Scaling Up the Production of More Nutritious Yellow Potatoes in Colombia (CIFSRF Phase 2)
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
This project aims to alleviate food insecurity and malnutrition in Colombia.Read more
This project aims to alleviate food insecurity and malnutrition in Colombia. Researchers will scale up improved yellow potato varieties that -yield 15% more than other varieties -are twice as resistant to late blight disease -contain double the amount of protein -have nearly 20% more iron and zinc than the most cultivated Colombian variety The project will deliver these innovations to farmers for production and make them available to consumers across Colombia. Improving crops, increasing food security To help ensure that people widely adopt the improved potato varieties, the project team will plan targeted agricultural training, food security interventions, and national awareness raising campaigns. They will also explore synergies with the government's efforts and larger agricultural projects. Researchers expect that the new potatoes will be well received in the market. Project leadership This is a partnership between the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia) and McGill University, which developed the improved varieties. To ensure large-scale adoption and impact, researchers will bring in third party public and private sector organizations, including ASOGADAN, Campo Vivo (McCain), Nutreo, and Fucom. These groups will help market the new varieties, and ensure that the project implementation takes a gender sensitive approach. The team will also collaborate with the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (Colombian Agrarian Institute), Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Colombian Family Welfare Institute, and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to ensure national endorsement and uptake of the innovations on a broad scale. Over a 28-month period, the project team will develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive scaling up model to replace at least 50% of total yellow potato production with the new varieties. The initiative will benefit at least 1.5 million consumers. Project funding This project is funded under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), an IDRC program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada (formerly Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada).