With over 3,500 potato varieties in Peru, the country is thriving with this agricultural crop as a source of innovation.
According to Fresh Plaza, specialists believe that potatoes have stopped being just an agricultural crop in Peru.
“We have 3,500 potato varieties with different properties, contents, and qualities for all types of industries, such as biotechnology, the pharmaceutical industry, natural dyes, and making other products that don’t necessarily have to be food products. Other countries are even using potatoes to generate power,” said Celfia Obregón Ramírez, the executive director of CITE Papa and other Andean Crops.
Obregón also says that many entrepreneurs have begun to innovate with the Peruvian potato. An example is the 14 Inkas potato vodka, which is the first of its kind to be made with native potatoes from Peru.
The CITE Papa, in alliance with the University of Wisconsin (which holds the largest potato research center in the world), obtained a formula to produce beer from this crop and is currently looking for a local manufacturer to develop it commercially.
“In addition, she said Wisconsin has completed a research with Peruvian potato and ecological technology to produce recyclable plastics with potato starch”, you can read in Fresh Plaza.
Cover photo: Pxhere
