Editor’s note:* Accompanying
this article is a special video report filmed for the American Botanical
Council by the “Medicine Hunter” and maca expert Chris Kilham. The video was
recorded on November 4, 2014, in Peru’s Junín Plateau, where Kilham was
conducting fieldwork and research on the current maca situation on behalf of
Naturex, a major global supplier of plant-based products.
Click on the image above to view Chris Kilham's video dispatch from the Peruvian Andes.
Introduction
For
more than three millennia, inhabitants of Peru’s central highlands have been
cultivating the maca plant (Lepidium
meyenii) for use as both food and medicine.1 The tuberous
vegetable thrives in the harsh, dry climate of the Junín and Pasco provinces in
the Peruvian Andes at elevations of up to 15,700 feet (approximately three
miles) above sea level, where few other plants grow besides alpine grasses and bitter
potatoes (Solanum spp).1 At
first glance, the maca plant may appear unremarkable. A member of the mustard,
or Brassicaceae, family, the herb is similar in size and shape to a radish (Raphanus sativus), and mature plants grow
to an average height of just four-to-eight inches. Below ground, maca forms a
thick, bulbous hypocotyl, or tuber, that is rich in micronutrients and beneficial
phytochemicals.1,2
Touted
by news media and businesses as a superfood, maca’s popularity has exploded in
the past decade. In November 2013, Mehmet Oz, MD, included the herb on his “Hot
List” of energy-boosting foods,3 and maca is now commonplace in
health food stores, smoothie shops, and major retail chains. According to HerbalGram’s 2013 Herb Market Report,
maca was among the year’s 30 best-selling herbs in the mainstream multi-outlet
channel, exhibiting a remarkable 150% increase in sales from the previous year.4
Maca’s
recent surge in popularity is perhaps most evident in China, where the herb is prized
for its libido-enhancing effects and its reputation as a source of longevity. Such
appealing claims have led to an unprecedented demand for the herb in China, a
country of 1.3 billion people.5 In May 2014, rumors began to surface
of Chinese businessmen posing as tourists to illegally smuggle the fresh root
out of the country. As the maca harvest began to disappear over the summer,
prices increased — then skyrocketed.
Although
the sudden popularity of this once-obscure herb has been a boon for local
farmers and communities in the Peruvian Andes, the unprecedented Chinese demand
for maca — and subsequent smuggling of the nationally protected plant out of
Peru — has created a “highly volatile” market ripe with uncertainty.6
In August 2014, the situation went from volatile to violent when a Chinese national
reportedly was murdered in Peru’s maca country.
“The
arrival of the Chinese buyers in the Peruvian Andes has caused extraordinary
chaos,” explained Chris Kilham, “Medicine Hunter” and maca expert, who recently
spent time in both China and Peru investigating the situation (email, November
4, 2014).
“Yesterday a Chinese maca buyer was shot dead in a field, and another
was shot and badly wounded,” alleged Kilham, noting that his information came
directly from a police officer in the area (email, November 5, 2014). Kilham says he witnessed the ambulance carrying the second gunshot victim away. “It is
now fair to say that the situation is out of control. It has all become very
dangerous.”
How
the maca situation will unfold remains uncertain, but sources contacted for
this article expressed a general lack of optimism. “As someone who loves high quality Peruvian Maca and who has sold it
for many, many years, I am very concerned,” noted Mark Ament, founder and owner of
The Maca Team, a family-run Peruvian maca company based in Maryville, Tennessee
(email, November 4, 2014). “Prices will likely
continue to rise and the demand will possibly grow. If nothing is done to curb
the Chinese, then we'll likely have a similar shortage indefinitely.”
