The lima-based company, International Potato Centre (CIP) is utilizing the genetic diversity of 5,000 different potato varieties to ensure their survival in current difficult circumstances. Thiago Mendes, a potato breeder for CIP, explains “The climate is challenging us every day. We have issues about drought, we have issues about heat. It’s part of the mission of breeders, and including myself in it, of course, to develop materials that will help farmers growing potatoes under those conditions.”
In 2021, CIP announced the release of the Mathilde Potato, a tuber crossed with wild potato varieties. This genetic breeding enhances Mathilde’s resilience to changing climate conditions. Mendes discusses the importance of this for Kenya, “Through this project, we are just opening an opportunity to increase the genetic diversity available for breeding programs in the region and combining new traits and taking potato to non-traditional growing zones that farmers are not still cultivating yet.”
Through breeding, Mendes can isolate key traits like resistance to drought, pests, or diseases like late blight. He explains, “We brought the new seeds into Africa, and we have observed great resistance to late blight in the field.”
CIP’s Africa regional director, Dr. Joyce Maru, grew up in rural Africa and experienced first-hand the devastating impact of a failed harvest. She says, “The late blight disease is devastating. I experienced it, and I saw the look on my mother’s face whenever her potato crop would fail from this disease. The Matilde variety, it’s such a game-changer. It has such a huge potential to boost productivity and production. And to improve farmers livelihoods here in Africa”
This genetic breeding is an important step towards strengthening food security in developing countries that have been at the mercy of changing weather patterns. Dr. Maru says, “Africa still heavily relies on rain irrigation for their productivity. These days you cannot predict when the rain will come or when the rain should stop. What this calls for is a shift. Like I said, one of them is the speed of the way we are doing things, including breeding programs.”
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