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Scientists prepare
for new era of
CIP–China cooperation |
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Cip
and Chinese scientists are
gearing up to begin work at
a
new research facility, the
CIP-China Center for Asia and
the Pacific, slated to begin
operations in 2004 |
The new CIP-China Center will
build upon more than two decades
of research cooperation that
have produced one of the highest
rates of return on investment
since the Green Revolution.
In the early 1990s, CIP introduced
virus cleanup technology that
boosted Chinese sweetpotato
production more than 30 percent
on an estimated 600,000 hectares
in Shandong. This increase was
said to be equivalent to an
almost 3 percent boost in food
production worldwide.
According to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO),
China is now the world’s
largest producer of potatoes
and sweetpotatoes and, increasingly,
one of its more efficient ones.
Even so, the country faces numerous
hurdles, including the need
to raise rural income in several
of its western provinces. |
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“The new Center will help
meet China’s challenges,”
says Yi Wang, CIP’s resident
scientist in Beijing. “We
expect to have a seasoned team
of experts on site once the
Center is up and running.”
Counterpart staff will be drawn
from a variety of Chinese agencies
including the Chinese Academy
of Agricultural Sciences, the
Chinese Academy of Engineering,
the Ministry of Agriculture,
and the Ministry of Science
and Technology. The Center’s
research priorities will be
established through participatory
planning and project design,
and all projects will be cofunded
by CIP and national institutions.
Center research will focus initially
on geographical areas where
potato and sweetpotato can contribute
most to hunger alleviation and
income generation. Authorities
in several provinces have already
pledged human and financial
support to the new venture.
A plant breeder's dream
“One of the Center’s
top priorities,” Yi notes,
“will be to create a regional
mechanism for the introduction,
enhancement, and distribution
of new potato and sweetpotato
varieties.” At the present
time, most of the CIP-derived
materials distributed in Asia
originate in Lima, which involves
high shipping costs and limits
the scope of the materials that
can be provided to regional
cooperators.
“CIP
plant breeders have often dreamed
about establishing a plant breeding
center on the Asian mainland,”
says Dapeng Zhang, CIP’s
senior sweetpotato breeder.
Potatoes and sweetpotatoes,
unlike grains, are not grown
from conventional seeds, but
from tubers and vine cuttings.
This means that it takes considerable
amounts of time to produce large
quantities of planting material.
The existence of such a facility
in Asia should greatly speed
up utilization by allowing for
rapid, local multiplication
of “seed.”
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Yi
Wang, CIP liaison scientist
in
Beijing, has laid important
groundwork for the Center. |
In addition, a plant breeding
center in China would provide
access to the full range of
biotic and abiotic stresses,
many of which are not present
at CIP headquarters in Lima.
According to Zhang, “Scientists
at CIP headquarters in Peru
cannot efficiently breed for
resistance to the bacterial,
fungal, and viral diseases of
sweetpotato because the disease
pathogens are not prevalent
there.” Such diseases,
Zhang notes, represent serious
constraints in China and other
Asian countries where sweetpotato
production is becoming increasingly
important. Similarly, CIP potato
breeders cannot test their most
promising potato lines under
the long-day conditions that
typify places like Afghanistan
and the new republics of Central
and Western Asia.
The new Center will not only
help to resolve these problems,
it will also provide a platform
for upgrading biotechnology
research on root and tuber crops
and for training large numbers
of Asian researchers in the
use of molecular marker technology
and other genomic tools. “One
of our most important goals
for the Center is to work with
China, where there is extensive
experience in biotechnology,
to build the capacity of Asian
national research programs to
use transgenic root and tuber
crops safely and responsibly,”
Zhang says.
A Center for the region
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CIP
scientists, such as seed
specialist Fernando Ezeta,
are
working with colleagues
in China
to explore needs and opportunities
for the new Center. |
By design, the benefits of the
CIP-Asia Center are slated to
extend beyond China, reaching
many neighboring countries.
