CIP’s highland potato program focuses on sustainable cropping systems and the introduction of more suitable and nutritious potato varieties that also carry resistance to the principal biotic stresses. We work to develop and validate new technologies and provide greater access to decision-support systems that reduce the factors limiting productivity and competitiveness.
This includes research on integrated pest and disease management, soil and water management, as well as seed quality and accessibility to superior planting materials.
Because many important biotic constraints and the bio-control agents needed to contain them originate in the Andean region, the program is intensifying its work in the Andes to build a stronger staging platform for controlling potato pests and diseases in similar agro-eco-regions.
Objective: To develop knowledge, decision support systems, and partners’ capacities for pest management and potato cropping system intensification for improved varieties and landraces.