Quinoa : A New Crop for Harsh Environments

Quinoa was considered for food production using saline water and soil in MENA region. Among the genotype, Titicaca had high yield stability in different climate conditions. The studies in the region showed that quinoa has high adaptation to the agroclimatic conditions and, therefore, has excellent potential as an alternative crop to rehabilitate salt-affected farms which have become uneconomical for the cultivation of the traditionally grown crops. All countries in the region worked on adaptability and agronomic practices. Scaling up the project needs agro-climatologically zoning and selecting appropriate areas with saline water and soil, which are not suitable for conventional crop production and seed processing, marketing, mechanization, and national government policy, for quinoa extension.