Maca’s Cultural Significance
in Peru
In Peru, maca has been used traditionally to treat a
range of conditions, many of which are related to sexual dysfunction and lack
of energy. The herb, for example, has been used to increase fertility and
stamina, promote cognitive function, enhance libido, and reduce menopausal symptoms,
among other functions.1,2,7 In recent years,
several human clinical trials have lent support to some of these traditional
medicinal uses (see Table 1). A systematic review of four randomized controlled
trials in 2010, for example, concluded that maca significantly affected
erectile dysfunction in men and improved other types of sexual dysfunction in
both men and women.8
Table 1. Recent
Human Clinical Studies on Maca
|
Author
(Year)
|
Purpose
|
Study Type
|
Author Conclusions
|
Lee
et al.
(2011)
|
Treatment
of menopausal symptoms
|
Systematic
review
|
The results of the systematic review provide
limited evidence for the effectiveness of maca as a treatment for menopausal
symptoms.9
|
Shen
et al. (2010)
|
Improvement
in sexual function
|
Systematic
review
|
The results of the systematic review provide
limited evidence for the effectiveness of maca in improving sexual function.8
|
Hunt
et al. (2010)
|
Anti-aging
effects on skin
|
Systematic
review
|
No significant reduction [in skin wrinkling]
was noted for maca root.10
|
Zenico
et al. (2009)
|
Effects
on well-being and sexual performance
|
12-week
RCT
|
The data support a small but significant effect
of maca supplementation on subjective perception of general and sexual
well-being in adult patients with mild ED.11
|
Dording
et al. (2008)
|
Effect
on antidepressant-induced dysfunction
|
12-week
pilot RCT
|
Maca root may alleviate SSRI-induced sexual
dysfunction, and there may be a dose-related effect. Maca may also have a
beneficial effect on libido.12
|
Gonzales
et al. (2002)
|
Effect
on sexual desire
|
12-week
RCT
|
Maca has an independent effect on sexual desire
at 8 and 12 weeks of treatment.13
|
Gonzales
et al. (2001)
|
Effect
on semen parameters
|
4-month
observational study
|
Treatment with maca resulted in increased
seminal volume, sperm count per ejaculum, motile sperm count, and sperm
motility.14
|
Many of those living in the maca-producing regions
of Peru depend almost entirely on income derived from the season’s harvest,
which takes place from roughly May to October, the winter months of the South
American country. In addition to relying on the herb for their livelihoods,
Peruvians in the central highlands regularly consume maca, which is considered
a staple food in the region.
“For the Andean people, maca is life. It is an
absolutely essential food, as [almost] nothing else grows up at high altitude,”
wrote Kilham. “The plant … is a source of great cultural pride.”
In
an effort to protect maca’s heritage, the Peruvian Minister of Justice issued a
regulation in 2003 officially banning the export of unprocessed raw maca.15
Two years after the export ban was established, the National Commission for
Native Peruvian Products recognized maca root as one of the country’s first “flagship”
products as part of a “national strategy to protect and promote Peruvian native
crops … of a recognized authentic quality that should be preferred by external
markets.”15
Most
recently, Peru’s National Institute for the Defense of Competition and
Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) developed a Designation of
Origin specification and certification for the protection of Peruvian maca
grown and processed according to traditional methods in the provinces of Junín
and Pasco. The government of Peru followed up this national initiative by
registering a Maca Junín-Pasco Appellation of Origin with the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).16
“Maca is considered to be a natural genetic
heritage product of Peru,” wrote Ament (November 7, 2014). “Attempts to grow it
outside of Peru legally should be approved by the Peruvian government. China
does not have this approval and therefore the Maca they grow is grown under biopiracy
conditions.”
Quality and
Quantity: Issues with Chinese-Grown Maca
The
numerous titles, designations, and legal protections assigned to maca, however,
are apparently not enough to prevent the prized plant and its seeds from being
smuggled out of Peru. In June 2014, Peru’s Association of Exporters
(Associacion de Exportadores, or ADEX) reported that seven patents related to
maca processing had been filed in China. Through interviews, ADEX was able to
determine that four of the patent holders’ plant materials originated in Peru.
17,18** The rest of the maca in question was from China.
