-breeder and geneticist with the Proinpa Foundation.
“It’s a crop that deserves attention,” he said. “Canahua is one of the crops better prepared for climate change.”
Working his three plots in the Andes, Herrera is doing his part to preserve canahua. He’s been at it for four decades, keeping some of the grain for his family and selling the rest to neighbours or feeding it to his chickens.
“I’ve got tons of it,” he said. “I’ve not had any other job. It’s in my genes.”