Annual Towards

Report food system

2018 transformation

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 1

Towards food system transformation

International Potato Center | Annual Report 2018

© 2019, International Potato Center
ISSN 0256-6311
DOI: 10.4160/02566311/2018
Hecho el Depósito Legal en la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú N° 2005-9640

Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from this report. As copyright
holder, CIP requests acknowledgement and a copy of the publication where the
citation or material appears. Please send this to the Communications Department at
the address below.

International Potato Center

Av. La Molina 1895, La Molina, Peru
Apartado 1558, Lima 12, Peru
[email protected]
www.cipotato.org
Press run: 500
August 2019

Editor
James Stapleton, Head of Communications

Writers
David Dudenhoefer (consultant) and Mia Rowan, Digital Editor

Production coordinator
Cecilia Lafosse

Design and layout

José Enrique Torres

CIP thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. https://www.cgiar.org/funders/
© 2019. International Potato Center. All rights reserved.
This work by the International Potato Center is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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2 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 Contents

3 Foreword
Rodney Cooke / Barbara H Wells

6 Down to business
Gaining skills and grasping opportunities
in the Philippines
Business
opportunities
8 Seeds of success
Catalyzing potato value chains in Kenya

12 Leaving hunger behind

Productivity gains in drought-prone Malawi

14 Baskets of health
Advancing biofortification in Nigeria Food and
and Tanzania nutrition security

18 Smart about breeding

Hardier sweetpotatoes for harsher climates

Climate-resilient, 20 Wild potatoes

Safeguarding Peru’s agrobiodiversity
biodiverse
agriculture for future generations

22 CIP at a glance
24 Sharing knowledge
26 CIP in CGIAR
28 Funding
29 Funders
31 Board of Trustees
31 Leadership

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 1

 CIP/ H. Rutherford

2 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 Innovative technologies and
Foreword dynamic markets can offer
women and young agripreneurs
opportunities, consumers greater
access to nutritious food, and
farmers help in adapting to and
mitigating climate change.
These opportunities come with challenges. Pushing our planet’s environmental boundaries means we will have to produce more
with less in the future. No one food source has all the solutions. But as the third and sixth most important food crops in terms of
human consumption, potato and sweetpotato can play a central role in contributing to global food system transformation.
Sweetpotato has a proven capacity to contribute to the reduction of vitamin A deficiency, one of the most harmful forms
of undernourishment affecting children under 5 in Africa and Asia. Consumed by more than one billion people worldwide,
potato contributes to the incomes and wellbeing of tens of millions of small-scale farmers and businesses. New heat- and
drought-tolerant potato and sweetpotato varieties are helping farmers adapt to the ravages of climate change. Early-maturing
potatoes provide more flexibility for cultivation, allowing the crop to be grown during fallow periods of cereal-based systems,
which relieves pressure on scarce land and water resources, improves farm incomes, and contributes to the sustainable
intensification and diversification of agri-food systems.
In pursuing a healthy, inclusive and resilient world through root and tuber farming systems, the International Potato Center
(CIP) works closely with a myriad of national and international partners in providing evidence to decision-makers, facilitating
the adoption at scale of science-based practices and building capacities of key stakeholders. Our outcomes—the scientific
evidence, proven technologies and development pathways—contribute to meeting seven of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Between 2013 and 2018, research for development by CIP and partners has benefited more than seven million households.
This report provides examples of how CIP and its many partners are helping to meet specific SDGs. These include: upskilling
farmers for new opportunities in Asia; catalyzing markets in Kenya; enabling greater food and nutrition security in Malawi;
safeguarding and using agrobiodiversity in Peru; and climate-smart sweetpotato breeding in Africa.
By developing, disseminating and promoting biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato varieties, CIP-led work has established
this crop as a cost-effective and sustainable nutritious food source. By working with large food processors and fresh root traders
in Africa, we have also facilitated the development of new sweetpotato value chains and income generating opportunities for
women and young people. Our adaptive research on the management of potato seed quality, integrated cropping, postharvest
and value chain approaches has helped farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America significantly increase yields and incomes.
The dynamic and highly heterogeneous farming and production systems worldwide require new approaches. To enhance
our capacity to deliver innovative science-based solutions, CIP revised its corporate strategy in response to changing
global needs and development priorities. Over the next five years, it will guide our efforts in reaching a further 10 million
households with innovative technologies to improve nutritional outcomes, foster employment and business growth, and
drive climate resilience.
All these achievements have been made possible by the generosity of our funders, the dedication and passion of our staff
and partners, and the strength of our broad-based agri-food system partnerships. Central to our partnerships has been the
CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB). A truly collaborative endeavor, recognized for its research
achievements, RTB demonstrates how targeted investments in research for development can contribute to the delivery of
innovative solutions for the world’s most pressing challenges.

Barbara H Wells Rodney Cooke

Director General Chair, Board of Trustees

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 3

 CIP/ S. Quinn

4 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 Business
opportunities

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 5

 Women in Concepción village, on the Philippine island of Bohol, produce sweetpotato candies for sale (credit CIP/ S. Fajardo).

Down to business NO
POVERTY
GENDER
EQUALITY

Gaining skills and grasping

opportunities in the Philippines

Small-scale farmers grow their In 2011, the International Potato Center (CIP) first received
a grant to run farmer business schools in the Philippines,
crops with few guarantees of followed by a second grant in 2015 extending the work to
India and Indonesia. The 6- to 10-month business schools
markets for them. teach farmers how to undertake market assessments, and
develop and market new products.
Limited business skills or information on demand
frequently means these farmers have to rely on Attentive to the importance of inclusive growth, scientists
intermediaries who set prices for their goods. Small developed gender-responsive training materials and
farms often unable to sell their crops, or are just able to checklists for field staff, who ensured that at least half the
grow enough to feed their families. Greater knowledge participants were women. Participants are helped to pool
of markets, credit and product development could their resources to produce the larger volumes of products
contribute to adding value to and extending the shelf needed to be competitive. Each school group develops a
life of their goods. business, which is then launched on graduation day.

Institutionalizing processes which commit government In San Carlos, a remote community on the Philippine
partners to supporting start-up businesses has been island of Bohol, where the poverty rate is almost 50%, CIP
a focus of the International Fund for Agricultural combined the business school approach with agronomic
Development (IFAD). The United Nations agency supports training and distribution of planting material for nutritious
sustainable rural development through the provision of orange- and purple-fleshed sweetpotato varieties. In 2018,
a mix of loans to governments and grants to partners. a group of women in San Carlos launched Camoteville, a
One such successful grant initiative has been the farmer business producing and selling sweetpotato jams, juices
business school, which combines a focus on crop and candies on the island.
production and processing with participatory market Camoteville manager Catalina Escabas explained that the
chain approaches to help smallholders develop new farmer business school had an important impact on her
products and engage with other value chain actors.

6 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

life. “I finally know how to start up a business and how
to turn camote (sweetpotato) into a profit, so I can earn
more income for my family,” she said.
And they have thrived! One IFAD loan which started
in the Philippines in 2011 with six pilot schools that
launched businesses grew to almost 100 business groups
by 2015. By 2019, they numbered more than 150 in
three countries, and 79% of graduates were women. The
approach has been taken up by government agencies
and NGOs in the partner countries. For instance, partners
such as the Visayas State University have also adopted
the model and implemented it with other NGOs to reach
even more farmers.
Originally focusing on root and tuber crops, the
business schools were adapted and expanded to fishing
communities in the Philippines. The ‘aqua-based business
schools’ served 36 coastal communities participating
in the IFAD-funded Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Catalina Escabas and her neighbors in San Carlos, on the Philippine
Livelihoods (FishCORAL) project. They launched an array island of Bohol, launched a business called Camoteville that makes
of products, prompting FishCORAL managers to organize sweetpotato juices, sauces and other products (credit CIP/ S. Fajardo).
a second round of business schools for 2019.
incomes. The institutional support received from key civil
Such buy-in attests to the potential of inclusive farmer society groups and government partners bodes well for
business schools in improving competitiveness and the sustainability of such initiatives.

130Farmer
business
schools
3,488
Graduates
in Philippines

24% 76%
Total
Male 3,488 Female
839 2,649

Funders: CGIAR System donors through the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas; European Commission;
International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Key partners: Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippines; Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, India; Central
Potato Research institute, India; Department of Agriculture, Philippines; Department of Environmental and Natural Resources,
Philippines; Indonesian Agency for Food Security; Indonesian Center for Agricultural Postharvest Research and Development;
Indonesian Legumes and Tuber Crops Research Institute; International Center for Tropical Agriculture; Meghalaya Basin
Development Authority, India; Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia; Visayas State University.
Associated CGIAR Research Programs: Roots, Tubers and Bananas; Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 7

 Potato apical cutting production in a Stokman Rozen Ltd screenhouse in Naivasha, Kenya (credit CIP/ E. Atieno).

Seeds of success NO
POVERTY

Catalyzing potato value chains in Kenya

Potato is an increasingly a simple yet innovative technology to ramp up production

of high-quality seed. Known as rooted apical cuttings, the
important food crop in much technology was developed years ago by scientists from
CIP and the Vietnamese Research Center for Experimental
of Africa. Production on the Biology and has greatly improved potato yields in southern
continent has risen 15-fold Vietnam. It is now driving business opportunities in the
East Africa nation.
since 1960. The problem is that seed potato multiplication rates are
low compared to other crops—approximately 10 seed
Long a food security crop, potato is increasingly seen as an tubers per plant. This seriously hinders production. Over
employment and income generator, both for farmers and the past decade, CIP-promoted technologies for the
agribusinesses. In Kenya alone, estimates put employment production of mini-tubers—used to grow disease-free
along the value chain at 2.5 million people and the value seed potato—have contributed to a ten-fold increase in
of the annual potato harvest in 2017 at USD 480 million. supply in Africa.
Yet growth in farm incomes in Kenya, and other countries, The use of apical rooted cuttings further accelerates the
is hindered by low yields: 8-15 tons per hectare, about half multiplication process, producing more seed potato more
of what smallholder farmers could realistically achieve. quickly and cheaply than other methods. Researchers
Most African potato farmers plant poor quality seed estimate that growers can earn 40% more from apical
tubers they save from earlier harvests or purchase on cuttings than from mini-tubers.
largely unregulated local markets. Often infected with
diseases, these seed potatoes perform poorly. Expanding The innovation begins with tissue culture plantlets grown
farmer access to quality seed of improved potato varieties in a screenhouse. Before the plantlets mature, cuttings are
is essential to boosting yields and earnings. taken from their shoots and placed in seedling pots. More
cuttings are then taken from each new plant. One tissue
Scientists from the International Potato Center (CIP) chose culture plantlet can thus produce more than 100 rooted
Kenya—a major potato producer in Africa —to introduce cuttings, and in turn 1,000–2,000 seed potatoes.

