By Hillary Ojeda The Guardian recently reported the serious consequences for Peru due to Chinese grown maca. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR), Prom-Peru, and growers agree to improve management of the growth and production of Peruvian maca root. With the signing of an institutional agreement, these three entities will be working [...]
Chinese demand for the Andean crop is getting cash flowing to farmers, but suspicions of biopiracy are leading to calls to protect Peru’s natural resources. The high plain stretches as far as the eye can see and the glint of sun on water in the distance marks Lake Junin. This highland lagoon, which gives this [...]
By Hillary Ojeda Rising demands of maca abroad have brought issues of biopiracy with it. The Peruvian National Commission Against Biopiracy is reviewing a patent for maca, after an application emerged from Poland. The last few years have seen an astronomical increase in shipments of native Peruvian maca root abroad, and as well multiple cases [...]
By Dan Collyns (@CCTV_dancollyns) Sales of a Peruvian root called “maca” have boomed due to an unprecedented Chinese demand. The root is said to boost fertility, increase energy, and even have an aphrodisiac effect. Despite the growth in sales, some worry that demand is leading to smuggling. CCTV America’s Dan Collyns reported the story from Junin, Peru. [...]
By Stella Paul PYEONGCHANG, Republic of Korea, Oct 22 2014 (IPS) - For over 20 years, Mote Bahadur Pun of Nepal’s western Myagdi district has been growing ‘Paris polyphylla’ – a Himalayan herb used to cure pain, burns and fevers. Once every six months, a group of traders from China arrive at Pun’s house and [...]
By Rachel Chase Peru’s efforts to preserve valuable biodiversity have been so successful they’re now advising other countries on the issue. Andrés Valladolid of Peru’s National Biopiracy Commission, told press that “We have a law that establishes a regimen of protection for the collective knowledge held by indigenous peoples in relation to biological resources. This [...]
Un remedio hecho de hierbas para tratar el dolor de muelas, que ha sido utilizado por siglos por una remota tribu Inca en el Amazonas, se está convirtiendo en un tratamiento comercial para el dolor dental
By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent Indigenous tribes uncovered the remarkable painkilling properties of the Acmella oleracea plant centuries if not millennia ago and it was used by Incas to treat toothache, ulcers, abscesses and to clean their teeth. Now a Cambridge University researcher says the remedy could transform practice in western dental surgeries after discovering [...]
Most rice fields in Mozambique are rain-fed Scidev.net - 15/01/2011 [MAPUTO] Smallholders struggling to grow rice in Mozambique could benefit from a variety that boosts yields nearly six-fold and is less prone to disease.The new rice has an average yield of seven tonnes per hectare and is more resistant to diseases such as fungal blast and [...]
HUMBERTO MÁRQUEZ / ipsnews.net 09/02/2011 CARACAS, Feb 9, 2011 (IPS) - Millions of cancer patients around the world benefit from a medication called Paclitaxel (Taxol), which may begin to be produced from a new source: fungi found at the summit of Venezuela's flat-topped mountains. But the indigenous communities who have lived in that area since time [...]