Science, plus farmers' know-how, equals improved food security in Colombia

In rural Colombia, most families own small farms (less than 3 hectares) on which they chiefly grow potatoes. Planting high yielding varieties is vital to achieve adequate yield for both consumption and sale. But yellow potato varieties most often grown have low yield and low resistance to late blight, a devastating disease that causes heavy losses in production.

Researchers working closely with the farming communities of Nariño developed and tested three new potato varieties with higher yield and nutritional content, and greater resistance to late blight disease. Adoption and consumption of these potatoes has the potential to reduce chronic diseases and lessen the environmental impact of potato production through reduced fungicide usage.

Read the complete story of change: Blending cutting edge science with farmers’ know-how to improve food security in Colombia (PDF, 763 KB).

Combinando la ciencia y los conocimientos locales para mejorar la seguridad alimentaria (Spanish, PDF, 785 KB)

This document is part of the Stories of Change series that shares some of the emerging outcomes from research supported in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, a program of Canada's International Development Research Centre, undertaken with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada.