The International Potato Center (CIP), known for the acronym of its Spanish name Centro Internacional de la Papa, is one of the 15 Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). It was founded in 1971 through an agreement between the Peruvian government and the North Carolina State University, USA. Since then, it has become recognized as a leader in root and tuber research and development.

CIP aims to lessen poverty and attain constant food security for developing countries, by conducting scientific research and related activities on potato, sweetpotato, and other root and tuber crops; and by managing natural resources in the Andes and other mountain areas.

CIP’s vision is “preserving the core, stimulating progress,” which was realized in 2003. This vision has seven priorities that are in line with eight of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In summary, these are: reducing poverty and hunger; improving human health; developing sustainable rural and urban systems; and improving availability of new technologies.

Its Research and Development Program includes improving potato technologies, practicing integrated pest management, controlling viruses of sweet potato, conserving biodiversity, managing mountain agro-ecosystems, using genetic resources to improve crops, analyzing commodities and their impacts and leading a global initiative in researching on potato late blight disease.

The center’s headquarters is in La Molina, with experimental stations in Huancayo and San Ramon in Peru, and in Quito, Ecuador. It also has offices in four regions: East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific (ESEAP), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Southwest and Central Asia (SWCA), and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); and liaison offices in five foreign countries: Ecuador, Uganda, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

CIP also belongs to the partnerships CONDESAN (Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion), GILB (Global Initiative on Late Blight), Global Mountain Program, Papa Andina, PRAPACE (Regional Potato and Sweet Potato Improvement Network in Eastern and Central Africa), UPWARD (Users’ Perspectives with Agricultural Research and Development), and VITAA (Vitamin A for Africa).

An international team of scientists from 25 countries work for the CIP, along with nationally-recruited staff. The center’s Director General is Dr. Pamela Anderson.

For more information, visit http://www.cipotato.org

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