Potato planting season here begins in October each year and harvest begins in April of the following year. During the cold season of July, some families travel to the nearby city of Puno to find new potato seeds.
At any given time of year, Ms. Cansaya grows four varieties of potatoes on the island's terraced fields, without chemicals or pesticides and using natural fertilizer from sheep dung.
Her family is one of many that eat potatoes every day as a staple food. Today, potatoes are the third most consumed food crop in the world, after rice and wheat. Potatoes are also climate-friendly, as they emit fewer greenhouse gases than other crops.
Every January, locals visit the ancient Pachamama (meaning Mother Earth) temple on Amantani Island to make offerings, dance and play music to pray for a bountiful harvest.
“Our ancestors have passed down these farming techniques for generations. We need to continue these traditions and stay connected to the land,” said Cansaya.
Researchers are also working to conserve this important crop, to the point that May 30 has been designated International Potato Day. The potato is valued for its role in ensuring global food security, reducing poverty, and preserving indigenous knowledge and practices.
The Potato Story in Peru
The story of the humble potato begins over 8,000 years ago on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which sits 3,800m above sea level. It is believed that Inca farmers were the first to grow potatoes naturally around the lake. The Incas also discovered a method of dehydrating potatoes into a substance called chuno, which allowed potatoes to last up to 15 years. First, the potatoes were exposed to freezing temperatures in the mountains until they froze. Then, farmers trampled them to remove the water and moisture.
Since ancient times, the Peruvian potato has played an important role, becoming a staple food in the Inca diet, helping to sustain and feed many large cities and powerful armies. The Incas even used potatoes as a measure of time, in which a unit of time was equivalent to the time it took to cook a pot of potatoes.
When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Peru, they were impressed with the tuber because it was easy to grow in large quantities and could be stored for a long time. Potatoes are high in vitamin C, which helped reduce scurvy in Spanish sailors, and are considered an excellent source of carbohydrates, low in fat.
The Spanish then crossed the seas to bring potatoes to Europe in the 1500s. The tuber's arrival on the continent ensured food security in times of war, alleviated famine, and is credited with fueling the rise of the Industrial Revolution.
More than just a food source, potatoes are deeply tied to Peruvian culture and heritage. According to the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, there are more than 4,000 edible potato varieties worldwide, each with its own story, flavor, shape, and color. Most are found in the Andes Mountains of South America.
Interesting native varieties of Peru include: Puka pinya, a pineapple-shaped potato; huegles potatoes, which are round; puno de gato potatoes, which look like kitten paws; and kanchillo, a bitter potato. One of the most famous varieties is peruanita, which bears the red and white colors of the Peruvian flag.
The Quechua community, an indigenous group in Peru, where Cansaya lives, cooks potatoes in a dome-shaped stone oven called a huatia. They also mix the potatoes with a type of chaco clay, which is used to make a medicine for stomach ailments. Families also grow other crops such as barley, beans and corn to improve the soil.
Protecting potato biodiversity
Peru is the leading potato producer in Latin America. However, according to locals, in recent years, cold weather due to climate change, sudden frosts, strong winds and reduced rainfall have affected their harvests.
The Center for Productivity Improvement and Technology Transfer of Potato and Andean Crops (also known as Cite Papa) is tasked with preserving Peru's potato heritage.
In the 1960s, the average Peruvian consumed 120kg of potatoes per year, said Celfia Obregon, CEO of Cite Papa. However, people later switched to rice and pasta, so that number dropped significantly. In the 1990s, potato consumption dropped to 35kg per person per year.
That is why in 2001 they founded the Peruvian Association for Sustainable Development (Aders Peru), an organization that works with families to develop potato farms. Thanks to nationwide promotion measures, potato consumption in Peru has increased from 64 kg/person/year in 2004 to 94 kg/person/year in 2023.
Peru now produces more than 6 million tons of potatoes a year, surpassing Brazil and Argentina, said Celfia Obregon, but climate change, soil degradation and pests are among the challenges potato growers face, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
To address this problem, scientists are working to create superior varieties. At the same time, efforts are being made to support endangered native potato varieties by introducing them to the market, identifying and selecting varieties with nutritional value, and maintaining their native names.
Peru is also researching innovative techniques to extend the shelf life of potatoes. For example, the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru’s capital, has been cryopreserving sprouts, potato varieties, since 1996, storing them at subzero temperatures to ensure long-term storage without the need for frequent renewal. This method allows more than 450 varieties of potatoes to be preserved annually.
New technologies such as the Fitotron modular growing chamber, enable pest-free tuber production in a controlled environment.
These controlled parameters can be simulated in any climate, reducing seed production time and allowing up to six growing cycles per year, rather than the usual one cycle per year, Obregon said.
This innovation has the potential to expand potato cultivation to new regions such as Africa and China, strengthening the global potato production chain.
“Beyond technology, we hope to inspire others with Peruvian values – our perseverance in the field, our love of potatoes, and our respect for Pachamama, or Mother Earth. We must unite to protect the thousands of native and wild potato varieties on this land,” Obregon said.
The Peruvians' unwavering commitment to this ancient crop is not limited to agriculture, but can be seen as a testament to their deep connection to the earth and a reminder of how humans can honor the wisdom of the past while nurturing the future.
