Scientists are trying to save native Colombian potato varieties

A group of scientists in Colombia, together with a few small-scale growers, is looking for seeds of native potato varieties to prevent them from disappearing. The project is financed by Fontagro and can also count on the participation of a Bolivian university and some other associations that want to protect indigenous races. In the region around Carmen de Carupa, a municipality in Colombia, extreme temperature fluctuations and heavy rainfall due to global warming have led many growers to stop planting potatoes. "However, 38 indigenous varieties grow in Colombia that have a genetic profile that makes them more resistant to drought or heavy rainfall," says Professor María del Pilar Márquez, who is part of the project together with researchers Ismael Villanueva and Adriana Sáenz. "On the market, however, buyers prefer more conventional potato varieties." "We may have even lost some varieties," says Sáenz. "We now want to go back as far as possible to save the potatoes that were ...