“China has been cultivating maca in Yunnan province
for about ten years now,” Kilham stated, “but the altitude there is lower than
in the Peruvian highlands. Thus the maca must be grown with pesticides,
herbicides, etc., and with commercial fertilizers, in contrast to the high
altitude Peruvian maca, which is produced with no agritoxins at all.”
Ament
notes a number of important distinctions between Peruvian and Chinese-grown
maca on The Maca Team’s website.19 In addition to potential issues
with chemical contamination and the toxic growing conditions in China (Ament,
speaking to Modern Farmer, referred
to the Yunnan province as a “chromium dump”18), adulteration is listed
as a primary concern.
Gaia Herbs, Inc., a major
botanical products company based in North Carolina, already has begun testing
samples of Chinese-grown maca products for evidence of contamination and
adulteration. Recently, Gaia tested a sample of Chinese maca powder sent by an
Asian company for analysis.
“[T]here was definite intentional
adulteration as indicated by the lack of any viable DNA from their sample,” explained Bill Chioffi, vice president of global
sourcing at Gaia (email, December 3, 2014).
“The HPLC [high-performance liquid
chromatography] profiles of the Asian Maca powder and our validated reference
of Peruvian Maca were similar, although the amplitude of the peaks in the Asian
maca were much lower indicating a weaker product,” Chioffi added. “If you
relied solely on these tests, which most companies do, you would be fooled into
believing that you had true Maca. … It is sophisticated adulteration that’s
going on.”
Such intentional adulteration has the potential
not only to tarnish the image of reputable companies but also to impact the
effectiveness of such products. “If China is able to flood the market with
their … subpar Maca at cheaper prices, many potential new customers are likely
not to get the normal benefits associated with Maca,” Ament wrote (email,
November 24, 2014), “and thereby write off the product's efficacy in general.”
On
The Maca Team’s website, Ament has posted side-by-side images of Chinese and
Peruvian-grown maca.19 The differences are stark. The Peruvian tuber
is a deep red color with symmetrical roots; the Chinese-grown maca plant is
dark and twisted.
The
observable differences between Peruvian and Chinese-grown maca, and potential safety
concerns associated with the latter, have not stopped Chinese companies from
aggressively pursuing maca cultivation in their country. Currently, Peru has more
than 6,000 acres of land dedicated to maca farming.20 Maca
plantations in China occupy an estimated 10,000-15,000 acres, although Chinese
officials have denied the accuracy of that figure.21
Even
though China has two-to-three times more land dedicated to maca than Peru,
Chinese consumers’ demand for Peruvian maca has shown no signs of decline. “The Chinese with whom I spoke while in China very much want high
altitude Peruvian Andean maca,” wrote Kilham. “And apparently they are willing
to pay for it.”
Chinese Smugglers
Arrive in Peru
Chris Kilham has been following the maca trade
since the late 1990s, when he first met Sergio Cam, the owner of Chakarunas
Trading Company in Peru, which supplies maca to Naturex, where Kilham is
employed as its sustainability ambassador. (Appropriately, Chakarunas is
related to the Quechua word for “men who build bridges between cultures.”22)
“Since Sergio and I began this maca journey in
1998, the maca market has bloomed steadily, and has grown well and without major
mishap, up until this year,” he wrote (email, November 4, 2014).
Kilham has taken multiple research excursions to
Peru this year in an effort to monitor the rapidly changing market and shifting
dynamics on the ground. He first encountered Chinese buyers in the Andes back
in May, shortly before the 2014 maca harvest began. Through interviews and
conversations with police, officials, farmers, and others, Kilham has become
well informed of — and, in some cases, witnessed — the deteriorating situation
in Peru and its impacts over the past year.
“[A]fter 16 years of relative stability, groups of
Chinese buyers arrived in the highlands, and started snatching up maca anywhere
they could get it,” he recalled. “The Chinese buyers include Red Dragon Triad
crime syndicate members out of Hong Kong. They are armed, and carry large sacks
of cash.”
