The potato is at risk and Chinese scientists (perhaps) have found a way to save it… from drought

The climate change is putting a strain on crops around the world, and potatoesa fundamental food for global food security, .

In China, the world’s leading producer of this tuber with almost 100 million tons per year, grown on 5 million hectares, scientists have mobilized to take action. In a research center in Beijing, between cutting-edge technologies and innovative research, a real race against time is underway to create potatoes resistant to the changing climate.

What would happen if this tuber, so versatile and nutritious, started to shrink due to climate change?

This is precisely the worrying scenario that emerges from a recent study conducted by‘International Potato Center (CIP) of Beijing. Molecular biologist Li Jieping and his team grew potatoes in conditions that simulate temperatures predicted for the end of the century: the harvested tubers were tiny, some as large as a quail egg, weighing less than half that of a standard Chinese potato .

“I worry about what will happen in the future,” Li Jieping told eutes. “Farmers will harvest fewer potato tubers, and this will affect food security.”

Potatoes are particularly vulnerable to heat and climate change, caused by fossil fuel emissionsis raising temperatures to dangerous levels, while worsening droughts and floods. The CIP study demonstrated that a temperature increase of just 3°C ​​accelerates tuber growth, but it reduces the yield by over 50%.

This situation is not just a future projection, but an already tangible reality for Chinese farmers. In Inner Mongolia, heavy rains caused plant diseases and slowed harvests. “The biggest challenge for potatoes this year is the heavy rain,” he said Wang Shiyimanager of an agricultural company. “It caused various diseases… and greatly slowed the progress of the harvest.”

To make matters worse, new strains of downy mildewthe disease that caused the Great Irish Potato Famine of the 19th century. These strains, favored by the hot and humid climate, are more resistant to traditional control methods.

Faced with these challenges, Chinese scientists and farmers are mobilizing to find solutions. CIP is working with the Chinese government to develop potato varieties resistant to global warmingwhile some agricultural companies, such as Yakeshi Senfeng Potato Industry Companyare investing in aeroponic systems, where plants are grown suspended, under controlled conditions, to obtain more resistant and productive varieties.

Li Jieping highlights the urgency for action: Chinese farmers must adapt within the next decade, by changing planting seasons or moving crops to higher altitudes.