Regions / Research in South, West and Central Asia (CIP-SWCA)
CIP-SWCA research activities focus on developing sustainable planting material and seed systems and effective marketing and postharvest strategies to improve crop production environments and boost economic benefits for farmers.
CIP-SWCA carries out research activities on potato and sweetpotato in, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in South Asia; Afghanistan and Pakistan in West Asia; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the Caucasus in collaboration with a variety of research partners (national agriculture research institutes, NGOs, and the private sector). Outputs of SWCA's research activities are extended to end-users through extension services and training. Research findings on aspects related to potato and sweetpotato are disseminated through various publications, including the biannual CIP-SWCA newsletter and "CAC News" published quarterly by CGIAR-CAC in Tashkent.
Focus
Potato and sweetpotato are important crops in the diet of the people of the SWCA region. CIP-SWCA research on these crops focuses on developing sustainable planting material and seed systems (including the use of true potato seed, or TPS) plus better marketing and postharvest strategies to boost seed production self-sufficiency and improve production environments to increase economic benefits for farmers.
Sweetpotato
CIP's overall goal for sweetpotato in SWCA is to provide a sustainable increase in the productivity of sweetpotato for fresh consumption and for industrial products. Along with establishing training programs for progressive growers, technicians, extension workers, and scientists, CIP-SWCA focuses on identifying high dry-matter yielding sweetpotato varieties for improved starch extraction and on disseminating virus-free high dry-matter yielding clones that respond well to low input management.
Production and use of sweetpotato in the SWCA region is expanding, along with an effort to popularize its use in the human diet. CIP-SWCA has contributed to these efforts by distributing germplasm, both in vitro and as stem cuttings, to national research institutes in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Other CIP-SWCA sweetpotato research activities include:
Evaluation and propagation of virus-free planting material
Detection of SPCFV (sweetpotato chlorotic fleck virus), SPLV (sweetpotato latent virus) and SPMMV (sweetpotato mild mottle virus) through NCM-ELISA.
Distribution of high-beta carotene (pro-Vitamin A) varieties to USAID nutrition project in Nepal
Potato
While potato is used mainly for the fresh product market, local and multinational snack and fast food industries are developing rapidly. Estimates indicate about 9000 metric tons of potato is now processed annually in India alone (in the unofficial sector). Increased trade in seed and ware potato, due to regional trade agreements, is also expected to boost the production of selected processing and high-yielding varieties.
Potato has a relatively high production potential (compared to cereals) and a strong potential as a food crop. However, potato crop production in SWCA is limited by a lack of available, affordable, good-quality potato seed; more than 90% of demand in all SWCA countries except India is met by the informal seed supply sector. Therefore, development of healthy planting materials is crucial.
TPS
TPS (true potato seed) from India has been used for domestic seed supply, resulting in a remarkable increase in potato production, and exported to Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The initial boom of TPS production in the private sector has stabilized at about 300-350 kg per year. Through training programs ( field demonstrations and farmer field days), agronomic practices for use of TPS technologies have been standardized and transferred to extension workers and farmers. In collaboration with CIP, national farmer training programs and extension activities conducted by national agricultural research systems in Bangladesh, and demonstration projects and farmer training on location-specific agronomic practices in Nepal, have increased TPS use in those countries. Other CIP-SWCA achievements related to TPS include:
- Selection of three female TPS parents (MF-I, MF-II, TPS-7) and two male parents (TPS-13, TPS-67) with desirable traits for yield, morphology, flowering, disease resistance and berry and TPS characteristics
- Screening of nearly 400 hybrid TPS families in India to select medium maturing, high- yielding TPS families with desirable tuber characteristics, durable resistance to late blight, and good tuber storability
- Selection of six hybrid families [ viz. MF-I x TPS–13 (HPS-I/13), MF-I x TPS-67 (HPS-I/67), MF-II x TPS-13 (HPS-II/13), MF-II x TPS-67 (HPS-II/67), TPS-7 x TPS-13 (HPS-7/13) and TPS-13 x TPS-67 (HPS-7/67)]
- Release of HPS-II/67 and HPS-7/67 by the national agricultural research systems (NARS) as BARI–TPS1 and BARI-TPS2 in Bangladesh and Vietnam
- Establishment of "TPS Villages" in Bangladesh to disseminate TPS technology
Training
The development and use of training programs to increase local capacity in the use of new technologies and techniques for improved crop and seed production is a major strategy of CIP-SWCA. Training efforts include:
- establishment of 20 Seed Potato Groups (SPGs) set up in Nepal to help farmers produce informal good-quality potato seed;
- promotion of Integrated Disease Management model for small-holder farmers based on the Farmer Field School approach;
- training of extension personnel on improved techniques for good- quality potato seed production at the farm-level in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
- training of farmers, technicians, extension agents, and scientists in improved potato seed production methods
provision of technical assistance to strengthen seed production programs at research stations and seed farms