Although
Spanish-language newspapers and television stations in Peru have featured
occasional updates of the illegal botanical smuggling activities taking place
in the past year, the first official acknowledgement of the situation by a
government organization came in a June 2014 press release from ADEX.23
Citing
evidence of maca seeds smuggled by Chinese nationals out of Peru, ADEX Natural
Products Committee Chair Alejandra Velazco denounced the illegal activity,
calling it an act of biopiracy. According to an article from the International
Trade Centre, Velazco claimed “that a large number of Chinese buyers have been
present in Peru this summer making advance cash payments directly with maca
farmers but informally without proper transaction and export documentation,
evading taxes and violating other Peruvian laws concerning maca.”15
Just a few months after ADEX’s announcement, Diane
Panella, formerly of the California-based natural products company Sol Raiz
Organics, contacted the American Botanical Council after one of her Peruvian
maca suppliers informed her of the deteriorating situation in the Peruvian
highlands.
“[O]ne of our maca shipments was run off the road
and the driver severely injured and hospitalized,” Panella wrote (email,
October 2, 2014). “A contingent of men from China have taken up residency in
the province and are aggressively trying to control the maca trade.”
Kilham,
who most recently visited Peru in early November, described a generally chaotic
and increasingly dangerous situation on the ground.
“The Chinese are still scouring the highlands
post-harvest, snatching up any and all maca. A number of Chinese buyers hid
from us when we sought them out, and some sped off when we approached their
vehicles,” he recalled (email, November 11, 2014). “Just this week, Red Dragon
Triad members murdered a restaurant owner in Peru who refused to pay shakedown
money. It's right out of a bad kung fu movie.”
Peru’s Response, or
Lack Thereof
The
government of Peru’s response to the allegations of illegal smuggling and
biopiracy by Chinese nationals appears to be out of proportion with the value
it places on maca, one of the country’s inaugural flagship products.
“[T]here appears to be nothing positive to
report,” responded Ament when asked what actions were being taken to stop or
prevent such illegal activity. “We are in contact with suppliers and friends in
Peru very regularly and it seems that next to nothing has actually been done to
stop the practice of illegally purchasing and removing Maca roots from Peru.”
A
peer reviewer of this article familiar with the situation, however, noted that
shipping containers “at the Port of Callao near Lima, Peru have been ‘Red
Flagged’ for inspection by Sunat [Peru’s National Customs and Tax
Administration] to
ensure that they do not contain ‘whole maca’ roots” (email, December 3, 2014).
He added that the inspection process had caused a major delay with one of his
company’s shipments.
In
the more than half a year since the Chinese arrived in Peru allegedly to begin
securing the 2014 harvest, only two enforcement actions by Peruvian officials
have been covered widely by local media. (American media coverage had been
almost non-existent until early December, when the New York Times and Wall
Street Journal published articles on the topic.20,24) In late September,
Peruvian officials seized a large shipment of maca that Chinese individuals
were planning to smuggle across the northern border. The container, simply
labeled “Flowers” contained more than 10 tons of maca, valued at approximately
$1 million.25 Shortly thereafter, Peru’s Interior Minister Daniel
Urresti announced that 200 foreigners had been deported in the preceding three
weeks. “Peru promotes tourism,” said Urresti in an article from Peru’s Gestion newspaper, “but [we] will not
allow foreign citizens break the rules.”25
Still,
given the limited publicized actions Peru has taken to address — or even
monitor — the biopiracy of one of its treasured natural resources, it is
difficult to take Urresti’s claims seriously. The lack of official government
action even prompted criticism from the former president of ADEX, José Luis
Silva Martinot. “The Chinese are taking maca without paying taxes,” he said in an August 19
article from El Comercio. “Where is Sunat
and other authorities?"21
Impacts on
Companies and Consumers
The time for a swift government response, it
seems, has passed. Effects of China’s “hijacking” of the 2014 maca harvest are
being felt at almost every point in the supply chain, from Peruvian farmers and
entrepreneurs to natural products companies and consumers in the United States.18 Maca prices hover at uncomfortably high levels, and the market
remains unstable.
