• Prize for agro-industrial innovation
• Improved management reduces health risks
• TPS benefits 100,000 farm families in Vietnam
• Assessment of sweetpotato genetic diversity
• Restoration of native potatoes
• Sweetpotato cultivar development
• Virtual laboratories
• Indonesian sweetpotato germplasm on CD-ROM

Prize for agro-industrial innovation

CIP and the Universidad Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrión of Oxapampa (Peru) won first prize in the Peruvian ITA-2000 competition for agro-industrial technological innovation (Concurso de Innovación Tecnológica Agroindustrial 2000).

The award recognizes their work in developing a rural pilot plant for production of yacon syrup using simple technology, in collaboration with the recently established association of yacon growers in Oxapampa.

The yacon-processing research began early in 2000 when CIP scientists discovered that palatable syrup could be made from the purified juice of this Andean root crop in a straightforward process resembling the production of raw cane sugar. Yacon, little known outside the Andes, contains high concentrations of fructans (polymers of fructose).

These non-caloric sweeteners are attractive to diabetics and dieters. They also stimulate the growth of bene­ficial bacteria (pro-biotics) in the human colon. Because of these unique properties, researchers are convinced that yacon syrup will readily find a niche in the booming health food market — both locally and abroad — making an important contribution to alleviating rural poverty in the Andes.

The sponsors of ITA-2000 included the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as well as the Peruvian Universidad del Pacifico and INDECOPI (Instituto Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia y de la Protección de la PropiedadIntelectual). The US$8,000 prize money will be used for future development of the processing plant.

Improved management reduces health risks

CIP and local collaborators are helping potato-farming families in Ecuador to reduce risks of poisoning from the pesticides they use on their crops. The researchers are working with 60 farm families in three villages in El Carchi Province, teaching them integrated pest management measures to lessen their dependence on pesticides, as well as methods of handling these chemicals safely.

In recent studies, CIP scientists have confirmed that potato tubers themselves are not a source of contamination: tests showed that even unpeeled, uncooked potatoes did not have significant levels of pesticide residues. This points to exposure as the probable cause of pesticide poisoning.  El Carchi farmers, experienced potato growers, know the correct pesticides to buy for particular pests and diseases. They also have a strong sense that these chemicals can be dangerous. Even so, the practices they use to administer pesticides often put them at risk. The farmers mix pesticides in the open — in old oil barrels, for instance — and apply them using hand-pump backpack sprayers. Because farmers use little or no protective clothing when they spray, most work-related exposure is on the skin of the hands and lower back.

But the damage does not stop there. The chemicals often pollute household water sources during equipment cleanup, and family and friends can be contaminated through personal contact with the farmers who have been spraying (before they wash), or with clothing hung up inside the house.

CIP researchers used harmless fluorescent tracers to demonstrate the dangers of poor handling practices and the importance of personal hygiene to the families in Ecuador. This will help to reduce risks, while researchers continue to seek means of lowering pesticide use through effective integrated pest management.

TPS benefits 100,000 farm families in Vietnam

Over the past seven years, nearly 100,000 rural households in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam have been plant­ing their potatoes using true potato seed (TPS). According to a recent impact study, the farmers using this technology have seen their potato yields increase by 6.8 t/ha, or 75 percent, compared to yields from the locally available alternative: old, degenerated tuber seed. By 1999, small farm families were planting TPS on 3500 hectares, about 10 percent of the total potato area in Vietnam, and net household income among the TPS adopters is estimated to have increased by US$10-15 (enough to buy about half a year’s supply of rice for one person).

TPS crops are grown mainly in the winter, non-rice-growing, season, when men of farming families migrate to the towns in search of off-farm work. Because of this, they are produced largely by women, who are deeply involved in the promotion and transfer of TPS technology in the Red River Delta. And because it is mainly women who perceive the income increase from TPS, researchers expect — based on past studies of gender-related spending — that a relatively large share of this income is devoted to childcare and other direct household improvements.

Aggregate economic benefits from TPS in Vietnam are estimated at US$1.075 million per year. This technology has played a key role in meeting the demand for quality potato seed in the country, and is expected to continue as a viable alternative for at least another decade, until clonal seed sources become more reliable. A new potato variety, KT-3, developed from CIP material by the national program in Vietnam, shows great promise for filling the seed gap. KT-3 was officially released as a new variety in 2000.

Assessment of sweetpotato genetic diversity

CIP holds an important collection of sweetpotato genetic material in trust for use in crop improvement worldwide. Assessment of the diversity of this germplasm is important for the design of CIP’s core collection and for facilitating the material’s use. During 2000 CIP and its collaborators made valuable progress in several areas.

A molecular marker system (S-SAP) originally developed for potato was adapted for sweetpotato by CIP collaborators at the Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf. This new system will be used to study the recent evolution of the sweetpotato genome in its secondary distribution areas (Africa and Asia), and will also be useful in genetic mapping. S-SAP markers have potential for certifying geographic origin, and can be used, for example, to reconstruct dispersal routes within East Africa.