“Our Chinese collaborators
expect the Center will serve
as a regional platform for research
and development, building upon
China’s reputation for
hard work, innovation, and impact
while extending the benefits
of an accelerated program of
international cooperation to
many of the country’s
neighbors,” says Roger
Cortbaoui, CIP Director for
International Cooperation.
Current plans call for the establishment
of a chain of research stations
in the country’s major
potato- and sweetpotato-producing
areas. The stations will allow
researchers to test new breeding
lines and management techniques
in climates and conditions that
are representative of Asia’s
predominant agro-ecologies.
“The Government of China,”
Cortbaoui notes, “is eager
to see CIP’s capability
to contribute to the region
strengthened, and to facilitate
this it will provide the Center
with field, laboratory, and
office facilities, as well as
funding for in-country operations.”
Chinese researchers are also
expected to play a major role
in the Center’s regional
research and training activities.
The Center’s annual operating
budget, including the work at
its ecoregional substations,
is estimated at US$2.0 million,
a quarter of which is slated
for training and information
activities. “We cannot
emphasize strongly enough the
importance of training and information,
especially long-distance training
using the Internet, video conferencing,
and other forms of electronic
technology,” Cortbaoui
says. ”Asia is a big place
and we will be relying on electronic
communication to get information
quickly and efficiently to where
it is needed most.” Thus
far, Cambodia, Indonesia, Korea,
Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and
Vietnam have expressed interest
in the Center, as have Australia
and Austria.
A tradition of cooperation
Although informal contacts had
been established in the 1970s,
formal cooperation with China
began in 1985 when CIP became
the first Future Harvest Center
to open a scientific liaison
office in Beijing.
In 1978 China—which had
once been entirely dependent
on potatoes supplied by the
Soviet block—received
a disease-resistant potato from
CIP that it subsequently named
CIP-24. Although CIP-24 has
since been surpassed by more
modern varieties, it was considered
highly successful in its day
and continues to be grown on
70,000 hectares, principally
in the country’s drought-prone
northern provinces. A more recent
success story is Cooperation
88, an exceptionally high yielding
potato with outstanding processing
characteristics that is grown
in Burma, China, and Vietnam
(see CIP Annual Report 2001).
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The
new Center will enable
plant breeders to speed
up
the supply of new potato
varieties to China and
neighboring countries,
where the demand is high. |
“The expectation is that
the creation of the new Center
will lead to many more success
stories, and will multiply the
effect of past achievements
in China and throughout the
region,” Cortbaoui adds.
“With the new Center we
will be moving significantly
beyond what is possible to achieve
at the present liaison-office
level.” Once the Center
is up and running, CIP plans
to station most of its Asia-based
staff in China and relocate
additional staff from Lima,
bringing together plant geneticists,
seed specialists, pest control
experts, and social scientists.
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Late
blight in China: A cause
for concern
Chinese researchers working
with the Global Initiative
on Late Blight (GILB)
report new evidence of
greater virulence of the
late blight pathogen and
the increasing susceptibility
of potato varieties previously
considered resistant to
the disease. According
to He Wei of the Sichuan
Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, late blight
is spread principally
through infected seed
stocks, and damage is
concentrated mainly in
the southwest and northeastern
parts of the country.
Yield losses have been
estimated at US$170 million
annually, a figure that
does not include vast
amounts of potatoes lost
in storage.
Both the A1 and A2 pathogen
types (see Late
blight research zeroes
in on a moving target)
are present in China,
although as yet there
is no evidence that they
have recombined into a
more dangerous variant
of the pathogen. The A2
type was first detected
in northern China in 1996,
and has since spread as
far south as Yunnan, near
the border with Vietnam.
With the breakdown of
resistance in China’s
older varieties, CIP is
working with Chinese scientists
to evaluate large amounts
of genetic material in
the hope of identifying
resistant potato lines.