“Because so little was done to curb the rapid
export of Maca this year, the 2014 harvest of Peruvian Maca is 95% gone,” Ament
estimated. “The harvest, which finishes in September, normally lasts until the
following June/July. This year, as of late October it is next to impossible to
purchase Peruvian grown Maca.”
Small, family-run businesses such as Ament’s,
however, are not the only companies affected by the situation in Peru. “Naturex,
Gaia Herbs, Navitas, and the many other companies who have relied on maca for
years are now facing an absurd escalation of prices,” Kilham noted, “which
surely will sit poorly with customers.”
If such rapid price escalation continues, it has
the potential to “collapse the maca market,” Kilham warned. “Is anybody really
going to pay $60-$80 US for a 12 ounce bag of maca powder? … We are getting
into the rarified ethers of pricing.”
And, according to Ament, American consumers can
already smell the fumes. “US consumers are already affected by this,” he said.
“We, for example, have raised our prices 25% ([our company’s] first price
increase in over 5 years).” The Maca Team — which has
exhausted its supply of premium maca product and expects to sell out of other products
by early 2015 — alerted its customers to a second, unavoidable price increase
in December.
“This situation will certainly price some
customers who benefit from Maca out of the market,” Ament said. “We've already
had several customers express that.”
Panella
of Sol Raiz Organics, a California-based supplier of organic Peruvian maca
products, also has been forced to face an unpleasant reality as a result of the
chaotic maca market. “I am on indefinite hiatus from the company since
Oct. 1 because of the financial constraints being created by this problem,” she
wrote (email, November 19, 2014). “This is a company that I love and believe in
passionately, so I am hoping for a positive outcome someday to the situation.”
Impact on Peruvian
Farmers and Communities
According
to Peru’s National Anti-Biopiracy Commission (chaired by INDECOPI), 120
companies are actively involved in the country’s maca production, and approximately
100,000 Peruvians depend on maca for their economic livelihoods.26 Since
it is illegal to export unprocessed maca from Peru, many such Peruvians find
work during post-harvest processing. This year, however, up to an estimated 80%
of the season’s maca harvest — which totaled 4,000 tons in 201323—
was smuggled out of Peru.28
“While the farmers have done well this year, all
other people associated with the production, marketing and distribution of Maca
have been cut out of the loop,” Ament explained. “Since the Chinese took the
roots in their whole form, rather than in powder, [thousands] of people … are
currently working less and may be out of work altogether.”
According to data from Peru’s Integrative
Information System for Foreign Trade (SIICEX), maca exports for 2013 totaled
$14 million, and that figure is projected to increase by at least 30% for 2014.27 (The 2013 export
figure was calculated for “maca products;” as noted previously, only processed
maca raw material is legally permitted to be exported,15 but it is
not clear if SIICEX’s number includes finished consumer products as well.) There
is big money in the Peruvian maca market, but even this year’s “gold rush” will
not make millionaires of Peruvians farmers. In fact, concerns about food
security may soon trump those of financial security.
“The people up there have modest means,” Kilham explained. “[W]hile growers are currently making absolutely
wild money, maca is now un-affordable to non-growers, and thus an essential
staple food is becoming out of reach for people who depend on it.”
Ament also expressed concerns about the long-term
impacts and financial consequences for Peruvian farmers. “The farmers are in a
tough situation here,” he said. “Most of them have sold all of their harvest
now and while they have been paid more than normal for their produce, the money
is soon spent.”
“There is an expression in Spanish, ‘pan hoy, hambre mañana,’ which basically
means ‘feast today, famine tomorrow,’” Ament continued. “Some of these farmers,
then, are not going to have more funds coming in for the next 8-10 months. Beyond
that, what most of the farmers don’t understand is that China is attempting to
dominate the world Maca market, which will potentially destroy their
livelihoods.”
