Potatoes are great, but that is of course not the main reason this Seed Bank was started. The main reason is to protect genetic biodiversity. The International Potato Center is home to the largest collection of potatoes, sweet potatoes and Andean root and tuber crops. It conserves the biodiversity of these crops and fights against the greatest threats of biodiversity such as desertification, deforestation and disease. By doing so, the center is protecting both the current availability of crops to farmers, breeders and researchers but also protects the future of our food supply. The center could be compared to a vault that hosts a priceless collection of potatoes, however that “vault” is nothing like the medieval castle you might be imagining. The genebank is built to be resistant against earthquakes and hosts different laboratories with the newest scientific equipment for their highly educated professionals to work with. The majority of cultivated crops in the center are native to Peru, however there are also crops from Bolivia, Ecuador and other Andean countries. At the moment, 80 percent of native cultivars (plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding) have been saved and 80 percent of their wild relatives have been gathered and the status of their future existence is safe. However, many other varieties are still not found and as the threat of population growth, urbanization and climate change amongst others keeps growing, the future of their existence is at high risk.
By Thomas Quintiens