8 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 In screenhouse One tissue culture
Initial
tissue
15+ plantlet is cut to
culture produce 15+ mother
plantlet plants, which are in
turn used to produce
rooted cuttings
1st cutting 2nd cutting 3rd cutting 4th cutting

Seed multipliers plant rooted Rooted cuttings spend 14+

cuttings, and subsequently the days in a screenhouse before
potatoes they produce, to grow being transfered to the field
Farmer
seed tubers for sale to farmers.

Multiplier

Introduced in Kenya just two years ago, the technology

has already been included in the new national potato
certification protocol and private companies produce
and sell apical cuttings to farmers, who use them grow
seed tubers. More than 265,000 rooted apical cuttings
were sold in Kenya in 2018, half of which were purchased
by farmers for approximately USD 16,000. In just two
planting cycles (one year), those cuttings could potentially
generate seed potato worth USD 265,000–500,000.
Dozens of seed ‘multipliers’ and smallholder farmers
have purchased cuttings to produce seed. One of them,
Cecinta Nduru, used to grow potatoes for the local market
but now earns much more as a seed producer. With CIP
training, she began producing her own apical cuttings
from tissue plantlets in a small nursery.
“This technology gives very high returns in terms of seed
quantity and quality,” Cecinta said.
Cecinta Nduru shows farmers disease-free seed potatoes grown from
Cecinta is one of a growing number of multipliers rooted apical cuttings, Meru County, Kenya (credit CIP/ V. Atakos).
who are producing apical cuttings in satellite nurseries
in Kenya. The technology is also being used by two conditions. It is poised to contribute significantly to CIP’s
private companies in Uganda. It has the potential to goal of improving the yields and incomes of five million
greatly expand the supply of quality seed potato, which households by 2023.
can double farmer yields under current smallholder

Funders: CGIAR System donors through the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas; Deutcshe
Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit; Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,
Germany; Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture; United States Agency for International Development.
Key partners: Farm Input Promotions Africa; Kenya county governments of Elgeyo-Marakewt, Meru, Nandi and Uasin
Gishu; Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service.
Associated CGIAR Research Programs: Roots, Tubers and Bananas; Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 9

 CIP/ A. Frezer

10 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 Food and
nutrition security

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 11

 Orange-fleshed sweetpotato has contributed to a vast reduction of vitamin A deficiency in children in Malawi (credit CIP/ S. Quinn).

Leaving hunger behind ZERO

HUNGER

Productivity gains in drought-prone Malawi

Malawi is an excellent example complements to maize — Malawi’s principal staple crop.

Their vitamin content and ability to produce plenty of
of the potential of potato and calories per hectare relatively quickly make them ideal
crops for combatting hunger and undernutrition.
sweetpotato for bolstering food Most new potato and sweetpotato varieties are also
and nutrition security. drought tolerant, vital in a country with up to eight
months a year of dry weather. During an especially severe
Multi-partner efforts have enabled approximately 1.6 drought in 2016, approximately 6.5 million Malawians
million people in rural Malawi to improve their diets and depended on food aid to make ends meet. The release
farm resilience with the help of nutritious, high-yielding and dissemination of climate-smart sweetpotato varieties
sweetpotato and potato varieties. by the government, CIP and partners has been a game
changer for more than 300,000 farming households who
In 2018, Malawi’s Department of Agricultural Research
had received planting material and agronomic training.
Services released three orange-fleshed sweetpotato
varieties — progenies of crosses between International Loveness and Lighton Kalira and their four children in
Potato Center (CIP) breeding lines and local varieties. southern Malawi are one such household. The Kalira
They brought the number of Malawian orange-fleshed family, who traditionally grew maize and pigeon peas,
varieties to nine, as part of a multi-pronged approach that added orange-fleshed sweetpotato several years ago.
combines breeding, seed systems to disseminate quality Despite an extended dry spell in 2017-18 wiping out their
planting materials, agronomic training, and nutrition and maize crop, their sweetpotato harvest boomed. The Kaliras
diet diversity education. sold their surplus sweetpotato when prices were high,
earning enough to buy maize for the year and pay school
Just 125g of orange-fleshed sweetpotato meets the
fees for their youngest child. Orange-fleshed sweetpotato
daily vitamin A needs of a child under 5. Sweetpotato
is now grown and sold across most of Malawi. It has
and potato also have high levels of vitamins C and
contributed to a reduction in vitamin A deficiency in
B6 and other nutrients that make them good dietary
preschool-aged children from 59% in 2003 to 4% in 2016.

