All latest News, News February 2023, South, Central America, Sustainability, Weather/Climate

Drought and frost batter vital potato crops in Bolivia

Dozens of furrows lie barren in a dusty field on the Bolivian highlands. It should be replete with potato plants ready for harvest, but a deadly combination of drought and frost proved too much for the crop, as Martin Silva reports for AFP.

Cristobal Pongo, one of many peasants of the Aymara Indigenous group who devote their lives to potato farming in this region highly susceptible to climate change, looks dejectedly upon the dismal scene. This year, Pongo will have nothing to sell at the market in Calamarca, some 70 kilometers south of the capital La Paz. He does not know what he will do.

Pongo’s crop is not the only one affected by bad weather during the growth season. And the resulting shortage has seen the price of potatoes shoot up sevenfold to almost $2 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) in some markets.

“In the Bolivian highlands, we are fully experiencing the effects of climate change,” said loacel NGO Cipca technician Orlando Ticona.

Source: AFP via Phys.org. Read the full story here
Photo: Credit AFP

Editor & Publisher: Lukie Pieterse

 

Feel free to get in touch with Lukie!
He will be most happy to share potato news stories from your country on Potato News Today.
lukie@potatonewstoday.com
lukie5555@gmail.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Follow on Twitter
About us

Follow Potato News Today!

Please enter your email address to receive an alert right away when we publish a news story.

Join 10,057 other subscribers

Lockwood Mfg

PULSEMASTER

Urschel

TOMRA Food

DormFresh | 1,4GROUP

GRIMME

Volm Companies