Lepidium Meyenii - Marketing Potential

Marketing Potential

Due to its purported effects on fertility, maca has experienced a major gain of commercial interest as well as research in the last decades. In the 1990s, a quick expansion of cultivated land with maca was observable. As the demand raised rapidly, the producer’s prices increased. However, due to high expectations the production expanded too rapidly and in the year 2000 the prices fell again. Market studies have shown a very low acceptance of the particular maca taste in consumers exposed to it firstly. Apparently the taste is acquired, which creates a barrier for the further propagation of this food as a vegetable. The economic interest lies hence more in the medical application of the root constituents.