Every day, potatoes nourish millions of families in the Peruvian Andes. But while they fill plates, they don’t always meet all nutritional needs. This World Food Day, the International Potato Center highlights how biofortified potatoes are helping turn a simple meal into a powerful source of nutrition and health.
The invisible problem: hidden hunger
Around the world, millions of people suffer from hidden hunger, micronutrient deficiencies caused not by a lack of food, but by a lack of essential vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc.
In the highlands of Peru, where potatoes are a daily staple, iron deficiency and anemia remain major public health concerns.
“Hidden hunger often goes unnoticed, but its impact on children’s growth, women’s health, and overall productivity is immense,” explains Gabriela Burgos, CIP scientist. “That’s why we are working to make the potato, an everyday food, more nutritious.”
A potato that nourishes
CIP scientists have developed iron-biofortified potatoes through conventional breeding. These varieties contain 50% more iron than commercial ones, along with natural vitamin C that helps the body absorb iron efficiently.
Studies show that eating 500 grams of these potatoes—a common daily amount in the Andes—can provide more than half of a woman’s daily iron requirement.
Rooted in local farming
Peru is the first country in the world to release iron-biofortified potatoes. Through partnerships with farmers, local governments, and nutrition programs, CIP is helping introduce these varieties across the northern, central, and southern highlands. The goal: reach more than 4.5 million people in Peru and later expand to Bolivia and Ecuador.
By growing and consuming biofortified potatoes, smallholder farmers strengthen both their livelihoods and their communities’ nutrition.
Healthy diets for all
Aligned with this year’s World Food Day theme—healthy diets for all—biofortified potatoes offer a simple, affordable, and culturally rooted way to improve nutrition. They help bridge the gap between science and tradition, between farming and health.
Because fighting hidden hunger doesn’t always require new food. Sometimes, it just takes making a familiar one even better.