12 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

Potato has long been an important food and cash crop
in Malawi. To raise the traditionally low yields, more than
60,000 households have received starter packs of 40 seed
tubers of improved potato varieties for multiplication and
eventual sale.
Because those varieties are early maturing and high
yielding, they produce edible tubers before most crops are
ready to harvest and much more food per hectare than
older varieties. Leonard Mideyo, in central Malawi, received
his first packet of seed potatoes in 2015. He now dedicates
most of his land to potato, which he eats and sells, earning
enough to renovate his home and diversify his diet.
Government programs that produce disease-free planting
material for more than 160 decentralized ‘multipliers’
facilitate the distribution of quality seed tubers or
sweetpotato vine cuttings to farmers across the country.
Through the provision of nutrition education and support
to local businesses in developing new products, such as Loveness Kalira in her sweetpotato field (credit CIP/ V. Atakos).
packaged chips and sweetpotato breads, more families
potato and sweetpotato to approximately 8% of Malawi’s
have adopted improved varieties.
population, but also creating capacity to step up wide-
Strong multisectoral partnerships have enhanced food scale adoption of improved varieties, with a goal of
productivity, not only increasing the supply of nutritious reaching 1 million households by 2028.

125g >300,000
households reached with
of orange-fleshed improved varieties, enhancing
sweetpotato meets food and nutrition security
the daily needs
of a child under 5

Contributing to reduced malnutrition in Malawi

Vitamin A deficiency
in children under 5 Stunted children under 5

2003 59 % 2016 to 4 % 2010 47 % 2016 to 37 %

Funders: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council; CGIAR System donors through the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas; Department for
International Development United Kingdom; European Union; Irish Aid; United States Agency for International Development.
Key partners: CADECOM; Concern Worldwide; Emanuel International; Malawi Red Cross; Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation
and Water Development Malawi; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; Project Concern International; Root and Tuber
Crops Development Trust; Save the Children; Tetra Tech; United Purpose; Universal Industries Ltd; We Effect; Welt Hunger Hilfe;
Youth In Agriculture for Economic Development.
Associated CGIAR Research Program: Roots, Tubers and Bananas.

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 13

 Just 125 g of orange-fleshed sweetpotato meets the daily vitamin A requirement of a child under 5 (credit CIP/ V. Atakos).

Baskets of health GOOD HEALTH

AND WELL-BEING

Advancing biofortification in Nigeria and Tanzania

Nearly a quarter of Africans From 2015 to 2018, the multi-partner initiative facilitated
greater production of four biofortified crops: pro-vitamin
are affected by micronutrient A sweetpotato, cassava and maize, and high iron and zinc
bean varieties.
malnutrition, or hidden hunger, As the lead center, the International Potato Center
which can result in stunting, (CIP) applied its decade-long experience promoting
mental retardation or blindness consumption of orange-fleshed sweetpotato in Africa to
raise awareness, stimulate investment in biofortified crops
in children, increasing their risk and strengthen local capacities to breed, disseminate,
grow and process them. In addition, seven nutritious
of death. varieties of corn, bean and sweetpotato were released,
Estimates of the long-term cost of malnutrition on with another six sweetpotato varieties due to be released
gross domestic product on the continent have been in Tanzania by 2020.
put at 2-11%. Yet experience in Nigeria and Tanzania To create a more conducive environment, CIP led the
demonstrates the effectiveness of advocacy with targeted recruitment and training of government advocates. They
research for development interventions. Over three years, in turn helped ensure the prioritization of biofortification in
nearly 1 million households, (approximately 5 million 11 food and nutrition policy documents and its inclusion
individuals), were able to introduce nutritious foods into in new school feeding programs and regional initiatives.
their diets.
By the end of 2018, governments, businesses and
Peer reviewed studies have affirmed that biofortified development organizations in Nigeria and Tanzania had
crops—the products of breeding to increase vitamin invested more than USD 6.5 million in biofortified crops.
and mineral density—can contribute to reducing The initiative also developed the capacity of NGOs,
hidden hunger. An initiative of four CGIAR centers in civil society groups and government agencies ranging
Nigeria and Tanzania, designed to build nutritious food from Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
baskets, leveraged growing concern about malnutrition.

14 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

Undernutrition in Africa

30%
of children
39%
of women of
Biofortified
are stunted reproductive age crops can
are anemic improve
60%
of children suffer
nutrition
39%
anemia and more vitamin A
vitamin A than traditional
Cassava maize varieties
deficiency meets
up to 40%
60%
of the daily vitamin A
needs of a child under 5

125g
more iron and

of orange-fleshed
sweetpotato
50%
more zinc
meets the daily vitamin A than common
needs of a child under 5 bean varieties

Development to the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre

to promote biofortified crops.
More than 11,400 ‘change agents’ were trained, including
agricultural extension agents, nutritionists and researchers.
Gift Buduzhi Oguzor, a community nutritionist in Rivers
State, Nigeria participated in a 10-day training-of-trainers
course in 2017. Within a year, he had trained 275 other
facilitators who in turn trained farmers, contributing to
the adoption of pro-vitamin A sweetpotato by more than
1,500 households. His advocacy also encouraged local
businesses to begin selling and promoting sweetpotato
and related products ranging from juices to breads.
More than half the nearly 12,000 advocates trained were
women, who continued to promote biofortified crop
cultivation and consumption. Because of their role in food
marketing activities and influence over family diets, their
participation in capacity building and other activities was
prioritized. One example is Fortunatha Mmari, Managing Thousands of young mothers learned about the nutritional benefits
Director of AFCO Investment Company Ltd, in Tanzania, of biofortified crops (credit CIP/ J. Maru)
which was supported to begin producing and selling flour
that can be used to take biofortified crops to scale in
made from vitamin A-rich orange maize and sweetpotato.
other countries or regions. It is expected to result in
In addition to empowering a cadre of advocates and significant nutritional and financial gains in the coming
entrepreneurs like Gift and Fortunatha, and catalyzing years, opening up another role for biofortified crops in
the inclusion of biofortified crops in seven Nigerian and helping families earn the resources to purchase more
Tanzanian programs, the CGIAR centers validated a model varied and healthy foods.

Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Key partners: African Union Development Agency–New Partnership for Africa’s Development; Forum for Agricultural
Research in Africa; Government of Nigeria; Government of Tanzania; HarvestPlus; International Center for Tropical Agriculture;
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.
Associated CGIAR Research Program: Roots, Tubers and Bananas.

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 15

 CIP/ J. Torres

16 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 Climate-resilient,
biodiverse
agriculture

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 17

Breeding resilient sweetpotato varieties has been essential for getting that nutritious crop to nearly six million households (credit CIP/ I. Corthier).

Smart about breeding

CLIMATE
ACTION

Hardier sweetpotatoes for harsher climates

For thousands of years, farmers average yields of farmers who adopt those varieties
have increased from 10.9 to 18.5 tons per hectare. These
have chosen the best landraces innovations have underpinned the release of more than
130 sweetpotato varieties in Africa—mostly of pro-
to improve farm resilience and vitamin A orange-fleshed sweetpotato.
productivity. To ensure adoption, breeders need to develop
It’s a process breeders have systematized with the nutritious, climate-resilient varieties that combine the
application of scientific knowledge. Now scientists most important traits for their target area. This multi-
need to take breeding to a new level to get nutritious trait selection requires compiling information on the
sweetpotato into family diets while staying within preferences of men, women, children and industry
the earth’s environmental boundaries, in the face of processors, as well as laboratory data on the chemicals
population growth, urbanization and climate change. and genes responsible for traits.

Targeted breeding has been central to the success of Understanding gender preferences is key because
the International Potato Center (CIP) in improving the women usually manage family diets and are increasingly
nutritional outcomes of nearly six million households involved in sweetpotato farming and marketing. CIP
in Africa and Asia since 2010. Extremely rare in Africa breeder Maria Andrade is working with a gender
15 years ago, orange-fleshed varieties are now sold in responsive breeding tool produced by scientists involved
markets across the continent. CIP has catalyzed this in the CGIAR Gender and Breeding Initiative.
process with disease-free planting material and capacity “If we release climate-smart varieties which do not meet
building of their national counterparts in 14 countries. the needs of buyers, few farming families will adopt them.
Over the last decade, CIP established three regional Farmers take a range of factors into consideration—taste,
breeding platforms in Africa and made training available texture, nutrition and market value. If the buyers are
for national counterparts. The time needed to launch women, breeding only for what men want will not help
new varieties was cut from eight years to five and adoption,” she said.

18 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 Accelerated
breeding
Multi-location evaluations
have reduced variety release
time from 8 to 5 years

Population
hybrid
Beneficiary breeding
countries the same genetic
gains in 5-6 years
that once took
Genomic tools 36 years
Genetic markers can help
breeders develop better
varieties faster

Developing new varieties that combine climate resilience More than propel delivery of nutritious sweetpotato
and the characteristics farmers and markets demand to 15 million households by 2023—a CIP institutional
is essential but challenging, because sweetpotato is goal—these innovations are laying the groundwork
genetically complex. Its 90 chromosomes arranged for sweetpotato breeding that will respond to the
in groups of six make understanding the functions of opportunities and challenges of an increasingly
specific genes more difficult, compared to the paired populous, climate-changing world.
chromosomes of crops like maize and rice.
In 2018, CIP and partner scientists made a series of
breakthroughs that could revolutionize conventional
sweetpotato breeding. They produced the first-ever
reference genome for sweetpotato—a map of its genes
and their locations on chromosomes—deepening
understanding of this complex plant. They then created
tools and protocols to standardize measurement of
specific plant traits designed to facilitate implementation
of genomics-assisted breeding approaches.
But most significantly, they demonstrated proof-of-
concept that hybrid breeding schemes could take
sweetpotato improvement to previously unimaged
magnitudes. Breeding parents in Peru and at African
regional platforms have been divided into two distinct
groups, because the progeny of crosses between
genetically different parents tend to be superior to either
parent—a phenomenon called hybrid vigor or heterosis.
Multiple breeding trials have demonstrated the genetic Scientists need to breed sweetpotato varieties with characteristics that both
gains achieved within 5-6 years can equal those which men and women want to ensure widespread adoption (credit CIP/ I. Corthier).
have traditionally taken 36 years.

Funder: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; CGIAR System donors through the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and
Bananas; Department for International Development United Kingdom; United States Agency for International Development.
Key partners: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; Boyce Thompson Institute; Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research-Crops Research Institute, Ghana; French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development; Michigan State
University; National Crops Resources Research Institute; National Agricultural Research Organization, Uganda; North Carolina
State University; University of Queensland.
Associated CGIAR Research Program/Platform: Roots, Tubers and Bananas; Excellence in Breeding Platform.

