La Paz, November 9 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Bolivian farmers are already being hard hit by a decline in global quinoa prices, according to reports Sunday.  In Bolivia's quinoa heartland of Oruro, farmers can't even cover production costs, Prensa Latina reported.

The fall in prices has been widely expected, with both Bolivia and its neighbor Peru ramping up production in recent years.  Together, Peru and Bolivia account for over 90 percent of quinoa production in the world.  Massive increases in demand in the U.S. and Europe saw prices begin to skyrocket a decade ago, as quinoa was marketed as the next superfood in the West.  Between 2006 and 2011, prices tripled, before beginning to stabilize around 2013. Now, prices are heading back down.

Earlier this year, Bolivian producers held a national congress focused on handling the price decline, with the National Association of Quinoa Producers blaming Peru.

Celso Salas Callo, president of the Chamber of Quinoa Producers of the Potosi Department said at the time: “What is most worrying for us is contraband Peruvian quinoa entering Bolivia and being exported as Bolivian quinoa.  They mix together organic Bolivian royal quinoa with transgenic Peruvian quinoa and this had led to a drop in prices because the market has discredited us as producers of organic royal quinoa.”

However, Peru isn't the only country ratcheting up quinoa farming. Farmers in both the United States and Canada have sought to increase quinoa production. Last year, the amount of farmland used by quinoa in Canada increased by around 150 percent.