Potato and Biodiversity
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International Year of the Potato 2008 Potato and biodiversity The history of the potato provides a By conserving – grim warning of the need to maintain and utilizing – the potato genetic diversity in our staple food genetic diversity developed crops. In the 19th century, Ireland was by their ancestors, small heavily reliant on only a few varieties of Farmers sort varieties at Peru’s “potato park”. farmers in the Andes are potato, and those types contained no Photo: © CIP helping ensure world food resistance to the devastating disease Centre of origin security known as late blight. When late blight In the Andean region, generations of destroyed the 1845-1846 potato farmers have domesticated thousands crop, widespread famine followed. An of potato varieties. Even today, farmers cultivate up to 50 varieties on their farms. estimated one million people starved In the biodiversity reserve of the Chiloé to death and more than a million were archipelago in Chile, local people cultivate forced to migrate abroad. about 200 varieties of native potato. They use farming practices transmitted orally To combat pests and diseases, increase by generations of mainly women farmers. yields, and sustain production on Key points marginal lands, today’s potato-based changes drastically, the area where agricultural systems need a continuous wild potatoes grow naturally could be Potato farming systems need supply of new varieties. That requires reduced by as much as 70 percent. a continuous supply of new access to the entire potato gene pool. varieties drawn from the entire But potato biodiversity is under threat: Since potatoes mostly propagate potato gene pool. ancient varieties cultivated by Andean vegetatively, most commercial varieties peoples for millennia have been lost to of potato have a reduced ability to Potato biodiversity is under threat diseases, climate change and social flower and breeders do not select for – ancient varieties cultivated for upheaval. traits that make the flower attractive millennia have been lost and to pollinators. However, natural wild species are threatened by Species and crop-associated potato pollination remains important climate changes. diversity to sustaining the diversity of land While most varieties of potatoes races (farmer-developed varieties that Smallholder farming systems belong to a single species, Solanum are adapted to local environmental in the Andes encourage cross- tuberosum, about 10 other Solanum conditions). Fortunately, the diverse pollination of potato flowers, species have been cultivated, and smallholder farming systems in the vital to sustaining the diversity of 200 wild species have been recorded. Andes harbour a variety of flowering local, farmer-developed varieties. Climate change may threaten the plants that do attract pollinators, such survival of those wild relatives: it is as honeybees and bumblebees, which With CIP support, Andean forecast that as many as 12 percent promote cross-pollination of potato communities have created a will become extinct as their growing flowers, thus increasing seed production “potato park” holding some conditions deteriorate. If climate and sustaining diversity. 1 200 traditional varieties of potato. International Treaty The potato is included in the multilateral system established under FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Treaty, which entered into force in 2004, aims at the conservation and sustainable use of crop plant diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use. Conserving potato biodiversity in the Andes Having lost many of their traditional potato varieties, Peruvian farmers in the Andes are now taking measures to conserve and sustainably use those that remain. A pact has been signed by six Quechua communities with the International Potato Center that recognizes the rights of the communities over potato strains they have developed. Under the agreement, the Center’s genebank returns potato genetic resources – and knowledge associated Inside CIP’s gene bank. Photo: © CIP with them – to the communities, which Diversity conserved in trust have established a “potato park” The International Potato Centre in Peru maintains the world’s largest bank of (Parque de la papa) in a conservation potato germplasm, including some 1 500 samples of about 100 wild species area where they grow and manage the collected in eight Latin American countries, and 3 800 traditional Andean plants. This repatriation of biological cultivated potatoes. The collection is maintained and managed under the diversity effectively keeps control of terms of an agreement with the Governing Body of the International Treaty genetic resources local. The 15 000 on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and, like all collections ha park is a “living library” of potato eligible for funding from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is available to plant breeders worldwide upon request. genetic diversity, holding some 1 200 varieties of potato cultivated in the highlands. A long-term goal is to re- establish all the world’s 4 000 known Credits: potato varieties in the valley, allowing Information provided by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO. the park to function as a second centre of origin for this vital staple crop. About IYP 2008 Contact: International Year of the Potato Secretariat The International Year of the Potato, Food and Agriculture Organization to be celebrated throughout 2008, of the United Nations aims at raising global awareness of Room C-776 the potato’s key role in agriculture, the Viale delle Terme di Caracalla economy and world food security. 00153 Rome, Italy Tel. + (39) 06-5705-5859, 06-5705-4233 www.potato2008.org E-mail: [email protected] .