Challenges and Proposed
Solutions
There remains a dearth of information related to
any recent, current, or planned actions by the Peruvian government to combat
instances of biopiracy and illegal smuggling such as those that have taken
place over the past year. However, in a September meeting of Peru’s Ministry of
Foreign Commerce and Tourism, two proposals were presented by government
officials to address the future of maca.25,28 Although neither of the options would resolve any short-term issues,
the ideas are a sign of progress.
The first proposal is to create a National
Register of Maca, which would involve “fieldwork to collect and process
information about the varieties of maca in all areas of production.” The
detailed record could then be used by Peru’s National Anti-Biopiracy Commission
to resolve future maca patent cases.29 Magali Silva
Velarde-Álvarez, Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, suggested
creating a new government office “responsible for providing technical
assistance to farmers and entrepreneurs dedicated to [maca].” The proposed
group, ProMaca, “would foster partnerships through the implementation of best
practices in international trade, collective marks, quality seals, … [and] ad
hoc export route[s] for maca.”29
Instead of waiting on Peru to take measures to
protect the heritage product, Ament decided to take a more proactive approach,
drafting and gathering signatures for a petition to Peruvian officials
expressing the urgency of the situation.
“We are organizing a petition to submit to the
Peruvian authorities in hopes of something being done to protect the genetic
heritage and global supply of Peruvian Maca,” Ament wrote. For more information, or to sign the petition, visit www.themacateam.com/save-peruvian-maca.30
Lessons &
Predictions for the Future
Since the start of the annual Peruvian maca
harvest in May, fortunes have been made and lives allegedly have been lost over the tiny,
tuberous plant that has been cultivated in the Andes for thousands of years.
The impacts of the sudden, unrivaled demand for maca in China extend beyond
Peru’s rugged borders, with consequences for major international natural
products companies, loyal, long-term employees of small businesses, and maca
enthusiasts worldwide.
“The Chinese market can swallow entire global
industries whole and not even burp,” Kilham offered when asked if there was a
lesson to be learned from the maca mayhem in Peru (email, November 21, 2014). “We
will see this with many types of consumer goods. It used to be that the US got
everything. Now China is the big dog at the table, and we need to get used to
it.”
Chinese
consumers have developed a taste for maca, and although the herb is thought to
be the first botanical example of the massive and influential purchasing power
of the country’s middle class,31 Kilham likely is correct that it
will not be the last.
Some
predict that China — which already dwarfs Peru in terms of acreage dedicated to
maca cultivation — will dominate the global maca market in as little as
one-to-three years.32 Chinese nationals already have begun preparing
for the 2015 harvest of the Peruvian plant.
“We have heard from one of our main suppliers in
Peru that next year there will be approximately double the amount of Maca harvested
as there was this year,” Ament reported. “However, this same source has also
told us that over [half] of that has already been purchased by Chinese
individuals through back door deals.”
Thus,
the future of Peruvian maca market — and those who depend on the herb as a
source of medicine, sustenance, and livelihood — remains uncertain.
“My conclusion is that maca prices will continue to
climb; we will see adulteration of maca and poor quality maca in the market; the
pressure from the Chinese buyers will escalate; [and] more illegal activity is
inevitable,” Kilham predicted. “[T]he effect of this on the current maca market
could well cause it to crash, and the Andean people are going to have an
increasingly difficult time securing maca for food. As far as I can figure,
there is currently no silver lining to this cloud.”
−Tyler Smith
* Throughout
the production of this article, the American Botanical Council (ABC) has
attempted to ensure the accuracy of all information contained herein. The
statements and opinions presented by sources quoted herein do not necessarily
reflect the opinion of ABC and, in some cases, may represent unsubstantiated or
unconfirmed claims.
** English translations of Spanish-language sources were provided by Google.
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A Peruvian national treasure is being smuggled
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