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 19

 In 2018, CIP scientists David Ellis and Alberto Salas participated in the first
collection of potato wild relatives in Peru in two decades (credit CIP/ S. Fajardo).

Wild potatoes ZERO

HUNGER
LIFE
ON LAND

Safeguarding Peru’s agrobiodiversity

for future generations

Potato has 155 wild relatives To ensure that enough wild potato diversity is conserved
for current and future needs, CIP and Peru’s Instituto
growing in varied ecosystems Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA) undertook a series
of collection trips in 2017-18 to fill genetic gaps in the CIP
across the Americas, from Genebank collection.
highland cloud forests to Scientists ventured widely across the center of potato
diversity in Peru, which has 80 wild potato species and
coastal deserts, where they have approximately 3,000 cultivated landraces. Collecting
evolved to withstand diseases 337 samples of 45 species often meant digging
up and transferring plants to greenhouses, so they
and harsh conditions. produced flowers, tubers and seeds for their long-
Most of those species produce tiny, inedible tubers, but term preservation. The genebank now safeguards
their genetic diversity holds opportunities for breeding 2,338 accessions of 140 wild potato species in trust for
more resilient potatoes. Yet, as scientists try to tap into humanity using the latest technologies.
that potential, many wild potatoes are threatened by the The collection forays were organized by former CIP
expansion of farming, industry and infrastructure, growing Genebank head David Ellis with Cinthya Zorrilla and
urbanization, and changing climates. Rosa Angelica Sanchez of INIA’s genetic resources and
biotechnology department. They benefited from the
Crop breeders at the International Potato Center
knowledge of retired CIP agronomist Alberto Salas, who
(CIP) have long used wild species to improve potato
has collected potato wild relatives in 16 countries and
varieties. Four years ago, they began crossing wild and
discovered about 20 species.
cultivated potatoes to produce offspring that combine
heat and drought tolerance with resistance to the most “The potential of the wild relatives is immense. They hold
important diseases affecting the crop—threats that will the genetic resistance to the diseases that affect potato, as
grow as global warming advances. Conservation of our well as tolerance to freezing, heat and drought,” Alberto said.
agrobiodiversity is increasingly urgent as lost diversity He noted that species in Central America and Mexico have
diminishes our potential to adapt to climate change. high resistance to late blight—the most destructive potato

20 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

disease—whereas those native to Peru’s dry coastal region and its wild relatives hold a wealth of untapped potential
tolerate drought and saline soils. for improving food and nutrition security in the near and
distant future.
While some of those traits have been successfully
transferred to cultivated potato varieties, the many
differences between wild species and edible potatoes
present challenges for crossbreeding. Wild potatoes
also have undesirable traits such as bitterness that often
transfer to cultivated potatoes in the initial cross and must
be removed through subsequent crossing and selection.
In 2018, researchers evaluated the disease resistance of
wild species and hybrids produced by earlier crosses.
They also began working with Peruvian farmers to select
the best of those potatoes in terms of production and
flavor, for possible release as varieties in Peru and sharing
with breeding programs in Africa and Asia.
These efforts should result in the release of climate-
smart potato varieties in the coming years, but they have
only involved a small fraction of the wild potato species
preserved in genebanks. Evaluating and harnessing the
genetic diversity of these species, most of which have
hardly been studied, could be key to enabling future
generations of potato farmers to overcome environmental Wild species are crossed with cultivated potato to produce
challenges that we can hardly imagine today. The potato resilient varieties (credit CIP).

The potato has 80

155
of those wild
potato species
are found in Peru

wild relatives
growing in varied ecosystems
across the Americas

Collect, conserve, crossbreed

337
wild potato
140
species
Cross-
breeding
samples collected safeguarded produces climate-
in Peru in 2018 in CIP genebank smart potatoes

Funder: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (via the Global Crop Diversity Trust); Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International Development.
Key partners: Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria, Peru; Global Crop Diversity Trust; Royal Botanical Gardens Kew.
Associated CGIAR Research Program/Platform: Roots, Tubers and Bananas; Genebank Platform.

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 21

CIP at a glance

LATIN AMERICA
AND THE CARIBBEAN
Bolivia
Ecuador
Peru

AFRICA
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Democratic
Republic of Congo
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kenya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mozambique
Nigeria
Rwanda
Tanzania
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Headquarters and
ASIA
Bangladesh
regional office
Bhutan
China Peru
Georgia
India
Indonesia Crops by countries
Nepal
Potato
Philippines Sweetpotato
Tajikistan Both
Vietnam

22 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 CIP-China Center
for Asia Pacific (CCCAP)

Regional
office
Vietnam

Regional
office
Kenya

CIP staff

60% 40%
Total
Male 606 Female
361 245

38 Nationalities

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 23

Sharing knowledge

2018 COMMUNICATIONS
DATA

https://cipotato.org/
MEDIA
CIP’s WEBSITE VISITS
Media exposure
2018 265,520 2018 994 media stories
mentioning CIP

Advertising value equivalent (AVE)

