Across the Andean highlands and the islands of southern Chile, rural women safeguard a valuable treasure: the diversity of native potatoes. Their quiet yet powerful work sustains the biodiversity that feeds us and the cultural heritage that connects generations.
On this International Day of Rural Women, we celebrate these women, guardians of the earth, keepers of seeds, and custodians of ancestral knowledge.
Chiloé, Chile: Where the Potato Tells a Story
In Chiloé, native potatoes have been cultivated for centuries in small family plots. These potatoes, with their vibrant colors and unique shapes, tell stories of ancestry, adaptation, and care.
Farmers Mirna Oyarzún and Esmerinda Culún conserve around 35 genotypes each year, keeping a legacy passed through generations. Yolanda Millapichún safeguards 120 genotypes repatriated from the Potato Germplasm Bank of the Universidad Austral de Chile, tending to them for the past twenty years.
Through the project, women farmers are now forming an association of guardians to restore, grow, and market these varieties, ensuring that this tradition continues.
Bolivia: Women and the Wisdom of Seeds
In the Bolivian altiplano, women have long been at the heart of farming. Within the FAO-supported project led by the International Potato Center (CIP), the organization PROSUCO works with female seed guardians who protect 23 native potato and 6 maize varieties.
Guided by their knowledge of their local climate and traditional indicators, they plan their plantings, honor Pachamama (Mother Earth) through rituals of gratitude, and sustain their families with diverse crops. Each variety carries its own story, taste, and purpose, creating a living connection to Andean heritage.
Peru: Empowering the Guardians of the Potato’s Birthplace
In Peru, the legacy continues through the Association of Guardians of Native Potatoes (AGUAPAN). Across nine regions, many of its members are women who conserve native potato biodiversity.
To strengthen their leadership, CIP supports the Leadership Program for the Empowerment of AGUAPAN Women Producers and Marketers, which builds skills in communication, negotiation, and entrepreneurship while reinforcing confidence and collective identity.
These women are expanding their roles beyond production, taking part in leadership, decision-making, and market participation, ensuring that native potatoes remain a source of nourishment, pride, and identity.
Women Who Feed the Future
From the misty fields of Chiloé to the highlands of Bolivia and Peru, these women embody resilience and wisdom. Their hands preserve the diversity that sustains humanity.
At the International Potato Center (CIP), we recognize that the future of food security depends on these rural women who protect biodiversity, nurture communities, and keep the world’s most humble crop thriving for generations to come.
This story is made possible through the project “Youth, Citizen Science and E-commerce: scaling integrated conservation solutions and farmers’ rights by connecting key diversity hotspots: Bolivia, Chile, and Peru”, led by the International Potato Center (CIP) in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).