Drought and frost batter vital potato crops in Bolivia

Dozens of furrows lie barren in a dusty field on the Bolivian highlands. It should be replete with potato plants ready for harvest, but a deadly combination of drought and frost proved too much for the crop. Cristobal Pongo, one of many peasants of the Aymara Indigenous group who devote their lives to potato farming in this region highly susceptible to climate change, looks dejectedly upon the dismal scene. "The potato is our life. We harvest, we sell... It is our livelihood... (it pays) for our children's education," the 64-year-old told AFP as he knelt in his field about 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) above sea level. This year, Pongo will have nothing to sell at the market in Calamarca, some 70 kilometers south of the capital La Paz. He does not know what he will do. "The frost has killed the potato... Look at it, it is dead," he said, crestfallen. Pongo's crop is not the only one affected by bad weather during ...