Roots and Andean tubers: hope for a better future. Very little known outside their habitat, many Andean crops began to be known not for their dietary or medicinal properties but for the controversy that centered on the profit made from advanced research outside their centers of origin. CIP scientists are convinced of the extraordinary value of these crops in economic and biodiversity terms and, with strict respect for the international and national regulations on the genetic resources, they do everything possible to conserve and add value to nine traditional crops, taking care at the same time that the farmers who produce them can benefit from their researches. In that purpose they work in close coordination with national agricultural research systems of every Andean country. The crops are: achira, ahipa, arracacha, maca, mashua, mauka, oca, ulluco, and yacon.

Let history emerge. In Cajamarquilla, one of the most important archeological settlements of the Peruvian coast, a singular program has been carried out to recover native species cultivated thousand of years ago. The objective is to recover lost areas of crops, with the participation of the local community – most of them migrants that arrived in Lima escaping from political violence in the central Andean region—and to create a botanical garden with the roots and tubers recovered from the archeological excavations. This may become a tourist attraction complementary to the archeological area itself. CIP is helping in the identification of the species and advising the leaders of the project on seeding and growing the crops.