2018 USD 4.43 million

CIP CGSpace
SOCIAL MEDIA A Repository of Agricultural
Research Outputs

INCREASE IN
178,841
Visits 222%
FOLLOWERS
29,982
Total 1,875,259 Total 39,351 Documents 20%
25.9% downloaded

COMMUNICATING
Total 639,320 Total 9,969 30.6% SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
Journal articles 63
*Individuals reached and numbers who engaged with CIP posts

Books / book chapters 9

Briefs / brochures 28

Posters / presentations 19

Manuals / reports / working papers 36

Conference papers / proceedings 5

Total 160

24 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

Social reach of
scientific publications
Two of the research papers co-authored by CIP scientists received Altmetric scores above 400 in 2018. That means
that they were cited and shared hundreds of times on the web. Altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that are
complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics. They can include peer reviews, citations on Wikipedia and
in public policy documents, discussions on research blogs, mainstream media coverage, bookmarks on reference
managers like Mendeley, and mentions on social networks such as Twitter. All publications in CGSpace, the CGIAR
repository, have Altmetric scores, which are visually displayed with a ‘donut’ to reflect where they captured attention.

TOP 5
Altmetrics scores

Reconciling conflicting phylogenies in the origin of sweet potato and dispersal

to Polynesia
Current Biology
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/92130

Stacking three late blight resistance genes from wild species directly into African
highland potato varieties confers complete field resistance to local blight races
Plant Biotechnology Journal
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99120

Genome sequences of two diploid wild relatives of cultivated sweetpotato reveal

targets for genetic improvement
Nature Communications
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/98495

Ortervirales: New virus order unifying five families of reverse-transcribing viruses

Journal of Virology
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97669

Current strategies of polyploid plant genome sequence assembly

Frontiers in Plant Science
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/98292

Mentioned in Citations
News outlets Wikipedia Dimensions
Blogs Google+
Twitter Reddit Readers on
Facebook Video Mendeley

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 25

 CIP in CGIAR

POTATO

A potato contains about half

P
B CZ the daily adult requirement
of vitamin C and significant
amounts of vitamin B, iron,
potassium and zinc.

China is the world’s largest

producer, harvesting more
than 73 million tons of CGIAR Research Programs
potato a year.
Led by CIP

More than a billion Roots, Tubers and Bananas

people worldwide • Genetic resources
eat potato as a • Productive varieties and
staple food. quality seed
• Resilient crops
Potato can grow in • Nutritious food and added value
almost any climate, from • Improved livelihoods at scale
sea level to about 4,000
4000 meters above sea level.

There are 5,000 different

varieties of potato in CIP’s
genebank, half of them CGIAR Platforms
can only be found in Peru.
Led by CIAT
Big Data
Potato is the third most
3rd important food crop • Data generation, access
and management
after rice and wheat and
produces more calories • Big data and agricultural
per hectare than either development
of those grains. • Big data analytics

Potato produces more

food per unit of water
than any other major crop.

26 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

 CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for
a food secure future. With 15 centers around the world, CGIAR is dedicated to
reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and
nutrition and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources.
Tackling these challenges, which are at the heart of the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals, requires research to identify state-of-the-art
solutions and effective partnerships to deliver them.
The CGIAR Research Portfolio is structured around two interlinked clusters of
challenge-led research programs: agri-food systems and global integrating
programs. CIP leads the agri-food system CGIAR Research Program on Roots,
Tubers and Bananas and participates in several global integrating programs.
CIP also works closely with the CGIAR research support platforms.

SWEETPOTATO

Just 125 g of fresh orange- fleshed

B ACD sweetpotato root contains enough
beta carotene to provide the daily
vitamin A needs of a preschool-aged
child. The crop is also a valuable
source of vitamins B, C, and E.

Sweetpotato is also a healthy,

cheap animal feed. Studies suggest
that livestock fed on sweetpotato
Led by IFPRI Led by CIAT Led by IFPRI vines produce less methane,
Policies, Institutions Climate Change, Agriculture Agriculture for meaning its use could potentially
and Markets and Food Security Nutrition and Health mitigate global warming.

• Technological innovation • Priorities and policies • Food systems for

and sustainable intensification • Climate-smart technologies healthier diets More than 105 million tons are
• Inclusive and efficient and practices • Biofortification 105
mll
produced globally each year, with
value chains 95% in developing countries.
• Social protection for agriculture
• Gender research Worldwide, sweetpotato is the
6th sixth most important food crop
after rice, wheat, potato, maize
and cassava, but it ranks fifth in
developing countries.

Sweetpotato is a storage root,

not a tuber like the potato.
Led by the Global Crop Diversity Trust Led by CIMMYT
Genebank Platform Excellence in Breeding
Sweetpotato can grow at
• Conservation, use and policy • Product design and altitudes from sea level to
• Quality management, management 2,500 meters above sea level,
Information systems • Genotyping and phenotyping 2500 and comes in varieties
• Germplasm health tools and services ranging in color from white
• Bioinformatics, biometrics and to yellow, orange or purple.
data management

CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture

CIMMYT International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 27

Funding
As a CGIAR research center, much of research undertaken by the International Potato Center (CIP) is conducted through
CGIAR Research Programs. Funding for those programs, and for bilateral projects, comes from public and private
organizations, governments and foundations across the globe. The Center also receives generous in-kind support from
national partners and international collaborators. CIP gratefully acknowledges the countries, organizations, partners and
individuals that supported its agricultural research for development in 2018. We also thank all the funders that globally
support CIP’s work through their contributions to the CGIAR system (https://cgiar.org/funders). Without this intellectual
and financial support, CIP could not have made the contributions to better lives reported here. Total revenue and
expenses reported by CIP (in 2018) were USD 65 million and USD 64.1 million respectively, reflecting a surplus of USD
0.9 million for the year. The full financial report for 2018 is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/101475

Revenue
100
90
80 63.6 65
70 58.3
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2016 2017 2018

USD 65 million

Liquidity and financial stability

92
days
90
days
92
days
92
days
reserves

2016 2017 2018

28 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

Funders in 2018
The International Potato Center gratefully acknowledges the countries, organizations, partners and individuals that
supported its agricultural research for development in 2018. We also thank all the funders that globally support its work
through their contributions to the CGIAR system (https://cgiar.org/funders).

• 2BLADES Foundation • Government of India

• African Agriculture Technology Foundation • Government of the Federal Republic of Germany
• African Development Bank • International Center for Tropical Agriculture
• Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, L’Energia e lo • International Food Policy Research Institute
Sviluppo Economico Sostenible, Italy
• International Fund for Agricultural Development
• American Institutes for Research • International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
• Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research • International Livestock Research Institute
• Austrian Development Cooperation • International Plant Genetic Resources Institute
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Irish Aid
• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council • McKnight Foundation
• CGIAR Genebank Platform • McLaughlin Gormley King Company
• CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture • Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Peru
• CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture • National Science Foundation, United States of America
and Food Security
• CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and • Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund
for International Development
Markets
• CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas • Programa Nacional de Innovacion Agraria, Peru
• CGIAR Trust Fund • Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea
• Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat • Save the Children International
• Department for International Development, United • State government of Haryana, India
Kingdom • State government of Odisha, India
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale • Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
• Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture
• European Commission • United Purpose
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations • United States Agency for International Development
• Gansu Agricultural University • University Court of the University of St Andrews
• Global Crop Diversity Trust • World Bank Group
• Government of China

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 29

 CIP/ J. Torres

30 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation

Board of Trustees
Rodney Cooke (United Kingdom), Chairperson; Independent consultant in agriculture and rural development
Miguel Barandiarán** (Peru), Trustee; Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria, Peru

José Alberto Barrón López* (Peru), Trustee; Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria, Peru
Andrés Casas (Peru), Trustee; Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina
Linley Chiwona-Karltun (Sweden/Malawi), Chair of the Governance Committee; Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences
Esteban Chong (Peru), Trustee; Universidad del Pacifico
Qu Dongyu (China), Trustee; Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China
Jim Eckles (United States of America (USA)), Chair of the Program Committee; the Context Network
Patrick J Murphy (USA), Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee; International Fertilizer Development Center
and HarvestPlus
Rhoda Peace Tumusiime (Uganda), Trustee; African Union Commission
Vo-Tong Xuan (Vietnam), Trustee; Nam Can Tho University
Barbara H Wells (USA), Member Ex-Officio; Director General of the International Potato Center

Leadership
Management Committee Science leaders

Barbara H Wells, Director General Oscar Ortiz, Deputy Director General for Research
and Development
Oscar Ortiz, Deputy Director General for Research
and Development Hugo Campos, Research Director
Amalia Perochena, Chief of Staff Noelle Anglin, Head of the Genebank
Pietro Turilli, Director of Resource Mobilization Guy Hareau, Acting Global Science Leader
Michael Gerba, Chief Operating Officer Simon Heck, Sweetpotato Program Leader
Paul Demo, Regional Director for Africa Jan Kreuze, Crop and Systems Science Division Leader
Samarendu Mohanty, Regional Director for Asia Jan Low, Principal Scientist
Xiaoping Lu, Deputy Director General of CIP and Director Elmar Schulte-Geldermann**, Potato Science Leader
of CIP China Center for Asia Pacific Region Sub-Saharan Africa
André Devaux**, Regional Director for Latin America
and the Caribbean
James Stapleton*, Head of Communications
Carla Lazarte, Head of People and Organizational
Development
Luis Felipe Mendes, Chief Financial Officer
Selim Guvener, General Counsel

* Joined in 2018
** Left in 2018

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 31

32 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation
 CIP/ A. Balaguer

CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation 33

www.cipotato.org

CIP is a research-for-development
organization with a focus on potato,
sweetpotato and Andean roots and tubers.
It delivers innovative science-based
solutions to enhance access to affordable
nutritious food, foster inclusive sustainable
business and employment growth, and
drive the climate resilience of root and
tuber agri-food systems. Headquartered
in Lima, Peru, CIP has a research presence
in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia
and Latin America.
www.cipotato.org

CIP is a CGIAR research center

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a
food-secure future. Its science is carried out
by 15 research centers in close collaboration
with hundreds of partners across the globe.
www.cgiar.org

facebook.com/cipotato @cipotato cip_cipotato

International Potato Center

Av. La Molina 1895, La Molina. Apartado 1558, Lima 12, Perú
+51 1 3496017 [email protected] www.cipotato.org

34 CIP • Annual Report 2018 • Towards food system transformation