Chocho (Lupinus mutabilis) is a traditional Andean bean that in the last years has gained importance due to its widely appreciated nutritional value. Chochos need to be processed before their consumption because of the presence of alkaloids (chemicals that protect the plant against insect attacks). Chochos are grown by farmers in the Ecuadorian Andes, they are then dried and stored for their commercialization. For consumption, chochos need to be rehydrated, sadly the water is usually discharged. The main issue covered is the unnecessary waste of water which originate from the rehydration of chochos. This project aims to test the possibilities of upcycling the debittering water as an irrigation water for crops.
This is how I came up with the idea for this project:My grandma used to debitter chochos so I saw the need of doing something with the water that usually gets disposed after rehydrating them. Chocho (Lupinus mutabilis) is a traditional Andean bean that in the last years has gained importance due to its widely appreciated nutritional value.
Programme manager ania.andersch@siwi.org +46 8 121 360 59