Traditional Potato Storage in Peru: Farmers' Knowledge and Practices

摘要

In the last decade, the importance of reducing food losses during storage has been increasingly recognized as a way to increase food availability and security. The report documents and analyzes the various forms of farm-level potato storage practices in the main producing regions of Peru. Due to a complex ecology and a blend of subsistence and commercial production, Peruvian storage patterns are among the most diverse in the world. Commercialized production and climate affect the storage pattern in different regions. Market relations in the coast and the highlands also vary and thereby affect storage practices. There are two general conclusions. Local-level storage is vastly more important government controlled storage in terms of volume and economic significance. Future programs should directly address the technical needs of farm household storage. The wealth of farmer knowledge about storage problems provides a valuable starting-point in improving traditional systems.