Clarifying Points Being Questioned - Part II

Continuing from the previous post regarding a reader’s critical evaluation of some of our posts and our responses.

• Comment: About 87 kilometers south of the isthmus, is a narrow strip of mountain wilderness composed of the northern limit of the Andes with summits above 17,000 feet. South of the Andean wilderness is a plain extending from Venezuela into Colombia. While this area presently produces most of the corn, rice and cereal grains in Venezuela and Colombia, in colonial times Venezuela shipped more than 1,700,000 quintals of wheat from this region to Mexico. Today, very little.”

Response: Today Venezuelan farmers in this area produce no wheat or barley but 700 thousand tons of corn (Zea mays) and 170 thousand tons of rice. This region is known as the "bread basket" of Venezuela.

Producing on the Colombian side of the border, 1.18 million tons of corn, 20 thousand tons of barley, and 4.4 thousand tons of wheat. These Nephite crops yield well in this part of South America.

Left: Wheat; Center; Barley; Right: Quinoa

 

In addition, there is the super grain called Quinoa (Keen-wa): Chief growing areas for the world’s quinoa crop are in Peru and Bolivia, with Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina represented to a lesser degree. Altogether this area produces 117 million pounds of quinoa annually, about a third of which is organic.

Small family farms—70,000 just in Bolivia—grow virtually all of this quinoa, without irrigation, in a desert-like landscape. Fortunately for these subsistence farmers, world-wide interest in quinoa is skyrocketing.

The so-called “gold of the Incas,” Quinoa was the food of choice for Andean warriors who needed to boost their stamina. Now, it’s the “it” food of the moment in much of North America, Europe and Asia. With high levels of protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, lysine, manganese and vitamin B12 as well as zinc, copper, and potassium, its classification as a superfood is very much deserved. What’s more, quinoa’s sky-high fiber levels can help reduce cholesterol and prevent heart disease. Grown in the high Andes, quinoa is usually boiled just like a grain, though it’s actually a seed from a plant related to wild spinach.

In the U.S. alone, imports more than doubled from 2006 to 2008, then doubled again, to 22.3 million pounds, from 2008 to 2010. This has translated into a major jump in the local economy, with many farmers’ incomes doubling in recent years, enabling their communities to build schools and otherwise improve their standard of living. In the U.S. and Canada, quinoa is now being grown in areas of the Rocky Mountains, from Colorado to Saskatchewan, mostly at elevations of 7,000 to 10,000 feet. South America Quinoa has an enormous genetic range, including cultivars that can thrive from sea level to about 13,000 feet in altitude. As for his comment that “

• Comment: But not in the Andes, where wheat, barley, corn and cotton do not grow. 

Wheat was once a major production in the Andes. Now South America has switched to quinoa

 

Response: At one time, wheat grew profusely in the Andes. Today, wheat is a minor crop in Peru with most of the production concentrated in the temperate, southern highlands. Grown at 9,185 to 11,480 feet above sea level, production remains limited only by geography as well as current economics. The Peruvian farmer cultivates only about two hectares of wheat, on average.

The traditional and most frequent method of consumption of Wheat production is lightly roasted, ground grains which produce a pleasant flour called cañihuaco. This is consumed on its own, in cold or hot drinks, or in porridges. Over 15 different ways of preparing the whole grain and cañihuaco are known (as entrees, soups, stews, desserts and drinks). In the bakery industry good results have been achieved by adding 20 percent of cañihuaco to wheat flour, which gives the product (bread, biscuits) a pleasant characteristic color and flavor. Cañihuaco also has medicinal uses: it counteracts altitude sickness and fights dysentery while the ashes of its stem can be used as a repellent against insect and spider bites.

However, in recent years the economics of crop growth is being directed by ministers who are moving the Peruvian farmer into quinoa and kiwichi production, of which Peru has millions of tons of each that could be produced. It is a slow process to gear up and become successful, but some companies are already achieving exceptional growth results.