A number of potentially
resistant potatoes are
also being multiplied
for use by farmers or
are being utilized in
breeding programs in Hubei,
Yunna, Sichuan, and Chongqing
provinces.
Meanwhile, Chinese researchers
are alarmed by a reduction
in the effectiveness of
the popular fungicide
metalaxyl, which is used
throughout China as a
primary defense against
the disease. This situation,
combined with the breakdown
in resistance, means that
farmers may soon be forced
to turn to so-called contact
fungicides, which adversely
affect soil flora and
fauna and can be hazardous
to health. Contact fungicides
also must be used more
frequently than metalaxyl.
The fact that China is
committed to protecting
the environment and reducing
adverse effects associated
with the use of agrochemicals
makes this a highly unattractive
scenario.
Derived
from reports posted by
the Global Initiative
on Late Blight (GILB),
which maintains a website
with reports from researchers
in 78 countries. For more
information please visit
http://www.cipotato.org/gilb |
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Potatoes:
A North
Korean obsession
Although
he has no training
in agriculture,
North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il is
said to be obsessed
with potatoes,
spending weeks
at a time providing
guidance to his
nation’s
farmers. According
to reports broadcast
by CNN, Kim is
convinced that
improved potato
varieties will
one day solve
his country’s
food problems.
In fact, he is
so certain of
the importance
that potatoes
will play in feeding
his country that
he once opened
a restricted facility
to international
inspection in
exchange for technical
assistance that
would aid Korea’s
potato farmers.
According to FAO,
potato production
in North Korea
has increased
more than four-fold
since 1995, mainly
through area expansion,
and potatoes now
rank third in
importance after
rice and maize.
Today, North Korea
produces potatoes
on nearly 200,000
hectares with
yields that average
9 tons per hectare.
In neighboring
China yields are,
on average, 40
percent higher.
CIP has worked
intermittently
with North Korea
since 1993, when
diplomats visited
Center headquarters
in Lima and returned
home with new
potato varieties
and large quantities
of CIP publications.
Collaboration
increased 5 years
later when CIP
seed specialist
Rolando Cabello
visited the country.
“I have
never seen that
kind of poverty
or hunger even
in the poorest
communities in
the Peruvian highlands,”
says Cabello,
a Peruvian national.
CIP will provide
every assistance
that it can to
aid North Korea’s
people,”
adds Roger Cortbaoui,
CIP Director for
International
Cooperation. “In
the months ahead
we will be working
to produce starter
seed of improved
varieties under
a grant provided
by the Common
Fund for Commodities.
In addition, we
hope to reduce
storage losses
by introducing
improved management
practices and
training people
in their use.”
The new CIP-China
Center, Cortbaoui
notes, will also
provide much needed
technical assistance
to North Korea
and will help
to speed up the
introduction of
potatoes adapted
to local conditions. |
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CIP
scientist wins award for
work in China
In November 2002, virologist
Luis Salazar, head of
CIP’s Crop Protection
Department, was presented
with the prestigious Qilu
Friendship Award by the
Government of Shandong,
China, for his contribution
to the development of
pathogen detection technology
in the province. This
technology has helped
to eliminate virus disease
in sweetpotato planting
material in Shandong and
neighboring provinces,
and forms the basis for
the largest economic impact
in CIP’s history.
The value of this technology
to date is estimated at
well over US$550 million.
Salazar, who has been
helping establish the
Virus-Free Seed Production
program in Shandong since
1985, was chosen for the
prize from a list of 2000
nominees from all parts
of the world. He was nominated
for the award by the Shandong
Academy of Agricultural
Sciences (SAAS), which
five years ago named him
Principal Scientific Advisor
for the same research.
China is the world’s
largest producer of root
and tuber crops. Sweetpotato
farmers are now planting
an estimated 330,000 hectares
of virus-free sweetpotato
annually in Shandong Province
alone, according to recent
reports. |
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