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.