Using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, CIP and its collaborators at Hong Kong University have studied germplasm from Asia and Oceania (the collection previously held by the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan). Analysis of this material revealed a high level of genetic diversity, comparable to that in central and northwestern South America, and showed that sweetpotatoes from New Zealand, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Tonga were closely related to germplasm from Meso­america. Microsatellite DNA marker analysis in tropical American germplasm confirmed that Mesoamerica has the highest inter- and intra-specific sweet­potato diversity and most likely is the center of origin for this crop.

Restoration of native potatoes

Some varieties of native Andean potatoes are now extinct, and we are in danger of losing more. CIP is helping to avoid this tragedy. Farmers in the Andes have long known that native potatoes taken from colder, higher altitudes (above about 3500 m) initially show good vigor and yield when grown at lower altitudes. Over a few seasons, however, vigor and yield decline, and new seed must be brought from the higher altitudes. We know now that the gradual yield reduction observed by farmers at moderate altitudes can be attributed in large part to the accumulation of viruses. At colder, higher altitudes there are few virus vectors, so there is little viral infection of the plants.

CIP has embarked on a program of restoration of native potatoes based on age-old Andean farmers’ practices. CIP cleans seed through virus testing and elimination, and then supplies it to farmers who take it to high altitudes for multiplication. In 2000, healthy clones of 496 native cultivars, including some considered ‘lost’, were returned to nine farmer communities in central Peru. From an earlier CIP  repatriation of native potatoes, farmers in San Jose de Aymará, at 3850 m altitude, have added 244 healthy cultivars to the material being conserved in their communal seed bank.

Sweetpotato cultivar development

Five elite African landraces of sweetpotato are ready to be distributed to growers in Kenya following several years of participatory, multi-locational evaluation trials by CIP and local farmers. In November 2000 the national sweetpotato variety-release committee recommended the release of KEMB 10, SPK 013, SPK 004, KSP 20 and Mugande.

Since 1996 when this project started, CIP and its national agricultural research partners have had numerous successes: 12 varieties were released in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam; five varieties are in the process of being released in Uganda; and 20 to 30 promising clones have gone through advanced trials and are now being tested on farms in Africa and Asia.

In addition, at CIP’s headquarters in Lima, Peru, the combination of parental clones with diverse genetic backgrounds has yielded a group of high dry matter clones with orange or dark yellow flesh. These sweetpotatoes have good poten­tial in Sub-Saharan Africa because they provide a rich source of pro-vitamin A and have the bland, starchy taste preferred by African consumers.

Virtual laboratories

At the invitation of the CGIAR System-wide Livestock Program (SLP), CIP is leading an initiative to create a ‘virtual laboratory on systems analysis’. Virtual laboratories are electronic workspaces that permit distance collaboration and experimentation in research, as well as other creative activities, to generate and deliver results using distributed information and communication technologies.

The rapid growth of virtual laboratories (VLs), made possible by advances in high-speed digital communications, has brought about major changes in the way we do science. Researchers can now address  forefront research issues with greater efficiency and less movement of personnel than was previously possible.

The first step towards creating the CIP-led VL for systems analysis was taken at a consultation meeting held in Lima in November 2000 and attended by scientists from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Italy, Peru, UK and USA. The CEO of Active Worlds, one of the leading providers of virtual worlds, also participated.

After the workshop, a prototype of a virtual world linking biophysical models with virtual reality was created and presented to the SLP, together with a proposal for its further development. The SLP made funds available to create the first VL in the CGIAR system — a project that will start in 2001 with the participation of several Future Harvest centers, national agricultural research institutions and advanced research institutes.

Indonesian sweetpotato germplasm on CD-ROM

Over the past 10 years, CIP and partner institutions in Indonesia have carried out an extensive, nation-wide project to assemble a comprehensive collection of sweetpotato germplasm, and to preserve the indigenous knowledge associated with this crop. Full documentation of the collected germplasm,  distributed in genebanks through­out the country, and the associated information are now available on a CD-ROM.

The project was conducted in several stages. A collection of lowland sweetpotato genetic resources, mainly from Java and Sumatra, was assembled in Bogor, West Java, beginning in 1991. Collecting in the genetically rich Irian Jaya Province began in 1992 and expanded after 1993. To accommodate this material, a new highland field genebank was established under CIP’s curatorship at the Research Institute for Vegetables in Lembang, West Java.

More recently CIP has helped the Rootcrops and Sago Research Center of Irian Jaya’s Cenderaw­siah University to establish a core sample collection of the province’s sweetpotato cultivars at Anggirai (western Irian Jaya), at 1895 m altitude. Main curator­ship of the Java-based collections has now passed to the Research Institute for Legumes and Tuber crops in Malang, East Java, and the Research Institute for Food Crops Biotech­nology in Bogor; CIP-managed collections in Bogor and Lembang remain as back-ups. In addition, on-going research with farmers in Irian Jaya is  assessing the use of in situ management as a complementary conservation strategy.

The CD-ROM, Guide to Indonesian sweetpotato genetic resources, contains a searchable catalog of 1522 accessions, together with images and maps. It provides the first extensive information on the spatial distribution of sweetpotato germplasm in Indonesia and its morphological and agronomic attributes, as well as indigenous knowledge associated with the crop, much of which is in danger of being lost due to the socio-economic and agricultural changes taking place in the country.