Costa Rica’s new ‘Tough Taters’ are Healthier and Heartier than Current Varieties.

After three long years of study, the Instituto Nacional de Innovación y Transferencia en Tecnologí Agropecuaria (INTA, or the National Institute for Innovation and Transference of Agricultural Technology) has made a potato breakthrough, and five new types of potato will be delivered to area farmers for cultivation.

The five successful varieties are among a group of 35 sample varieties that were sent by the Centro Internacional de Papa (CIP, or International Potato Center), and were developed to be highly resistant to the devastating Phythophtora infestans fungus that often attacks the country’s potato crops. The fungus is the main pest to Costa Rica’s potato population, and creating a resistant potato was an important step to protecting the staple.

After many tests, which included producing new seeds and genetically engineering new potato species, Jeannette Avilés, head of INTA’s Estación Carlos Durán (Cartago), says that the five selected species shows the best health and hardiness when exposed to the fungus. In addition, the new potatoes were tested for their agricultural properties, culinary applications and taste, and their marketability.

Avilés continued to say that farmers will not begin mass production until the potatoes have been tested in the Costa Rican market. The Nacional Union of Small and Mid-sized Producers (Upanacional), located in Zarcero, will perform the final steps in testing the potatoes, and will begin selling them in the Mega Súper supermarket chains to determine their economic viability.

The new varieties will adapt well to altitudes between 1,800 and 3,000 meters (5,900-9,850 feet), and will be very similar to the potatoes we often receive from European farmers in Germany and Holland. Their insides are slightly yellow, they have a very high solid content (between 21% and 24%), and two of the potatoes are yellow-brown on the outside, while another is an artistic red.

Because the potatoes are resistant to one of the country’s most pervasive potato pests, the new varieties will be cost-effective to produce, helping deliver lower-cost potatoes to supermarket shelves. They are also healthier than the average potato, requiring less fat to cook and containing fewer carbohydrates, helping Costa Ricans fill their stomachs without expanding their waistlines. Lastly, the new varieties have a very healthy, vitamin and mineral-rich skin, and are therefore recommended to be served with the skin-on, allowing all the potatoes nutrients to nourish and absorb into the body.

In addition to these benefits, such fungus-resistant varieties should help Costa Rica maintain low-cost, nutrient-rich foods during the impending food crisis that the country is preparing to combat. Though not the country’s favorite staple — that superlative goes to rice — the potatoes are filling and healthy, and will surely help ticos pinch pennies while staying well-nourished.

The new potato varieties are expected to begin commercial cultivation this year, and will soon hit the shelves of your local supermarket. Help support the project and encourage the growth of these economic, healthy potatoes, and try them out by indulging in smooth and delicious mashed potatoes, savory breakfast hashbrowns, or other favorite potato recipes.

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Filed under: Costa Rica News on May 19th, 2008