Archaeologists have even determined that the ancient Peruvians consumed potatoes as far back as 7,000 years ago, when they were found growing wild. The potato was grown across Peru by around the 8th century BC already and was taken to Spain in 1554 from where it spread throughout Europe. It reached India in 1610 and China in 1700.
Today, Peru grows eight native potato species and 2,300 of the nearly 5,000 current potato varieties. It is also home to 90 of the 200 wild species growing on the American continent, making it the country with the greatest potato diversity in the world.

Worldwide importance

Potatoes are of decisive importance in the diets of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In this regard, the FAO maintains that, since the early 60s, the surface area taken up by potato crops in the developing world, particularly China and India, has exceeded that of all other basic foodstuffs, with the demand in 2020 expected to be double that of 1993.
The potato is so important for feeding the world, that the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2008 the “International Year of the Potato”. This is the perfect occasion for governments and the authorities involved in world food security to pay attention to the potato – and for Peru, as its source of origin, to assume leadership in fostering its worldwide growth and consumption.

Hub of the potato universe

In this regard, Peru is privileged to house the headquarters of the International Potato Centre, home of the most comprehensive genetic bank in the world, where highly qualified scientists from Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Oceania dedicate their lives to preserving and protecting genetic material related to the potato and other tubers and to investigating production systems, natural resource management and crop and genetic resource enhancement. Equally important is the research conducted at the centre relating to pests and diseases, use and processing methods, seed production and potato-related statistics.

Bayer CropScience in Peru

Bayer CropScience has been supporting these century-old crops in Peru for many years with a broad range of high quality products including fungicides such as Antracol® and Fitoraz®, insecticides such as Regent®, Bulldock® and Alsystin® and herbicides such as Sencor®.
Launches of new solutions are also prepared for the future, including a new portfolio for controlling potato blight with fungicides such as Sectin®/Sereno®, Consento®, Infinito® and Trivia®.
All these products also form part of a campaign to teach farmers how to safely manage and use crop protection products, together with application techniques.