Status of Introduced Potato Varieties in Benguet and Mountain Province, Philippines

Abstract

Benguet and Mountain Province are recipients of several potato variety introductions since the 1970s due to its favorable climate to highland crop production. Farmers save planting materials year by year through traditional practices, which led to accumulation of diseases, degeneration, and eventually, loss of varieties. Other reasons for loss of varieties are unavailability of plant materials, susceptibility to diseases, particularly wilts and rots, vulnerability to abiotic stress, and introduction of new varieties. Out of 40 varieties introduced, only 15 varieties are presently cultivated. Only five of these cultivated varieties are most preferred by farmers, namely: Granola, Igorota, Mexican, Fina, and Cosima. However, Fina and Cosima are limited in production due to the unavailability of planting materials. These were among the eight varieties retrieved from growers and now regenerated, conserved and presently being multiplied at BenguetState University – Northern Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Center (BSU-NPRCRTC) germplasm gene bank for verification and re-introduction.