Maca: Inca Superfood?
Why is Maca being called the Inca Superfood by natural grocers such as Whole Foods?
This pungent turnip-like vegetable is being touted as a cancer fighting superfood as well as an aphrodisiac. Chinese buyers showed up in Junin, Peru this year, with suitcases filled with cash so they could buy up the entire harvest.
As Maca flourishes on the market today, in reality the root vegetable has a history that goes back even before the time of the Inca empire.
In Peru, there is a law that clearly states the following: Maca must be processed within the country of Peru before it can be exported. This measure is intended to protect local businesses. It seems however, that many Chinese buyers are smuggling the root out of the country illegally, despite a ban to prevent the root from being grown anywhere else.
“Thousands of acres of Maca are currently being grown outside of Peru without the authorization of the Peruvian government”, said Andres Valladolid, the president of Peru’s National Commission Against Biopiracy. The local Peruvian farmers worry that the Chinese will get a monopoly over Maca, and be able to set the price on the world market.
One of the top importers in the United States claimed that he was previously paying $3.60 per pound, and that now some suppliers are asking for more than $20.00 per pound of Maca. They are getting the price.
At Whole Foods stores, Maca, which is being labeled the “Inca superfood”
recently increased their prices to $30.00 a pound. It is said that next year, shoppers will be paying $80.00 for a pound of Maca.
In June of 2014 Chinese buyers arrived in the town of Junin, which sits at 13,555 feet above sea level and with a population of 10,000
Within weeks the vegetable soared in value and fortunes were made overnight. What will be the future of Maca? Will the Peruvian government be able to protect this indigenous and ancient superfood?
