A new potato variety called CIP-Matilde, which is resistant to late blight, has been released, Crop Trust and the International Potato Center (CIP) say in an Oct. 14 news release.
The new variety was developed through a partnership with farmers, breeders and scientists in Peru starting in 2010. They identified wild potatoes with resistance to disease and incorporated it into cultivated varieties, a process known as pre-breeding, the release notes.
“The outcome is a tasty tuber suitable for regular consumption that also withstands late blight, an aggressive disease that can destroy a potato crop in a matter of weeks,” the release says.
CIP-Matilde was developed by CIP with the support of the Crop Trust through its Crop Wild Relatives Project, a 11-year initiative meant to help agriculture adapt to climate change, the release notes.
“I recommend Matilde to other farmers because it produces a lot, the potatoes taste good, boiled, mashed, fried, in soup, and late blight doesn’t affect it the way it does other varieties. I’m thankful to have this new variety because now I don’t have to invest so much in agrochemicals,” Rolando Papuico, a potato farmer from the Huancayo province, where the CIP-Matilde variety was developed, says in the release.
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