According to the executive director of CultiVida, Engineer Manuel Cueva, potato production must be strictly controlled to ensure its success and that farmers do not lose more than 50% of their crops because of pests and other diseases.
Cueva also stated that plant protection products contributed to feeding Peruvians with high quality potato because they allowed them to control pests and diseases that could cause serious economic losses in crops.
He said that potatoes contained nutrients for human beings but that they were also victims of pests that severely impaired the farmers' production. The Andean weevil and the potato blight are the pests that cause the most damage in potato production.
To avoid losses, CultiVida offers Peruvian agriculture innovative products for the efficient control of these problems, which are recommended and applied in an Unabridged Pest Management (IPM) plan, so as to not harm beneficial insects, the consumers' health, and the environment.
These products, says Cueva, are very effective. They are last generation products and control pests more effectively than the traditional phytosanitary chemical products.
Potato is one of the crops that contributes the most to explaining the Gross Value of Agricultural Production (VBPA) in Peru. It is also important economically because it generates work; approximately 30,000 families (150,000 people) depend on the production of native potatoes.
According to Manuel Cueva, the potato is a vital food and its consumption is indispensable due to its high nutritional content. Its production is important for the agricultural sector, as it is greatly demanded both in the local market and abroad.
Composition
Cueva said that potatoes were basically composed of water and a lower percentage of starch in the form of cotton, nitrogenous substances, lipids, dietary fibres, such as cellulose, and solanine, in trace amounts. In general, it is a food rich in carbohydrates, due to its high content of starch, and it provides vitamin C.
Source: diariocorreo.pe