Today, many potato growers in Asia and Africa are still growing old varieties with low yield and no real tolerance to Bacteria Leaf Blight (BLB), Potato Leaf Roll Virus (PLRV) and Potato Viruses (PVX and PVY). Current projects, with the support of SFSA, aim to develop and commercialise select variety seeds that are high-yielding as well as resistant to abiotic stresses and diseases.
Smallholding potato farmers in the sub-tropical and tropical areas in Asia are today facing multiple challenges:
Limited productivity: below 20 tons per ha
Unbalanced supply: meaning it is challenging to match current fresh and processing demand
Lack of short duration varieties (< 90 days) while there is a high proportion of old cultivar grown in lowland (90 days) and in highland (110-120 days)
Climate conducive to diseases: virus (PVX, PYV and PLRV) and bacteria (BLB)
Small farming operations: for instance, in Indonesia it is limited to 0.20 ha per farmer
The International Center for Potatoes (CIP) public genetic material for adapted varieties is not significantly developed (less than 10% of the varieties coming from the public sector) in Southeast Asia and South Asia. Even if it is more developed in China (25% varieties from the public sector), overall in Asia, the adoption of new, improved potato varieties and high-quality seeds is very low. For instance, the current accessible market for certified seeds represents a maximum of 15% of the total potato acreage. Hence, there is significant space and demand for high yielding varieties with short cycle ( < 90 days), late blight tolerance and adaptability to tropical conditions.
The start of TAP-5
TAP-5 is a Public Private Partnership between CIP and HZPC, to enhance breeding impact by combining the strengths of both public and private organizations.
CIP– International Center for Potatoes has expertise on potato seeds with quality traits: varieties that have resistance to late blight, ralstonia and viruses, tolerance to abiotic stresses (heat and drought) and that are adapted to lowland tropical or subtropical climates.
HZPC – is a private Dutch seed company that has quality components: they have developed long-day adapted germplasms, have access to local partners, and high capacity for tuber seed production, efficacy assays, and state-of-the-art analytical methods.
The main objective of this project is to design short cycle ( < 90 days), high yielding, late blight tolerant, well-adapted potato varieties to tropical conditions for both table and processing usage.
Contribution
The Syngenta Foundation has implemented in its entirety the “Seeds2B variety commercialization toolkit” to manage the TAP-5 portfolio: Product Life Cycle, Data visualization, and Product Advancement meetings across Asia.
Specifically, the current project focuses on the case of Vietnam for TAP-5 potato varieties. Syngenta Foundation has facilitated the first registration of TAP-5 varieties in Vietnam. Further advocacy of the TAP-5 program will be conducted to increase awareness across both public and private stakeholders in Vietnam of the objectives and impact of this project.
Impact
Initiated in 2016, the project is now delivering its first wave of clones adapted to South and Southeast Asia, as well as East Africa. During the annual review of the project organized in Dalat in February 2023, the steering committee discussed the progress made with the registration trials of one advanced clone, HCIP210, from the first wave in Vietnam. The second-year registration trials have been completed in Vietnam and the registration certificate should be delivered shortly. This variety will be tested by the local HZPC partner in the next two years, before its launch. In this case, SFSA would support the design of ad-hoc protocols to test the market fit, to adapt the agronomic management as well as the economics plan for the variety HCIP210 to ensure its accessibility to seed farmers.
