Potato varieties once thought lost to the Andean people who introduced them to the world will now be safeguarded for future generations

Representatives of indigenous Andean communities deposit the potato seeds in the Svalbard vault.

FAO 27 August 2015, Svalbard, Norway - Varieties of one of the world's most important staple crops have now been stored for perpetuity deep in the Arctic ice. José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) joined scientific experts and delegations from Peru, Costa Rica and Norway to witness a ceremony here that will help to preserve these vital crops for future generations.

The deposit was made at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a back-up facility in the permafrost far north of the Arctic Circle that currently holds over 860,000 food crop seeds from all over the world. Its operation is co-funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, whose mission is to conserve the planet's crop diversity for the food security of current and future generations, and the government of Norway. 

Representatives of indigenous Andean communities who worked together to establish the Parque de la Papa, in Cusco, Peru, have deposited 750 potato seeds. The seeds are the result of benefit-sharing projects supported by FAO's International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The farmers were joined by scientists from the Center for Agricultural Research at the University of Costa Rica, who also added wild potato relatives to the largest agro-biodiversity collection in the world.

The potato: A humble giant

The potato originated in the Andes of South America. Over the centuries, Andean farmers have bred over 2,000 varieties in all shapes, colours and sizes. In addition, there are dozens of wild relatives of the potato stretching from Uruguay to Arizona. The potato is now the world's third-most consumed food, feeding more than a billion people every day. This remarkable tuber, which is low in fat but high in protein, calcium and vitamin C, is grown on every continent where people live.

See more: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/326369/icode/