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Introduction
Pages 1-21

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From page 1...
... Yet they include some widely adaptable, extremely nutritious, and remarkably tasty foods. This botanical colonialism closed off from the rest of the world a major center of crop diversity.
From page 2...
... ' piTucuman ~0 The Inca Empire measured more than 4,000 km from end to end. Superimposed on a map of modern South America, it would begin on Colombia's southern frontier, stretch southward along the coast and highlands of Ecuador and Peru, sprawl across highland Bolivia into northwestern Argentina, and reach down into central Chile to just below Santiago.
From page 3...
... Eventually, the new form rose to become the fourth largest crop on earth. Other Andean crops that reached the outside world and enjoyed spectacular success were lima beans, peppers, and the tomato.4 In light of this, it is surprising that more than 30 promising Inca staples remain largely restricted to their native lands and unappreciated elsewhere.
From page 4...
... Farmers deliberately maintained fields at different elevations, and this vertically diversified farming fostered the development of a cornucopia of crop varieties, each with slightly different tolerances to soil type, moisture, temperature, insolation, and other factors. The resulting diversity of crops served as a form of farm insurance, but the differing growth cycles of different elevations also permitted work to be staggered and therefore more area to be cultivated.
From page 6...
... First, the Incas were master agriculturalists. They borrowed seeds and roots from their conquered neighbors and forcibly spread a wealth of food crops throughout their empire, even into regions where they were previously unknown.
From page 7...
... Today, the region of the empire the highlands from Colombia through Chile is one of the world's most depressed areas. The infant mortality rate is one of the highest on the South American continentmore than one-fourth of the children die before their first birthday, a rate more that twice that of Latin America at large and about 50 times that of Sweden.
From page 8...
... For centuries this method flourished because it produced bumper crops in the face of floods, droughts, and the killing frosts of those 3,800-m altitudes. Around Lake Titicaca, remnants of over 80,000 hectares of these raised fields (ware waru)
From page 9...
... Water in the canals absorbs the sun's heat by day and radiates it back by night, thereby keeping the air warm and helping protect crops against frost. On the raised beds, nighttime temperatures can be several degrees higher than in the surrounding region.
From page 10...
... One technique was to freeze-dry root crops. In the Andean uplands, the nights are so cold and the days are so dry that tubers left out in the open for a few nights and days become freeze-dried.
From page 11...
... And a concomitant notion is that their food plants are separate and unequal as well. It may seem irrational, but crops the world over are stigmatized by the prejudices held against the peoples who use them most.5 Over the centuries, the Spanish view that native crops are inferior to European crops such as wheat, barley, and broad beans has persisted.
From page 12...
... By then, the number of Andean scientists working on indigenous crops had increased markedly, and it was decided that an international congress would be held every few years and would be expanded to cover the full complement of Andean crops. At about this time, also, the International Board of Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR)
From page 13...
... From 1980 to 1985, the Peruvian university system undertook research on Andean crops and mountain agricultural systems. Peru's Programa Nacional de Sistemas Andinos de Produccion Agropecuarias funded more than 50 agronomic research projects, involving native crops and researchers from universities in Huancayo, Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Puno.
From page 14...
... · Nutrition. Additional nutritional studies would be helpful in some species, especially to clarify the optimum dietary mix with other foods.
From page 15...
... This difficulty has proved surmountable in potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and lima beans, but it still could take growers some time to locate varieties or genes that can allow each of the crops described in this report to be grown as far from the equator as North America, Europe, Japan, and Australasia. Difference in sensitivity to cold is another possible problem.
From page 16...
... Mauka (Mirabilis expansa, Nyctaginaceae) has thick stems and yellow or salmon-colored fleshy roots that make it a sort of cassava of the highlands.
From page 17...
... Grown in temperate valleys from Colombia to northwestern Argentina, it produces tubers that on the inside are white, sweet, and juicy, but almost calorie free. Because of their succulence, they are eaten raw and make a pleasant refreshment.
From page 18...
... Basul (Erythrina edulis, Leguminosae) is a common leguminous tree of the Andean highlands.
From page 19...
... Along the length of the Andes are found several dozen localized berry fruits. These include relatives of raspberry and blackberry Rubus species, Rosaceae)
From page 20...
... Related to, but wholly unlike, tomatoes, this fruit (Solanum quitoense, Solanaceae) is highly esteemed in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala, but virtually unknown elsewhere.
From page 21...
... A large, conical, yellow fruit (Solanum muricatum, Solanaceae) with jagged purple streaks, pepino's mellow flesh tastes like a sweet melon.


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