Panama: Will the Golden Globe potato end the reign of the Granola potato in the country?
The new variety stands out for its yellow skin and pulp, which is popular and preferred by consumers. It is consumed fresh and can be stored for up to two months.
The Golden Globe potato, of American origin, will be a new variety of potato that can be grown in Panama, to the delight of consumers and profitability of producers, as a result of research by the Institute of Agricultural Innovation of Panama (IDIAP), and the approval of the National Seed Committee of the Ministry of Agricultural Development.
This new commercial potato cultivar is of the Solanum Tuberosum species, and it has been reported that it has a higher yield than Granola, a variety that is currently ranked number one in the market with 90% of production in the province of Chiriquí and the Ngäbe Buglé region.
The Ministry of Agricultural Development reported, through a press release, that the Golden Globe has a yield of 40 tons per hectare, 5 tons more than Granola, a number that threatens its reign in the local market.
The entity said that the decline in the Granola variety, whose production went from 712 quintals to 402,000 quintals between 2020 and 2023 - a drop caused by frequent rains, increased use of agrochemicals and increased production costs - forced the Association of Highland Producers to demand the entry of new seeds into the country.
This is how, after several studies and research, the registration of the new cultivar was achieved with a high tolerance to diseases such as Late Blight and Pectobacterium sp., among others, and good adaptability to our cultivation areas.
The Golden Globe stands out for its yellow skin and pulp, which is popular and preferred by consumers. It is consumed fresh and can be stored for up to two months. It is round and oval in size and matures in 110 days.
The National Seed Committee of the Ministry of Agricultural Development approved this variety unanimously, and it will be introduced into production systems for the benefit of producers and consumers in the country.
In Panama, the production of this important item for the consumption of Panamanians is 14.3 kg per inhabitant per year, and it is grown in the province of Chiriquí where the Granola (90%) and Alpha (10%) varieties are planted and 402,625 quintals are harvested, in 807 hectares planted by 297 producers, according to the 2023-2024 agricultural closing report of the Ministry of Agricultural Development.
Potato production impacts the national economy with 11.7 million balboas in agricultural goods and services.
Gutiérrez pointed out that this new potato has desirable qualities in shape and color compared to the one preferred by the national market, good behavior and adaptability in the field, with a very high production potential, constituting a good and new alternative for national producers.
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