The International Potato Center (CIP) has been collaborating with the National Agricultural Innovation Institution (INIA) and can now present a ground-breaking potato variety: ‘CIP-Matilde‘. This variety is designed to combat the devastating late blight disease of potatoes.
CIP-Matilde stands out for its resilience, promising to enhance resistance to late blight, a fungal disease responsible for a staggering $6.7 billion loss in 2022. The disease, notorious for causing the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s, has been spreading to higher altitudes in the Andes due to warmer temperatures.
Hugo Campos, CIP’s Deputy Director General for Research, emphasized the importance of such resistant varieties, especially for smallholder farmers in the central highlands of Peru. With CIP-Matilde leading the charge, the future looks promising for farmers battling late blight, not just in Peru, but globally.
Source: potatonewstoday.com