Publications /  The Potato, Treasure of the Andes
From Agriculture to Culture

The peoples of the Andes were great agricultural innovators. They built irrigation and field systems that would be the pride of engineers today, and they conducted complex experiments on their most important crops. The potato owes its remarkable usefulness as much to the ingenuity of these peoples as to the particular features of the Andean climate and landscape.

The potato has played a vital role in food security worldwide. Many fascinated observers – among them Redcliffe N. Salaman in his book, The History and Social Influence of the Potato (1985) – have chronicled its leading role in world history during peace and war. The potato assumed such great nutritional and culinary importance in Europe that statues were erected in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake, who were believed to have introduced the crop to the continent. The inscription on a statue of Drake in Offenburg, Germany, bore no small praise for the tuber: “As the help of the poor against need, this precious gift of God allays bitter want.” The War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778-1779 was christened the “potato war,” because the rival armies had to withdraw to their respective countries when potato stocks dwindled.

The tragedy of the Irish potato famine in the 1840s marked the potato’s place in history. The infamous plant disease known as late blight triggered the famine, devastating potato fields. Scientists then began to search for genes that would help the crop withstand this previously unknown disease. In Mexico, the causal pathogen’s country of origin, they found Solanum demissum, a source of genes that have been used to breed resistance into many potato varieties still in use today. In 1951, John S. Niederhauser established a screening nursery in Mexico’s Toluca Valley, where scientists could accelerate progress in breeding varieties resistant to late blight, pinpointing the various strains of the disease. (Niederhauser later received the World Food Prize.)

Spurred by the urge to discover the diversity of this remarkable crop, numerous explorers have embarked on extensive collecting expeditions in the potato’s land of origin. Notable among them were the famed Russian scientist Nikolai I. Vavilov,
a Commonwealth team that included John G. Hawkes and a US team headed by Donovan Correll. Their ventures all revealed a rich genetic diversity in tuber-bearing Solanum species. Carlos M. Ochoa, a Peruvian taxonomist and explorer who is known among historians of crop domestication as “Mr. Potato,” has chronicled the diversity of the potatoes of South America in his authoritative publications (Ochoa 1990, 1999).

The findings of these potato explorers pointed to the Lake Titicaca region on the Peru-Bolivia border and the Chiloé Archipelago of southern Chile as the primary centers of diversity of the two principal groups of the cultivated potato, namely the Solanum tuberosum subspecies andigena and tuberosum. I feel privileged to have been part of a study that revealed that S. tuberosum originated in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia (Swaminathan and Magoon, 1961). This region was also home to some of the most highly developed Andean civilizations, such as Tiahuanaco and Inca.

Systematic efforts to make the potato’s genetic resources available to scientists worldwide began, however, with the creation of the International Potato Center. Founded on the principles of scientific cooperation and equitable sharing of resources, the Center created a system of global partnerships among institutions and individuals dedicated to enhancing the productivity, profitability, stability and sustainability of potato farming systems in developing countries. CIP soon began to generate new ideas and techniques for improving potato breeding, cultivation and use. At the same time, the Center brought together advanced research institutions in industrialized as well as in developing countries to help solve the problems confronting the most needy. Rapid increases in potato production in several developing countries since the Center’s birth confirm the power of these partnerships.

This book is a timely reminder of the potato’s contribution to the human quest for sustainable food security – a search that is entering one of its most demanding phases. Advances in technology, services and public policies in the twentieth century made possible great progress in keeping the growth rate of food production above that of population in most countries. The current century, however, presents new challenges. Population growth is limiting the per capita availability of arable land and irrigation water. Urbanization and increases in purchasing power have diversified diets, creating a greater demand for animal products. Overfishing has limited the potential for growth in the marine fish catch. Damage to land, water, forests, and biodiversity has accelerated, threatening the ecological foundations of sustainable agriculture. It seems increasingly likely that emissions of greenhouse gases and damage to the atmospheric ozone layer will bring extensive changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level and ultra-violet radiation.

Meanwhile, it has become clear that the types of agricultural advances achieved in the 1960s and 1970s, based on the introduction of new, high-yielding varieties of rice, will not be repeated. We will need a new generation of technological innovations to meet the demands of the future. Although biotechnology and genetic modification offer promising opportunities to create novel genetic combinations, they have been mired in controversy over their potential impact on the environment and human health. The recently approved Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is an important first step toward creating an international institutional structure to carry out objective risk and benefit analyses.

I am convinced that the potato will play a leading role in meeting the global food and nutrition needs of the twenty-first century. Recent research shows that the potato still has potential for improved productivity, quality and environmental adaptation. Biotechnology can make an important – and rapid – difference in the crop’s ability to resist disease, limiting the need to use costly and unhealthy chemicals. Potatoes can make a major contribution to the vitally important battle against maternal and fetal malnutrition, as well as to efforts to improve the diets of pre-school children. And as cash economies replace subsistence economies throughout the developing world, potatoes will become increasingly attractive as moneymakers for resource-poor farmers and rural communities.

This book will help kindle in readers the excitement and adventure associated with the history, science and social role of the potato. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Hubert G. Zandstra, Director General of CIP, and to all his colleagues, in particular Christine Graves, for their initiative in producing this wonderful testimony to “this precious gift of God.”

Monkombu S. Swaminathan
Chair of the UNESCO-Cousteau
Ecotechnology Program and of the
M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation,
Madras, India