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

Many of these "gift potatoes", as the locals call them, have disappeared from farmers’ fields. Some succumbed to pests, diseases and flooding caused by El Niño rains. Others were lost when terrorism and migration to urban centers led farmers to abandon their fields.

For several years, CIP has worked on what its genebank curator Zósimo Huamán calls the "repatriation of native potatoes". To do this, the Center draws on the resources of its genebank, which contains a wealth of disease-free genetic material. "Clean" seed such as that provided by CIP helps cut down on production losses due to disease, boosting yields by 20-40 percent.

While the villagers of San José de Aymará are busy harvesting, their neighbors in Pucara, on the other side of the mountain, fill their sacks with a potato variety known as Yungay. The shared work of the harvest brings the fields to life from dawn to dusk.

At the end of the day, villagers pile up sacks brimming with potatoes. From here, the tubers will be carried along dusty trails that criss-cross the roof of the Americas. Llamas will haul some, others will be loaded onto trucks - but all are headed to market in Huancayo, a regional distribution center.