Zimbabwean sweet potato growers benefit from climate-resistant new varieties

Published 2021년 11월 26일

Tridge summary

The International Potato Center has bred new sweet potato varieties in just five years, compared to the usual eight to ten years, using an accelerated breeding program. These new varieties are being used by small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe to increase food security and combat climate change. The breeding process focuses on traits such as health benefits, taste, size, pest and disease resistance, and drought tolerance. Since 2009, the CIP's research has resulted in the release of 62 orange-fleshed varieties in 12 African countries. In Zimbabwe, over a million small-scale growers harvest approximately 420,000 tons of sweet potatoes annually.

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Original content

The International Potato Center (CIP), a global research organization based in Peru, has succeeded in breeding new sweet potato varieties. By using the accelerated breeding program, the CIP has halved the time it takes to generate new varieties, reducing the length of the process from 8 or 10 years to just 5 years, said Jan Low, a chief scientist at the CIP. . Small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe, ravaged by frequent droughts and high temperatures that have made maize growing more difficult, have found sweet potatoes an opportunity to increase food security and combat climate change. Sweet potatoes have been improved through conventional selective breeding methods. The breeding process involves crossing different sweet potato varieties with selected traits such as health benefits, taste, size, pest and disease resistance and drought tolerance. Since 2009, the CIP's research has ...

Source: AGF