The Role of Genebanks and Global Collaboration in Climate-Resilient Agriculture
In a world increasingly shaped by climate change, the need for resilient agricultural solutions has never been more urgent. One such solution comes from the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru, where scientists have developed a new potato variety that could revolutionize farming practices and help combat a centuries-old threat.
The same disease responsible for the Irish Potato Famine nearly 200 years ago continues to wreak havoc on global potato crops, causing up to USD 10 billion in annual losses. With climate change pushing this disease higher into the Andes, smallholder farmers face an ever-growing challenge. However, ahead of the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil, a breakthrough in potato breeding offers hope.
A New Variety for a Changing Climate
The new potato variety, named CIP-Asiryq, was developed by scientists at CIP in collaboration with Indigenous communities. This variety is resistant to late blight, the disease that devastated Ireland in the 19th century. It requires fewer fungicide sprays, cooks 25% faster than Peru’s popular Yungay variety, and shows strong potential for both table and processing markets.
“Late blight costs billions of dollars every year in lost production,” said Dr. Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust. “The new resistant variety gives potato farmers an option that can reduce losses, cut costs and strengthen food security in Peru and around the world. It’s good news for everyone who likes potatoes.”
Rooted in Climate Collaboration
CIP-Asiryq was developed using Solanum cajamarquense, a wild relative of the potato conserved in the CIP genebank in Lima, Peru. This genebank safeguards the world’s largest collection of potato diversity. The development of this variety was made possible through theCrop Wild Relativesproject and theBiodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development (BOLD)project, both led by the Crop Trust and funded by the Government of Norway.
“Late blight has been a huge burden to potato farmers everywhere, so the development of a new resistant variety is a major step forward for food systems – in the Andes and beyond,” said Dr. Thiago Mendes, CIP scientist and lead of the BOLD potato pre-breeding project. “CIP-Asiryq is also remarkable for its versatility. Farmers in Huánuco noted its potential for both fresh consumption and processing, giving producers more flexibility to meet market demand.”
A Global Problem with a Local Solution
Late blight is the same plant disease that triggered the 19th-century Irish Potato Famine, a crisis that starved Ireland and scarred it forever. In 2025, the disease still costs farmers an estimated USD 3 to 10 billion per year globally. In Peru, it can slash crop yields by 50 to 100%, even at elevations once thought safe from its ravages.
Farmers can spray fungicides, but according to CIP, agrochemicals can represent 10 to 25% of the total value of a farmer’s potato harvest. Fungicide use significantly reduces family incomes and poses risks to humans and the environment. In humid valleys of the central Andes, farmers spray fungicides up to six times each month to protect their crops.
Besides offering late blight resistance and thus reducing the need for spraying, CIP-Asiryq has strong market potential due to its processing qualities, which meet industry standards for potato chips. This is good for smallholder farmers, for businesses that process and sell potato products, and for consumers who love the many ways potatoes are prepared.
“This potato variety was developed for the fresh consumption – not specifically for processing – but some producers do grow for the processing industry,” said Raul Ccanto, coordinator of the agrobiodiversity area of the Yanapai Group, which was involved from the beginning in the new variety’s development. “Small-scale farmers will be happy to earn more by selling to this market and so will the processing companies.”
Collaboration Between Communities and Scientists
Collaboration between CIP, the Yanapai Group, and local farmers was essential in the development of the new variety, showing how breeders, communities, and genebanks can work together to deliver solutions.
A Growing Global Impact
CIP-Asiryq also provides hope to farmers in other parts of the world who may be struggling to contain the disease. “The new potato was developed in Peru by identifying wild potatoes with resistance to the disease and incorporating this resistance into cultivated varieties,” said Dr. Mendes of CIP. “Those parents are conserved in the CIP genebank, which can share them with potato breeding programs in any country under the rules of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for use in developing blight-resistant varieties.”
Dr. Mendes, now based in Kenya, is using CIP-Asiryq to develop late blight-resistant potatoes adapted to the East African highland through the BOLD project. This adds to the portfolio of successful new variety launches under BOLD, including new varieties of alfalfa in Kazakhstan, durum wheat in Morocco, and rice in Vietnam.
“This new wild relative-derived potato variety offers a powerful testament to the real-world impact of global collaboration,” said Dr. Benjamin Kilian, BOLD project coordinator at the Crop Trust. “Crop diversity is a precious resource that can deliver meaningful climate solutions to farmers – and food systems – all around the world.”