As Sunil Chaudhari Potato Breeder reports:
Are you a potato fan? We have great news for you! Vietnam has just welcomed a new potato variety, HCIP210, developed through a public-private partnership. This breakthrough is part of the TAP5 project called Collaborative Breeding of Five Tropical Potato Varieties, an initiative that brings together the public and private sectors to accelerate potato breeding processes, and is just the beginning of something truly remarkable.
Traditionally, developing a new potato variety takes 10 to 12 years. But thanks to the combined efforts of the TAP5 project, Vietnam witnessed the emergence of HCIP210 in just eight years. This cream-fleshed potato variety has many advantages, including high yield potential, adaptability to a variety of conditions, and resistance to late powdery mildew and viruses such as PVY and PVX. Moreover, it has a long ripening period of over 120 days, ensuring a stable supply of quality potatoes even after the end of the harvest season.
The success of HCIP210 was confirmed by large-scale field registration trials conducted at six sites in Vietnam, including the Red River Delta and Central Highlands. The results are impressive as HCIP210 outperforms commercial tests such as Marabel and PO3, showing up to 17% higher yields for market potatoes in certain regions. This potato variety has the potential to significantly impact smallholder agricultural producers in Vietnam as its resistance to major biotic stresses can significantly reduce the need for chemical controls.
One of the main features of HCIP210 is its adaptability to mountainous regions, making it a valuable asset for off-season cultivation when other susceptible varieties have difficulty growing. This adaptability can play a key role in reducing dependence on potato imports from neighboring countries during periods of supply shortage.
But what is the TAP5 project and how did it make this breakthrough possible? This breakthrough began in 2016 as a public-private partnership between the International Potato Center (CIP) and HZPC Holdings BV, a leading privately held potato breeding and seed trading company. With support from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the TAP5 program seeks to improve food security and family income for low-income farmers in Asia and Africa.
By combining traditional and modern breeding techniques, such as breeding movement across different agroecologies and careful selection using molecular markers, the TAP5 partnership has found a solution to develop early-maturing, climate-resilient potato varieties adapted to tropical conditions. This collaboration best combines the expertise of the public and private sectors, combining the best genes and technologies to achieve breakthrough results in agriculture.
