Potato Research Generates New Processing Opportunities

It is estimated that El Salvador consumes approximately 78,000 tons of potatoes annually for both the fresh and processed (chips) markets. Unfortunately, the country produces only about 5 percent of this volume with the remaining 74,000 tons coming from Guatemala (75 percent), Honduras (15 percent), and other suppliers (10 percent). Further, the main chip processing company, DIANA, cannot even meet local demand because of insufficient supplies of the proper chipping varieties on local and regional markets and the high cost of imported potatoes.

It was against this backdrop that DIANA approached the USAID-funded Fintrac IDEA project for assistance in developing a supplier program to meet their raw material needs. In response, Fintrac launched a program in April 2004 wherein IDEA technicians established varietal research plots in the Las Pilas area of Chalatenango to evaluate and select the best potato processing varieties. In addition to ensuring that quality and starch composition could meet DIANA standards, Fintrac IDEA also wanted to ensure that selected varieties could be grown profitably.

Eighteen producers took part in the trials, farming a combined area of 53 manzanas. The project provided technical assistance, imported planting material, drip irrigation, and protective netting row covers. The protective netting, which had never been used to grow potatoes in El Salvador, proved to be the key factor for success. All plants grown under protective netting resulted in tubers without the internal discoloration caused by an insect-borne phytoplasma that renders them unusable for processing. The same varieties grown without netting were more susceptible to the phytoplasma. In laboratory testing at DIANA, technicians also determined that 4 out of the 9 Dutch and U.S. varieties tested met their processing standards and could be recommended to local producers.

Fintrac disseminated the research results, and several producers are now considering affiliating to purchase a container of certified seed material from abroad that will hopefully set a precedent for other producers in the region. Additionally, IDEA provided the National Agriculture School (Escuela Nacional de Agronomía, or ENA) in El Salvador with certified, patent-free vegetative material that is being propagated through tissue culture. In two years there will be sufficient quantities available for commercial production.

For DIANA, the increased availability of quality processing potatoes means the ability to meet a local and regional chip market estimated at 250 metric tons per year. For producers, the advantage of contracting to produce for DIANA is the guarantee of a fixed price during the potato season that would lead to net incomes of nearly $1,750/manzana/crop cycle ($5,900/mz/year), compared to typical producers who earn $650 per year (a 900 percent increase in annual income).

“If growers continue to purchase infected material from regional suppliers, as is the current practice, they will never succeed in increasing yields and receiving price premiums for a superior product. However, because of our research program, we now know that it is possible for growers to have a stable and profitable market using certified planting materials and protective netting,” said Fintrac-IDEA Director Dennis Lesnick.