Initiatives of world’s biggest agricultural research network to benefit millions in Peru – International Potato Center

October 12, 2022, Lima, Peru – Participants in a high-level meeting in Lima tomorrow will launch a series of multi-million-dollar research-for-development initiatives aimed at improving incomes and food security in some of Peru’s poorest communities, among other achievements.

Representatives of CGIAR, the world’s biggest agricultural research network, will present seven new initiatives to strengthened collaboration with and support for Peruvian institutions on research and development. By 2030, this is expected to generate innovations and facilitate investments that increase employment opportunities and the availability of nutritious food for millions of farmers and low-income families across the country. Those initiatives are part of a global investment in more than 100 countries of over USD 1 billion between 2022 and 2025.

The seven initiatives being launched in Peru include:

• Plant Health. Helping farmers protect their crops from devastating pest and disease outbreaks, this initiative is expected to reduce crop losses and use of toxic agrochemicals by three million small-scale farmers in 10 countries in the next three years and expand thereafter.
• AgriLAC Resiliente. Equipping local actors to address urgent food security issues and reduce climate threats, this initiative seeks to increase resilience, sustainability, and competitiveness of agri-food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Resilient Cities. Supporting a vibrant urban and peri-urban agricultural and food sector to improve sustainability, equity and income opportunities while mitigating risks to human and environmental health. Globally, this initiative aims to benefit about 20,000 small-scale producers and SMEs and 500,000 consumers.

“Peru’s collaboration with CGIAR over the decades has generated concrete benefits for our farmers, businesses, and consumers. An example can be found the resilient and productive potato varieties that the National Institute for Agrarian Innovation (INIA) developed with the International Potato Center, a CGIAR center, which now make up more than 30% of the potatoes grown in Peru. I hope that this increased investment and collaboration will result in the scientific solutions needed to drive the sustainable transformation of our food, land, and water systems,” said Ing. Jenny Patricia Ocampo, Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, Peru.

“These initiatives address critical issues for Peru’s agricultural and food sectors such as the preservation of plant diversity in genebanks, using it in accelerated crop breeding, improving agronomy, pest and disease management, as well as adapting to and mitigating climate change. By working together with national partners and allies in Peru, we can jointly contribute to food security, rural development and nutrition improvement,” said Joaquin Lozano, CGIAR Regional Director, Latin America and the Caribbean.

These innovative initiatives and promising partnerships between CGIAR, Peru’s government institutions, civil society organizations, and private sector have the potential to improve food production, incomes, resilience, sustainability and competitiveness for the benefit of millions of Peruvians.

The event to launch the new CGIAR initiatives will be held in the JW Marriott Hotel Lima, on 13 and 14 October at 8am (3pm CEST).