Peruvian potato project wins global contest for development projects that make a difference

The Peruvian potato project T’ikapapa has been chosen as the winner of The World Challenge 2007, a global competition promoted by the BBC and Newsweek magazine, in association with Shell. T’ikapapa is a marketing social concept that enables resource-poor farmers from the Andean highlands to sell their distinctly labeled native potato crop in Lima’s supermarkets.

The World Challenge contest, now in its third year, seeks out development projects and businesses that not only make a profit but also put something back into the community. Making a difference through enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level is also a key requirement.

T’ikapapa, an initiative of the International Potato Center’s (CIP) Papa Andina Partnership Program and the Peruvian INCOPA platform, does just that. Since its implementation in 2004, the project has improved the income and livelihood of 500 farming families in Peru’s high Andes. The underlying goal is to link small-scale farmers to expanding urban markets, utilizing potato biodiversity to create new market opportunities.

The project brings together farmers’ organizations from six different departments (Ayacucho, Apurímac, Cajamarca, Huánuco, Huancavelica and Junín) in the highland of Peru, Capac-Peru (a potato market chain association), A&L Biodiversidad Alto Andina (a private potato processing company), Wong (Peru’s largest supermarket chain), and CIP’s INCOPA (Innovation and Competitiveness of Peru’s Potato Sector) project. This project is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Today, two major supermarket chains in Lima sell these specially selected and packed fresh native Peruvian potatoes supplied by participating farmer organizations under the T’ikapapa trademark. Formal agreements and contracts have been signed between the processing company and the organized farmer communities to ensure stable prices and a supply of quality raw material.

T’ikapapa was selected earlier this year as one of 12 finalists among the 940 proposals submitted for the award. The winning project was selected by popular vote through The World Challenge website and announced in the Netherlands on 4 December 2007.  As the winner of The World Challenge 2007 competition, T’ikapapa will receive a US$ 20,000 award, which will be used to improve and expand the project.

In addition to further supporting the efforts of the highland communities in Peru, this prize is a wonderful tribute to the original breeders and custodians of potatoes as the celebration of the International Year of the Potato kicks off in 2008.

This story is slightly adapted from an article on the website of the International Potato Center (Centro Internacional de la Papa), which seeks to reduce poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in developing countries through scientific research and related activities on potato, sweetpotato, other root and tuber crops, and on the improved management of natural resources in the Andes and other mountain areas. CIP headquarters are in La Molina, outside of Lima, Peru’s capital. The International Year of the Potato was officially launched at United Nations headquarters in New York on 18 October 2007, to raise awareness of the importance of the potato - and of agriculture in general - in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.