Guardians of the Andean Potato

Published online: Mar 24, 2017 Carmen Grau
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The Pachamama, or Earth Mother, is the most sacred place for Andean farmers. Sixty-five-year-old Jose Palomino from Andahuaylas, Peru, was initiated into the world of growing potatoes as a child, working alongside his parents. The people of this Peruvian province, set at an altitude of 9,800 feet, are dependent on the harvest of the most prized native product, the Andean potato—papa, as they prefer to call it in Quechua.

Palomino produces hundreds of varieties every year: reds, purples, pinks, yellows and even blues. His collection of 800 native potato varieties, with over 60 different colors and pigments, attracts geneticists and growers from around world.

“The potato is Peru’s heritage and one of our country’s greatest contributions to the world,” says Palomino, a man who succeeded in making his farmlands a model of conservation.

While recognizing that they enjoy food sovereignty, Palomino is concerned about the vulnerability of Andean farmers in the current context.

“Climate change is affecting potatoes,” he says. “Many diseases are appearing that never used to exist at high altitudes.”

He believes in the wisdom of nature and, like all the local farmers, takes great care of his resources: “Our way of combating climate change is to keep to the calendar and respect the phases of the moon, sowing in October to start harvesting in May, until August.”

 

The Fundamental Role of Science

Tradition is preserved in the Andes while, in Lima, science is joining forces with it in the fight against climate change. The International Potato Center (CIP), an international body that has, since 1971, been working to preserve food security and is perhaps the world’s greatest custodian of the potato, is working with growers on a journey from the field to the test tube and back. The CIP’s laboratories are being used to repatriate disease-free native seed varieties that are more resistant to change, produce greater yields, and help growers recover the varieties under threat. Palomino confirms that thanks to this partnership, more organic tons per acre can be produced.

At the CIP’s facilities, a rustic figure reminiscent of ancient civilization greets visitors with tubers in both hands. The center is the site of the world’s largest in vitro genebank. The earthquake-resistant building, with state-of-the-art technology, houses—in perpetuity and mandated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)—almost 5,000 varieties of potatoes and thousands more of sweet potatoes from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and other regions of the Americas.

Oscar Ortiz, deputy director general for research and development at the CIP, says preserving this diversity is fundamental because it is already being lost in the fields. “Climate change is a major challenge,” he says. “The Andes are going to have less water and higher temperatures. The potato is a genetic material that has developed over thousands of years in the Andes, and you cannot put a price on that. It is incalculable, but the genes are there to address problems such as climate change and famine, now and in the future. That’s our job.”

The potato originated in Peru 8,000 years ago and was brought to Europe in the 16th century by Spaniards as a botanical curiosity. Today, the high mountain, forest and arid climate in the Andean country enables scientists to investigate the adaptation and development of technologies that can then be transferred to Africa, Asia and around the world.

Forty-five years after being founded, the CIP now has offices in 20 countries including Ecuador, Kenya, India and China. All of them work with small farmers in an effort to achieve a greater level of well-being, income and nutrition.

At the same time, looking to the future, it also is using cryopreservation techniques to conserve shoot tips and study their reactivation in 50 years’ time.

“We need to develop varieties that can withstand heat and tolerate drought,” says Ortiz. “Advanced science, such as genomics, is required to identify the genes and varieties most resistant to the changes ahead.”

Potato is the third-most-consumed crop globally after rice and wheat. Over 156 countries produce it, and billions of people across the world eat it on a regular basis.

“The technology developed by the CIP and adopted by developing countries generates $150 million a year,” says Ortiz.

 

Potatoes for Sustainable Development

Alleviating hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture are among the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. The CIP is working toward those same goals, but the challenges are greater than ever. By 2050, the world population will reach over 9 billion, according to UN forecasts, and the biggest growth will be seen in developing countries. Land, water and natural resources will come under greater pressure in these countries, which is why the world would be wise not to lose sight of the fact that the potato produces more food on less land, more rapidly than any other major food crop.

“Our raison d’être is to support agriculture for development. We work in places where there is limited market access or where the private sector isn’t present,” says Ortiz.

The achievements are already visible. In 2016, three CIP researchers were awarded the World Food Prize for developing and taking sweet potato with orange flesh into many African homes. The tuber’s high vitamin A content helps alleviate the malnutrition affecting millions of children as well as the resulting problems in terms of blindness.

Back in the Andean highlands, the Sacred Valley of the Incas has become home to the Potato Park, which stretches over 22,000 acres. Here, where five indigenous communities work to preserve the ancestral crop. It is set at an altitude of between 11,100 and 15,100 feet and brings together 1,334 potato varieties. This agrarian ecosystem collaborates with the CIP and is the world’s largest natural potato custodian. The communities also manage microenterprises fostering the employment of women, a restaurant, a handicraft center, a very popular seedbank, a center that processes medicinal plants, a museum and ever-growing agritourism.

The NGO Asociación Andes takes care of ensuring the biodiversity and sustainability of the model park. Its program director, Alejandro Argumedo, explains that the terraced agricultural landscape in the Andes is one of the great strengths inherited from pre-Hispanic civilizations.

“In this ecosystem, the farmers use traditional annual crop rotation to study the potato’s adaptation to climatic pressures,” he says. “The farmers feel proud of building bridges with scientists.”

Tradition is generating economic gains and is weaving global learning networks between communities and science. In April, the park will open its doors to 18 Asian, African and American countries. They will learn from the Andes how to implement this model in their own mountainous regions.

 

 

Source: Equal Times