A Quest for the Perfect Potato

This type of assistance has proved fruitful for other troubled farmers. In Cuzco province in 2003, when the temperature rose just enough to allow late blight to develop, farmers lost 90 percent of their harvest on 400 hectares. With some help from the International Potato Center in Lima, part of a worldwide network of research centers focused on staple crops, the farmers tested a score of potato varieties. They settled on two hybrids that were best adapted to local conditions and were resistant to blight. "Now that they produce enough for themselves and to sell at market, they are going to have a cash income," says Manuel Gastelo, a plant-breeding researcher at the International Potato Center.

A similar willingness to adapt has helped farmers cope with a shortened growing season for potatoes. In Huancavelica, the harvest this year was completed on June 2, nearly three weeks ahead of the usual harvest date of June 21, which didn't give the crop enough time to mature. "The potatoes are small," says Víctor Palomino Matamoros, 56, gazing at a communal field planted at 4,300 meters above sea level. Farmers in other parts of the country report that native potatoes now must be harvested as much as two months earlier than they traditionally have been. Fortunately, highland farmers learned from their ancestors to plant their crops in plots that are staggered at different altitudes. That flexibility, together with a modern penchant for experimentation, has allowed them to fine-tune their crops to prevailing weather patterns. In Chopcca, farmers experimented with 125 local varieties of potato. Farmer Juanita Quispe planted one variety last year on Dec. 8 "as a test," she says, and harvested nothing. Then her neighbor, Soto Ataypoma, found that wallash and ducis varieties mature more rapidly, "in three or four months," she says. By focusing on these two varieties, village farmers have increased their yields.

Adapting to shifting climate, of course, can be a hit-or-miss affair. On the one hand, potato farmers have taken advantage of the shorter growing season for potatoes by planting more cereal crops, such as corn, which require less rainwater. On the other hand, squeezing cereal crops into whatever growing season is available doesn't always work; crops can fail to fill out, leaving puny grains. Extreme cold, which stunts growth, can also foil the best-laid plans. During this year's growing season, temperatures were so cold that cow manure used as fertilizer never rotted to combine with and enrich the soil.

This being the international year of the potato, Peru's farmers have gotten a publicity boost. Agronomists, agribusiness and supermarket chains in Peru have promoted native varieties of potatoes. Frito-Lay has led the way with its Papas Andinas, made from traditional Andean varieties with marbled markings and sold as a premium product in high-end supermarkets. To sell to multinational food companies, Andean farmers would have to produce more consistently plump and sturdy potatoes. Adapting to global warming is the only path open to the Peruvian farmers. When the history of climate change in the early 21st century is written, they will deserve a special mention.

© 2008