Exceptional Potato Clones Selected by Filipino Farmers from True Potato
Problem
During the early 1980s farmers on Mount Kanlaon suffered from serious soil borne diseases and viruses in their potato fields. Peter was requested to assess the situation with colleagues of the International Potato Center in 1985. With a Researcher of the Center periodically based in Mount Kanlaon, together with farmers thousands of potato varieties were introduced as botanical seed with resistances to bacterial wilt and viruses. The support ended around 1988 and the farmers were left to fend for themselves.
Outcome
Amazingly when Peter returned 30 years later, he and colleagues of the soon to be formed PSRTC discovered that the varieties being grown were from the material introduced in the 1980s! Some were even named after the Researcher Choi! That work of 30 years ago has had and continues to impact the potato farming communities. PSRTC has now eliminated diseases from these varieties and is now providing clean planting material as rooted cuttings or seed tubers to farmers reviving the potato sector!
In a remote mountainous region of the Philippines, farmers selected their own clones from hybrid True Potato Seed (TPS) populations and have maintained them for 30 years without public support. In 1985, the International Potato Center (CIP) initiated on-farm TPS research in the Mount Kanlaon area to help farmers control or reduce the rates of bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Seedlings were either grown in nursery beds or as transplants in the field. At harvest, farmers not only harvested their crop for either food or for sale but also selected their preferred clones. A survey conducted in 2016 showed that farmers are still growing potato clones selected from TPS and that these clones had spread to numerous areas within and around Mount Kanlaon. Farmers kept these clones because it was profitable because they required minimum inputs and their resistance to various pests and diseases and adverse weather conditions. ELISA tests showed that these clones have excellent virus resistance which partially explains why these clones have been growing for 30 years without a formal seed production program or any government support. Parents used to develop the TPS hybrids included those with virus and R. solanacearum resistance.