Corn: As for corn (maize), it was grown and eaten by people living in the Andes in Peru at least 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, researchers said: “They show on-site processing of maize into flour and provide direct evidence for the deliberate movement of plant foods by humans from the tropical forest to the highlands

Barley. As for barley, planted in zones above 9,850 feet and up to 16,400 feet, where adverse climatic conditions do not allow other crops to be grown, barley is the main food security component for the 3 million native Peruvians living off subsistence agriculture in the Peruvian Andes. In the midst of these high mountains, quinoa is a staple food that surpasses wheat and corn in nutritional value.

Cotton. As for cotton, Peru has optimal growing conditions for pima cotton. The northern coastal valleys of Peru are pima cotton's ideal home, due to the region’s rich soil and perfect temperatures, which results in the cotton having an unbelievably soft hand and beautiful luster. Thanks to ideal growing conditions hand harvesting, and extra-long staple length, Peruvian Pima cotton is the world's finest, prized for its unusual durability, softness and brilliant shine. It is softer and more absorbent as compared to other kinds of cotton.

Truck Containers once brought wheat to the Americas from Peru, now it is quinoa

 

Quinoa. High in the Andes of South America, quinoa grows on land where one might be surprised to find anything flourishing—let alone a crop as nutritious and versatile as quinoa. In summer the sun blazes down mercilessly through the thin atmosphere, while winter is characterized by frigid blasts. The soil is thin and rainfall scarce—yet, quinoa not only grows but thrives on the altiplano, or high plains. Chief growing areas for the world’s quinoa crop are in Peru and Bolivia, with Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina represented to a lesser degree.  Altogether this area produces 117 million pounds of quinoa annually, about a third of which is organic.

Anciently, the quinoa is a food plant which was extensively cultivated in the Andean region by pre-Columbian cultures some 5000 years ago and was used in the diet of the settlers both of the inter-Andean valleys. which are very cold high areas, and of the high plateaus. After maize. it has occupied the most prominent place among Andean grains. Today, ministers want to make quinoa the grain of the world, replacing wheat and corn.

• Comment: In Venezuela there is a narrow neck of land that runs north and south connecting the mainland to a huge, desolate desert peninsula that is so hot and dry with soils so salty that agriculture is impossible. This narrow neck of land is the Isthmus of Médanos, and the peninsula is the Peninsula de Paraguaná (Desolation in the extinct Mariche indigenous language). The peninsula and its connecting isthmus are part of the Venezuelan semi-arid coastal state of Falcon.

Response: The Médanos Isthmus is a sandy isthmus in Venezuela that connects the Paraguaná Peninsula with the rest of Falcón State. The isthmus is approximately 4 miles wide and 17 miles long. It is the site of the Médanos de Coro National Park, and is a Venezuelan national park occupying the sandy Isthmus of Médanos, which connects mainland Venezuela to the Paraguaná Peninsula in the Caribbean Sea, that covers an area of more than 35 square miles.

Set along the Isthmus of Médanos, on the northern (Caribbean) coast of Venezuela, the National Park is made up of three zones:

• an alluvial plain, formed by the delta of the Mitare River and some smaller streams

•an aeolian plain, composed of three types of dunes

• a littoral plain with a belt of mangrove swamps

The Médanos Isthmus is a sandy isthmus in Venezuela that connects the Paraguaná Peninsula The only extensive area of sand dunes in South America

 

Médanos de Coro National Park protects part of the Paraguaná xeric scrub ecoregion. It covers 35 square miles of desert and coastal habitat, including salt marshes. Flora consists of little more than thorny shrubs. The park is an Important Bird Area with some 21 species including Yellow-shouldered amazon. Other fauna is scarce; the park is home mainly to lizards, rabbits, anteaters and foxes.

It should be noted that this isthmus is in the Paraguaná xeric scrub ecoregion and has no bearing on anything Mormon wrote.

The isthmus is approximately 4 miles wide and 17 miles long. It is the site of the Médanos de Coro National Park, and is a Venezuelan national park occupying the sandy Isthmus of Médanos, which connects mainland Venezuela to the Paraguaná Peninsula in the Caribbean Sea, that covers an area of more than 35 square miles.

(See the next post for more information regarding this peninsula)