Abstract

            During recent years a worldwide increase in food supply has occurred. The availability increased from 348 (food equivalent) in 1965 to 397 in 1988. Now, there is a 20% surplus in word-wide food products. The extraordinary increase in production, caused by the “Green Revolution”, decreased undernourishment and starvation in most regions of the globe. Although the “Presumption of Malthus” was despised, the increasing supplies caused unavoidable decreases in prices.

          Countries that used to be rich because of their agricultural production now have serious problems because their production exceeds world markets. The decrease in incomes from the different agricultural ventures has affected all growers of the world, and South America is no an exception. From the little farmers who produce a yucca in Sucre and Cordoba in Columbia in the north of South America, to the large agricultural organizations from the Argentine Humid Pampa in the south of the subcontinent are affected. The Columbians watched how the price of yucca fell because of the powdered yucca imported from Asia. For the Argentinean growers, the price of wheat fell 53% between 1981 and 1993. The need to increase incomes drives growers to search for crops that can be more profitable than the traditional crops grown.

           Neither the growers nor the regional government were prepared for the change. It seems that the political leaders, government and managers never thought about the possibility of oversupplies, and thus they never thought about how they must act in such a situation. Thus, research and development institutions of the South American agro-industrial sector, except in a few cases, do not have answers for the growers who demand production alternatives.

          South America, in general, is working on isolated projects that are not connected; the agricultural sector with the industrial or the production sectors; and the commercial with public and private sectors. The budgets are small, and the time is short. Nevertheless, some research and development projects have reached or are reaching the commercial stage. This is the case for jojoba in Argentina and Peru, and for chia in Argentina and Columbia. Up to now, the plant species that are under going the innovative stage and for which the final step is commercializations are: chia (Salvia hispanica), lesquerella (Lesquerella fendleri), guayule (Parthenium argentatum), vernonia (Vernonia galamensis), kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), and jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis).

Key Words: New crops, jojoba, lesquerella, chia, vernonia, guayule, kenaf, Argentina, South America.

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