Tarwi: more grain in the furrow, less water in the debittering

An Andean legume with almost as much protein as soybean yields less than a ton per hectare today. Bolivia and Ecuador are taking a technology package to the field and to the processing plant to close that gap.

Context of the story

In the highland communities of Bolivia and in the province of Bolívar, Ecuador, tarwi has been sown for generations and reaches the table only after a long passage. The grain comes out of the furrow bitter and must be washed for three days in running water, close to 77 liters per kilogram, to strip out its alkaloids before it can be eaten. That labor sustains a crop with 45% protein, on a par with soybean, and naturally high levels of iron, zinc, and copper. Average yields, however, stay between 0.45 and 0.60 tons per hectare, while earlier trials with technical support and biologicals reached 3.82. Frosts and droughts, ever harder to anticipate, account for much of that distance.

From the furrow to the processing plant: two countries, three fronts

The Implemented Initiative

The initiative brings Bolivia and Ecuador together around a single crop and works at the three points where value is lost. In the field it collects and characterizes the ecotypes already in producers' hands and compares them with commercial varieties in validation plots set up in two municipalities in Bolivia and at sites in the province of Bolívar, over two consecutive growing seasons. In processing it tests debittering, milling, and formulation methods in the laboratory and in artisanal plants. On the ground, six farmer field schools, learning routes, and technology showcases on working farms put the practices to the test under real conditions and document, through before-and-after surveys, what farmers choose to adopt and why.

Earlier-maturing ecotypes, biologicals from the crop itself, and debittering that uses less water

The technological solution

The technology package has two halves. On the production side it brings together early-maturing ecotypes with cycles of 135 to 150 days, selected so that harvest comes ahead of frosts and dry spells; seed inoculation with native Rhizobium sp., which fixes atmospheric nitrogen and improves crop nutrition; and biologicals made from the crop's own residues, which replace part of the synthetic fertilizer. On the processing side it adds a thermal-chemical debittering protocol using sodium bicarbonate in place of traditional running-water washing; the Lugol method, a rapid two- or three-drop test on the cut grain that turns black or brown wherever alkaloids remain and can be used in the community as readily as in the plant; and standardized milling that delivers flour at 120 micrometers, the particle size the food industry asks for in baking and beverages. An agroclimatic early warning system and an open-access digital platform link both halves to the producer's day-to-day decisions.

Loading map...

Type of project

Value chain

Food Basket of the Future (“PI-5”)

Applied

Technological-Organizational-Institutional

Crops, Food and Markets

Agroindustry

Climate smart agriculture

Results

The project expects to validate four early-maturing ecotypes through twelve multi-environment trials run over two growing seasons, and to establish an inoculation protocol using native Rhizobium sp. and liquid biofertilizer that cuts synthetic fertilizer use by 40%. The indicator matrix sets a grain yield path from 0.60 t/ha to 1.13 t/ha. On the processing side it anticipates a debittering protocol trimming about a third off the 76.8 liters of water per kilogram used in traditional washing, the Lugol method validated as a rapid quality control test, three ready-to-eat prototypes, a flour line at 120 micrometers, and two functional foods. The early warning system will issue frost alerts at least 18 hours ahead with accuracy above 85%, with 1,000 registered producers. All of it will be consolidated as regional public goods, with a technology readiness gain from TRL 5 to 7.